Female Friendship Friday: Leslie and Ann

Parks and Recreation has ended, and I for one, am saddened, but ultimately grateful that it got to end at its prime. Although it had an uneasy start, it eventually found its footing and grew to be a show that perfectly mixed humor and genuine emotion. One of its greatest strengths came from the characters and their relationships with one another. The friendship between Leslie Knope and Ann Perkins is consonantly shown as one of the strongest.

The two meet during a Leslie run public forum, where Ann brings up the abandoned pit in her neighborhood. She tells them that they need to do something about it, and Leslie agrees and pinky promises to help her out. This exchange not only sparks a mission to turn that pit into a park, but also creates, as Leslie would say, one of the greatest friendships of our lifetime.

 Leslie is constantly trying to make her town Pawnee a better place, and she often brings her friends along for the ride. Ann once put it best by describing Leslie as a steamroller. “You’re a steamroller! You’re a massive, enormous, runaway steamroller with no brakes and a cement brick on the gas pedal!" Since Leslie is so extreme in everything she does, Ann is able to pull her down to earth and provide her with emotional support when things seem bleakest.

What makes Leslie and Ann's friendship so full of feels is their devotion to one another, especially on Leslie's part. She is frequently showering Ann with odd, but sweetly creative compliments. She also gives thoughtful presents on their special holidays that Leslie made up. However, as later seasons show, Ann's no slouch in the friendship department either. Not many people would go out of their way to get an old waffle maker from someone's favorite restaurant (As far as we know only two others, a husband and mail-carrier respectively). Also in one episode, Leslie gets into a fight with her ex-best friend, Lindsay Carlisle Shay over a fence separating Pawnee and Eagleton,  Ann bails her out. She also cheers her up, by reassuring Leslie that Lindsay only built the fence because she was jealous of Leslie, and offers to beat her senseless with a baseball bat.

They also support each other during their biggest live changing events. When Leslie is approached to run for city council, Ann is the first person she reveals the news to, and she of course encourages her to go for it. Leslie, is often more hesitant before completely supporting Ann's decisions, mostly because she wants the best for Ann. Eventually though, she always becomes her biggest cheerleader. When Ann decides to have a baby, through in vitro fertilization, Leslie is skeptical at first, but accompanies her to the sperm bank anyway. When they discover that one of the bank’s frequent sperm donors is “Sewage Joe”, (a Pawnee resident who lives up to his nickname even after he no longer works in the sewage department). As she puts it, the only man she considers worthy enough to be Ann's potential donor or soul mate is Channing Tatum. Leslie ends up meddling her way into Ann's business. Later on she realizes her mistake and realizes that she needs to be supportive. She does this in true Knope fashion, by making Ann a binder containing information on getting pregnant.

Their relationship isn't always perfect, as they do occasionally disagree. As stated before, sometimes Leslie's pushy personality can be little overbearing, especially when it comes to Ann. She often believes that she knows what's best for her, and that has caused her to try and take control of her life. In one episode, Leslie sets up a job interview as a director in the health department for Ann, without consulting her first. This along with Leslie being frustrated with the Ann's choice of men she's been seeing, causes them to have a large fight. They make up of course, and Leslie realizes that while her heart was in the right place, she went about it the wrong way.

Leslie and Ann's friendship is one that is tied together with support and adoration of one another. They both see each other as strong, smart, accomplished women and always quick to remind each other that. Although Leslie's way of expressing those compliments tend to be a bit more elaborate and sometimes strange. Through thick and thin, their love for each other can survive any distance (as the series finale has proven). Their friendship is one that many aspire to have, and hopefully many already have.