Neurodivergent (Headcanon) Alley: Leslie Knope (Parks and Recreation)

Parks and Rec is another show that bursts with Big Neurodivergent Energy. Unlike some of the shows I’ve been talking about lately, like Doctor Who and Our Flag Means Death, I haven’t revisited any of the episodes since digging deeper into my own neurotype, but this excellent thread from @autismsupsoc nicely lays out how most of the characters on the show can be read as autistic. I’m looking at Leslie today, but I’m sure I’ll return to the Parks and Rec well sooner rather than later!

For me, Leslie is a classic example of The Second Autistic-Coded Character I Spot. On a lot of shows with Big Neurodivergent Energy, there’s a character who most closely resembles popular tropes about autism—I recently brought up Huey from DuckTales, and Gregory from Abbott Elementary would be another good example. They’re the easiest to recognize, and the average person probably wouldn’t consider it a “reach” if you said they were autistic. In the case of Parks and Rec, that’s Ron. The Second Autistic-Coded Character I Spot tends to have traits that present in a less obvious way to the casual observer, and they might not stand out as immediately. But once I catch onto them, their neurodivergence smacks me in the face in the best way. These characters tend to be more outgoing/talkative, more AuDHD-coded, and are more likely to be women. To go with my previous examples, The Second Autistic-Coded Characters I Spotted on DuckTales and Abbott Elementary were Webby and Janine. And more often than not, once I recognize a second character, the floodgates open and I start to see just how neurodivergent the show is as a whole.

That’s a long-winded preamble, but it’s a major foundation for Leslie and why I love her so much. While Ron often speaks in a no-nonsense monotone and likes to avoid dealing with people whenever possible, Leslie is bubbly and eager to a fault. She always comes in hot, frequently coming on too strong with new people and getting incredibly attached to the people she cares about really fast. She doesn’t have much of a social filter, and while that can present in a mean way—like her impatience for Jerry—it more often looks like showering someone in affection to the point of discomfort, or not noticing she’s outstayed her welcome.

Leslie has a deep and abiding special interest in local government. She adores helping people, she loves getting into the nitty-gritty of policies and ordinances, and she has a passion for being a part of something bigger than herself. She works inexhaustibly for the Parks and Rec department because what she does excites her. She longs to do things to make Pawnee better and happier, even if nobody else cares as much as she does. Her mind is like a dog with a bone, and when she gets on something, she’ll stay up all night making a binder or a scrapbook or devising a 1000-step plan.

Leslie is full of love that she throws out into the world with both hands, and that’s not always appreciated. A lot of folks think she’s weird or too try-hard, and when she pours her heart into a project, others might laugh at her effort. Her tireless pursuit of what she wants can annoy the people she needs to liaise with, and when it comes to the more public-profile aspect of her job, others frequently cut her down by misconstruing her honesty and enthusiasm.

But one of the best parts of a Big Neurodivergent Energy show isn’t just an overall abundance of neurodivergent-coded characters. It’s that those characters have a community who love and accept them for who they are. Even if the sheer force of Leslie’s undiluted Leslie-ness can still be a lot for the other Parks and Rec employees to handle at times, they value Leslie in her all excitable dorkiness and frenzied binder-making. She and Ron couldn’t be more different, yet they get one another in a vital way, and Ben loves her from head to toe. When she’s on a crusade or being dragged in the press, the others will back her up, regardless of whether they’re invested in the situation themselves. It’s something that’s just so wonderful to see in a show, a quality that makes me feel warm, fuzzy, and seen.

Relationship Spotlight: Ben Wyatt & Leslie Knope (Parks and Recreation)

I told you this one was coming. We’ve looked at Leslie, we’ve looked at Ben, now let’s look at them both together (Leslie-Ben-related spoilers.)

The very initial setup of Leslie and Ben’s relationship might at first appear to be a love/hate kind of thing – he’s the penny-pinching hardass from the state budget office, she’s the optimistic deputy director of the parks department who just wants to make people happy, regardless of what it costs – but even that shortlived dynamic is subverted pretty much from the start. While Leslie comes in hot, determined to crusade against Ben the evil budget-slasher that she believes is champing at the bit to fire everyone, Ben is just a guy doing his job, one who demonstrates a surprisingly-high tolerance for her manic steamroller tendencies from the jump. It isn’t long before they start to get to know each other and immediately develop a friendlier relationship.

Leslie and Ben, delightfully, are simpatico and complementary at the same time. They’re both hardworking policy wonks with a devotion to government who pay great attention to detail. With Ben, we see that come out in his love for budget minutiae, and nothing makes Leslie happier than filling an enormous binder with every last scrap of information about a planned project. They also share a similar dorky glee for a job well done, a tendency to spiral out when they’re stressed, and a fondness for Model UN. Meanwhile, Leslie is a sunshiny dreamer who uses hyperbole like it’s going out of style and brings an Energizer-Bunny-like determination to the proceedings, while Ben thrives on logic and pragmatism, responding dryly to Leslie’s over-the-top enthusiasm.

In other words? They make a great team. They bring similar skill sets to the table, but each has their own personal areas of expertise, and they lean on one another’s strengths and talents. It’s a combo that serves them well as colleagues, and as as workplace companionability blossoms into attraction, it helps them succeed as a couple.

My brother was the person who finally got me to check out Parks and Rec, so I periodically texted him updates on where I was at when I watched the series. At some point during season 3, I texted him out of the blue to say, “I can’t remember the last time I shipped two people harder than Leslie and Ben.” And it’s true. Man, this pairing just owns me. It helps that we see them develop a good working relationship and become friends first, but it goes a lot further than that.

More than anything, my love for Leslie and Ben’s relationship comes down to this: they talk. The first signs of their mutual attraction are the earnest compliments they give one another at work, personal remarks recognizing their skills and qualities. We see how they get along, and what’s more, we really see how they like and admire each other. Yes, they’re both physically-attractive people and that’s part of their attraction to one another (over time, we learn how much Leslie loves Ben’s butt,) but that’s never presented as the reason why they like each other. Instead, first and foremost, they like one another as people, and the love is born out of that. After seeing way too many “instant chemistry” or “love at first sight” TV romances that boil down to “they’re hot,” this relationship is like a balm for my soul. (Seriously, what do Leonard and Penny on The Big Bang Theory even talk about?)

This quality continues throughout their relationship. In their will-they-won’t-they stage, external forces keep them apart (a rule against coworkers dating,) and instead of denying their feelings or taking turns dating other people/pining for one another, they talk about their feelings and the dilemma they’re in. They decide what to do about it, and when they ultimately get together, they discuss their problems, talking through small disagreements, big life choices, and personal crises with one another. This might just be the asexual in me talking, but honestly, I think their conversations are just dreamy.

Also, I known I’ve brought this up before, but it bears repeating: Ben isn’t threatened by Leslie’s ambition, outspokenness, or power. If you read any of my Other Doctor Lives reviews from The Crown, you know how much it sticks in my craw when insecure men can’t handle being in relationships with powerful women, but Ben and Leslie are the polar opposite of Philip and Elizabeth. Theirs is a true partnership, in which they work together and each advises, bolsters, consoles, and redirects the other as needed. They’re one another’s biggest believers, and they support one another’s careers and goals in such an honest, genuine way. Leslie’s accomplishments aren’t any sort of “knock” on Ben’s masculinity, and he loves her for everything she wants to make of herself. And in the last season, when Ben is running for Congress and Leslie attracts some bad press for not doing typical “candidate’s wife” things, what do they do? That’s right, they talk about it. They make a plan, they execute it, and they fight the patriarchy – together.

Bestill my heart.

Favorite Chraracters: Leslie Knope (Parks and Recreation)

There are many things to love about Parks and Rec, but Leslie is first and foremost in my heart. Amy Poehler struck gold with this character, who manages to be hilarious, heartwarming, inspirational, and bonkers, often all within a single episode.

The deputy director of the Pawnee Parks and Recreation Department, Leslie takes her job very seriously. At most, she’s a slightly-bigger-than-small fish in a small pond, but that doesn’t stop her from working her butt off day in and day out for the wildly-unappreciative citizens of Pawnee. Whether it’s overseeing a crazy-making public forum, raising money for an ambitious new park project, or searching for a rogue possum spotted in the vicinity of the golf course, she consistently puts in 125%. Leslie thrives on solving crises, and she never met an issue she couldn’t tackle head-on, usually armed with a fastidiously-assembled binder on the subject and an increasingly-complex multi-point plan.

For me, Leslie is the best kind of Hufflepuff, because while she’s undeniably smart, bold, and ambitious, those are all qualities she channels into helping people. She really sees her job in the government as being one of public service, and when she eyes higher positions, it’s always with the aim of the good she can do. The parks department is an ideal place for us to meet her, because she never stops coming up with ways to make people happy and offer them places where they can come together and have fun. She puts her head for obsessively-detailed minutiae into furthering these goals, and she fights tenaciously to see those goals realized.

There are plenty of shows in which the driven career woman is shown regularly dropping the ball in her personal life, but Leslie puts just as much effort into her relationships as well (to be fair, it probably helps that nearly all the people closest to her work in the same building, many in the same office.) Among her friends/significant others, she’s known for her thoughtful gifts, her love of scrapbooking fond memories, and the irritating degree to which she believes in people and pushes them to be their best. Not to say that work never gets in the way of a relationship or vice versa, but it’s never because Leslie is consciously letting something fall by the wayside. It’s just that she cares about so much that she inevitably loses track of something or someone every now and then, if only for a short while.

I appreciate that Leslie is unabashedly feminist. When we look at strong female characters (or Strong Female Characters, which aren’t precisely the same thing,) we often look at women that kick butt physically and/or have a lot of power. Leslie isn’t in a position of power, not in the grand scheme of things, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t a leader or that she doesn’t display strength and determination in everyday ways. I like that her office features a bevy of photos of inspirational women in politics, and I love that she fosters romantic relationships in which she’s an equal partner.

And yet, for all of this, Leslie isn’t a flawless superwoman. Like many people, her best qualities can just as easily become her worst ones under particular circumstances. She’s very confident and take-change, and that means she sometimes “steamrolls” over people under the assumption that she knows what’s best. She cares deeply about what she does, but when she inflates the importance of a situation too far beyond what it warrants, the whole thing can spiral out of control and turn into an even bigger mishap. She’s honest to a fault, and she’s been known to unintentionally hinder herself in her refusal to be crafty or diplomatic. This is why she’s funny as often as she’s badass, and why both come from equally-true places within her character. It keeps her endlessly interesting and eternally rootable. I love this character to bits, and I’m glad to have had her on my TV.