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" Freddy Spaghetti" is the second season finale of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation, and the 30th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 20, 2010. In the episode, as Ron Swanson helps state auditors make governmental cuts amid a government shutdown, Leslie Knope tries to save a children's concert starring musician Freddy Spaghetti. Meanwhile, Andy Dwyer asks April Ludgate to be his girlfriend, while Ann Perkins tries to cope with her renewed feelings for Andy following her breakup with Mark.
The episode was written by Dan Goor and directed by Jason Woliner. "Freddy Spaghetti" featured the second performances of Adam Scott and Rob Lowe as two state auditors sent to help Pawnee through its budget crisis, as well as the second appearance by Natalie Morales as Tom's girlfriend Lucy. Jama Williamson reprised her recurring guest role as Tom's ex-wife Wendy, and comedian and writer Brian McCann portrayed Freddy Spaghetti.
"Freddy Spaghetti" marked the final performance for Paul Schneider playing Mark Brendanawicz, and also the last time anyone on the show mentioned him in any capacity. The final scene between Mark and Leslie, sitting on a bench together at a lot Leslie hopes to turn into a park, mirrored their scenes together in the first season finale "Rock Show". "Freddy Spaghetti" was also a turning point in the romantic subplot between Andy and April, who share their first kiss in the episode.
According to Nielsen ratings, "Freddy Spaghetti" was seen by 4.55 million household viewers, a five percent increase in viewership compared to the previous episode, "The Master Plan". The episode received generally positive reviews, with many commentators calling it a strong ending to an excellent season. "Freddy Spaghetti" and the rest of the second season of Parks and Recreation was released on DVD in the United States on November 30, 2010, which included an extended 26-minute "producer's cut" of the episode.
Meanwhile, Ron Swanson has been assigned to a task force to help fix the city's budget problem. A small government advocate, Ron is delighted at the prospect of deep municipal cuts, gloating and chanting at the cuts Chris and Ben propose, but when he learns the auditors plan to fire Leslie, Ron refuses and offers his job instead. In explaining her dedication, Ron accidentally alerts them about the Freddy Spaghetti concert. Chris and Ben arrive to the concert to shut it down, but Leslie tells them everything has been donated and nothing is on the taxpayer's dime. However, Leslie learns Freddy Spaghetti has booked another gig. She asks Andy to play instead, but he is hit by a car while driving his new motorcycle home to retrieve his guitar, breaking his right arm. Just as the concert begins, Freddy Spaghetti surprisingly arrives, having been paid by Ben to perform at Leslie's concert. Ben explains he is not a bad person, but the budget still has to be slashed.
Visiting Andy in the hospital, Ann suddenly kisses him, but immediately stops and guiltily walks out. Later, April, also relieved to see Andy is fine, finally agrees to go out with him. After they kiss, Andy decides to be honest and tells her about the earlier kiss with Ann. April angrily storms out, taking back her decision to go out with him. That night, Leslie sits on a bench in the empty Lot 48 and Mark joins her, with both appearing happy to be able to talk to each other. Mark tells her that if more people like her worked in local government, he wouldn't be leaving, and gives her plans he drew up for a park at Lot 48 before giving her a goodbye kiss on the cheek and walking away forever. The next day, Ron withdraws from the budget task force and appoints Leslie in his place. As Tom Haverford and his new girlfriend Lucy are clearing out his office, he notices Ron is wearing a red shirt and black pants, the "Tiger Woods" outfit he always wears the day after having sex. Tom's ex-wife Wendy then appears and kisses Ron and the two leave together, shocking Tom.
Schur said the writing staff had difficulty scripting the scene where Ann kisses Andy: "We had a lot of discussions about this because we didn't want Ann to be too much of a jerk and kiss a guy who likes another girl, and we didn't want Andy to be too much of a jerk because he likes April. It was very delicate." The episode marked a turning point for the romantic subplot between April and Andy, who shared their first kiss of the series in "Freddy Spaghetti". Goor said filming of that scene, "They nailed the kiss immediately." While trying to get April to talk to him, Andy pretends he doesn't want to talk to her at all, which he incorrectly calls "reverse psychiatry" instead of reverse psychology. This line was improvised by Chris Pratt.
"Freddy Spaghetti" marked the second appearances by Adam Scott and Rob Lowe as state auditors sent to solve Pawnee's budget problems. Lowe's Chris Traeger character is energetic, eccentric and overly cheerful, whereas Scott's Ben Wyatt is more pragmatic and realistic. Scott was always intended to become a regular cast member starting in the third season, while Lowe was originally expected to appear only in a few more episodes in a guest role. However, after those episodes were filmed, Lowe later joined the show as a regular cast member. Lowe improvised many aspects of his character, including when he handed Ben a water bottle and said, "You should hydrate," and when he clapped after Leslie sang at the concert, "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands." Additionally, the episode was the second appearance of Natalie Morales as Lucy, a Pawnee bartender and romantic interest for Tom. "Freddy Spaghetti" also included appearances by recurring guest stars Jama Williamson, who plays Tom Haverford's ex-wife Wendy, and Cooper Thornton, who plays the sarcastic and deadpan Dr. Harris, who tended to Andy's broken arm. Comedian and writer Brian McCann portrayed Freddy Spaghetti himself in the episode. While singing at the concert, McCann improvised a great deal of non-child-friendly dialogue that could not be used in the final episode. Among them were a song about how he pays too much alimony to his wife, and another about meeting all the children's mothers backstage after the show. Guy Stevenson, a MADtv writer and friend of Parks and Recreation cast member Retta, played the man who shouted during a municipal meeting, "With the government shut down, who's going to stop Al-Qaeda?"
During one scene, Ron slips and falls on the grass while running to warn Leslie about Ben's plan to shut down the Freddy Spaghetti concert. That fall was neither scripted nor accidental, but rather planned and improvised by Nick Offerman. Aziz Ansari described the physical comedy as "one of my favorite shots in the series". In a different scene, April is chewing on a hay-straw while raking hay before the concert, and angrily spits the straw out when Andy tries to talk to her. That moment was improvised by actress Aubrey Plaza. Woliner asked her not to do it, but she insisted, correctly predicting it would make the final cut if she did it. In a different scene, Ron eats a turkey leg wrapped in bacon. The original script called simply for a large turkey leg, but a props employee suggested wrapping it in bacon based on Ron's well-known affinity for the food. It was Woliner who suggested that Ron say the snack was nicknamed "the Swanson".
While packing his office at the end of the episode, Tom frantically looks for his autographed photo of actor Jamie Foxx. Ansari said he had been trying to work a reference to Foxx into the show for months. Tom's observation that Ron always dresses like golf pro Tiger Woods after having sex was a joke previously used in the episode "Ron and Tammy". The original joke was written before the story of Woods' extramarital affairs scandal broke in the news in November 2009. "Freddy Spaghetti" included a reference to the previous episode "Galentine's Day", in which Andy discussed a song he wrote called "Sex Hair", about how one could tell someone had sex based on how matted their hair is. In the season finale, Andy rewrites the song to be called "Pickle Hair" so it can be played at the kid-friendly concert.
"Freddy Spaghetti" received generally positive reviews. Leonard Pierce of The A.V. Club felt the script balanced all the character subplots extremely well, writing, "It's this ability to hold down the 'situation' part of situation comedy, while never scrimping on the comedy, that makes it the class of the NBC lineup—the purest, if not the best, sitcom on the air." Pierce also complimented the final scene between Leslie and Mark, which he said brought the season to "a touching full circle". IGN writer Matt Fowler ranked the episode as "outstanding" and claimed it highlighted the strengths of Leslie, by emphasizing the passion with which she views her job, and Ron, by showing how much he cares for his employees even though he hates his job. Fowler said Schneider's departure was handled well, even though he described Mark as the show's least interesting character. HitFix writer Alan Sepinwall said "Freddy Spaghetti" did a good job of bringing closure to the season and starting new storylines regarding Pawnee's budget problems. Sepinwall praised the chemistry between Poehler and Scott, as well as Lowe's comedic performance, but said the April and Andy romantic subplot was less consistently effective than the similar pairing between Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly on the NBC comedy, The Office.
New York magazine writer Steve Kendell said, "The finale was as on point as any episode this year—smart, funny, crisply written, and poignant." Kandell said Mark accepting a buyout felt like a "perfectly sensible and organic to the story" way to remove the character from the series, and described the ending scene with Ron and Wendy as an effective cliffhanger building up to the third season. Eric Hochberger of TV Fanatic said, "We can sum up the episode in one word: perfection." Hochberger praised the characterization in the script, and particularly enjoyed that the former pit, a long-time device for the series, was used for the concert and Mark's departure. CraveOnline writer Blair Marnell described "Freddy Spaghetti" as one of the best episodes of the series. He praised the writing, particularly the jokes involving Andy and Ron's love of budget cuts, but said Leslie's character ultimately carried the story and had the best jokes. Kona Gallagher of TV Squad said the episode "ended an already phenomenal season on a high note" and said she loved the symmetry of the finale. Gallagher particularly praised Scott's new character, claiming "his bruised idealism is a nice match for Leslie's blind idealism", but said Lowe's character continued to lack depth, and described the April and Andy subplot as predictable.
"Freddy Spaghetti" was the last new episode of Parks and Recreation to air for eight months (until "Go Big or Go Home") because, after the season finale aired, NBC announced the show was being moved to an undisclosed midseason premiere date to allow the network's new comedy, Outsourced, to run in the Thursday two-hour comedy schedule block. New York magazine writer Steve Kandell noted this move by NBC against the show bore some "thematic similarities" between the government shutdown plot of "Freddy Spaghetti". It was eventually announced the Parks and Recreation third season would premiere on January 20, 2011.
Among the deleted scenes in the producer's cut were a scene of Tom and Lucy running off to Ann's house to have sex, where they are interrupted by a nonchalant and seemingly unfazed Chris Traeger. Another cut scene included Tom and Ann in which the two share a pleasant moment and Tom cheers her up over her conflicting romantic feelings, only for Tom to ruin it by proposing three-way sex between them and Lucy. The DVD also included a commentary track for "Freddy Spaghetti" featuring Amy Poehler, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, Rashida Jones, Adam Scott, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Jim O'Heir, Retta and Michael Schur.
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