Parks & Recreation introduced viewers to some truly colorful characters, among those Jerry Gergich, the one character everyone incessantly made fun of, and there was a turning point in Jerry’s story that made the series’ biggest problem even worse: his “fart attack”, which was the beginning of one of Parks & Recreation’s worst changes. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, Parks & Recreation is often considered among the best TV shows of the decade, and while it has many memorable characters, moments, and jokes, it also has its weaknesses, mainly how much it failed Jerry Gergich.
Parks & Recreation took the audience to the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana, where they met the Parks Department crew, led by the always optimist Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler). Over the course of seven seasons, Leslie shared the spotlight with her closest friends and coworkers, and many of them became quite popular with the audience and were at the center of some of the show’s best jokes, as was the case of Jerry Gergich (Jim O’Heir). Jerry, whose real name is Garry Gergich, is one of Leslie’s coworkers at the Parks Department who stood out for being very kind to those around him, but also for being constantly bullied by those in the Parks Department.
At the beginning of Parks & Recreation, Jerry Gergich was the office manager of the Parks Department, and the show even had a visual running gag of his desk getting smaller and smaller with time as more people arrived at the Department. Jerry was kind-hearted but also very clumsy, which led to never-ending mockery from his coworkers, particularly Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari) and April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza). Jerry accepted all the jokes, pranks, and mean comments with a smile and continued to deeply care about his coworkers, but he wasn’t always like that, and it was after his “fart attack” that Jerry became incredibly submissive, making Parks & Recreation’s biggest problem, Jerry’s bullying, even worse.
During the early season of Parks & Recreation, Jerry showed some frustration and annoyance at the way he was treated by his coworkers, and he even looked angry on some occasions. In Parks & Recreation season 5, Leslie and Ann scared Jerry as he came out of the bathroom, resulting in a heart attack along with a bout of flatulence, which they later referred to as a “fart attack”. This was a turning point in Jerry’s arc as after this he became a lot more submissive and tolerated all types of bullying against him, and while many jokes and pranks were inoffensive, there were many that crossed the line and were humiliating. The way Jerry was treated in Parks & Recreation has drawn criticism, and even though the writers tried to make up for it by giving Jerry a perfect family, it wasn’t enough.
Jerry’s change after his “fart attack” was disrespectful to the character and made the problem of him being bullied even worse, as his “friends” and coworkers should have been the ones who changed the way they treated Jerry rather than him becoming more submissive and accepting of all their jokes and more. It has been theorized that Jerry was so clumsy at work and pretty much around those who bullied him precisely because of how they treated him, as at home and when he thought nobody was looking, he was skilled and confident. Jerry’s “fart attack” in Parks & Recreation was funny, but the aftermath of it only perpetuated the show’s biggest problem.
