Parks and Recreation: Campaign Ad

What Happened, Yo!:

-Leslie attends a rally for her opponent in the city council race, Bobby Newport (Played by Paul Rudd!) of the Newport Family (They own Sweetums). When she talks to him, Bobby is confused about who she is, as he was under the impression he was running unopposed.

-With ads and posters endorsing Bobby Newport all over town, Ben gets the idea of making a campaign ad for Leslie and spending money to air it during halftime at the Pawnee/Eagleton Basketball game (which in Pawnee is bigger than the superbowl.). Ben wants to do an attack ad, but Leslie doesn't want to go negative. She proposes that they both make ads, and whoever has the better ad will get it aired. Leslie's ad is positive, but somewhat lame and doesn't even mention that she's running for City Council. Ben's attack ad is a lot better and everyone votes for it. Leslie seems to concede but later tackles Ben at the TV studio and prevents his ad from being shown, while not getting their money back. Leslie is confident in her decision, because she doesn't want to be negative, which Ben gets but he also tells her she needs to toughen up.

-Later, Ben and Leslie make an ad together, which uses footage from fake campaign ads Leslie made as a ten-year-old, and footage from Bobby Newport's current ads to illustrate what a better choice Leslie is, without being overtly negative. Bobby Newport doesn't like it though and requests they drop out of the race because he really wants the city council position. Leslie refuses and tells him to toughen up.

-Meanwhile, Chris gets Ron to shut down Public Works Projects for him, before somehw getting Ron to go to Lunch with him. Ron is confused by how Chris seems to be buddying up to hi. Donna suggests it's because Chris misses Ben and needs a friend, so Rong gets Kyle to do something with Chris. Chris reveals though that he was actually giving Ron a try out as assistant City Manager, as he needs to replace Ben. Chris says he'll be deciding in a couple months who will get the position.

-Also meanwhile, Andy concusses himself hanging up his gold record, and being told they have insurance, he and April visit the hospital. It turns out that Andy has numerous things wrong with him, so they make lots of appointments, but find out that even with insurance, they still owe 500 dollars. They decide to run from the bill, but Andy runs right into an ambulance.

I Liked This: I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Parks and Recreation has been on a real roll as of late. This was a really strong episode, with three really strong, really funny stories and featuring some big steps for Leslie's city council campaign and the introduction of a promising storyline for Ron. Paul Rudd was great in his first appearance as Bobby Newport, who is the perfect political opponent for Leslie. He's not a bad guy, but he thinks he can win the election just because he wants it. In addition, his status as a member of the Newport clan makes him already popular with the people of Pawnee, despite his obvious incompetence, and add in his 70 point lead, and Leslie will have quite the fight ahead for her, which I am thrilled to see.

But Paul Rudd wasn't the only great aspect of this episode. I found Leslie's conflict with Ben to be very natural and interesting. Of course, she would be reluctant to air an attack ad. And I also enjoyed how her positive ad turned out to be the inferior one, showing that she can't always succeed by doing things her way. But the joint campaign ad in the end was very good and made for a nice moment. And of course, the story was also full of great, funny moments. Ron's story with Chris was quite funny too, and serves a greater purpose. It'll be interesting to see if Ron becomes assistant city manager, especially if Leslie wins the election. Because what happens to the Parks department if their two leaders leave. Of all the stories though, the funniest had to be Andy and April's trip to the doctors. There was no higher purpose to this one besides illustrating how hilariously irresponsible Andy and April are. I laughed as Andy rattled off a list of fake symptoms, only to reveal that he also broke his thumb and their attempts to flee the hospital bill at the end, ending with Andy running into an ambulance was tops.

But...: No complaints.

The Bottom Line: Campaign Ad was another fantastic episode of Parks and Recreation. The season 4 master arc of Leslie running for City Council has allowed for all kinds of great stories, and now with Paul Rudd as her opponent, this trend should only continue.

Grade: Zounds! (Almost Perfect)

Memorable Moments

-Leslie: "He is attractive, and charming, and his family employs half the town. But, so what? I am a lifelong government bureaucrat who's well versed in the issues. And those are the kind of sexy qualifications that win elections".

-April: "Hey Ann, are you still a nurse or did they fire you because you slept with all the doctors?" Ann: "Do you wanna try that again?"

-Andy: "Technically I did smash my head area into the wall area."

-Ron: "Have you considered cutting the entire fire department? I have personally put out several local fires at no cost to the taxpayer."

-Andy tries to make an excuse for why he hit his head: "I was reading an encyclopedia and I tripped, or 'fell over', and hit my head or 'brain helmet'.

-Ron: "The important thing is, the dam is never happening, and your dream has been crushed". Chris: "We're very sorry". Ron: "I'm not. Good meeting".

-Tom: "When I bet on horses, I never lose. Why? I bet on all the horses."

-Andy takes an eye exam: E, H, 4, M, potato shape, coffee mug shape, smudge, smudge, middle finger, smudge, the rest are all smudges". April: "Oh my god, you drove us here".

-The scene with Ben, Tom, and Jerry all trying to say Bobby Newport in the most menacing way possible was classic.

-Ron is unsure how he went to lunch with Chris: "I don’t know what happened. I declined his invitation, he started laughing, and the next thing I knew we were at lunch. Did he drug me?"

-There were so many things crammed into Leslie's campaign ad, I'm not even going to bother to try to list them all. I remember Better Better Business Bureau, Less Libraries, and Find Gary the Toucan, but that's about it.

-Andy: "I got my ankles microwaved". April: "X-Rayed". Andy: "They took my blood away to use for science". April: "Cholesterol test". Andy: "April had her sinuses removed?" April: "Looked at". Andy: "Some guy looked at my weiner. Touched it. That was weird." April: "And that guy wasn't even a doctor". Andy: "That- what?"

-Leslie: "Ann, I painted your garage pink". Ann: "I did not ask you to do that".

-Andy: "Call an ambulance! A different ambulance, not the one I ran into!"

-Bobby Newport's lack of understanding about Leslie's commercial was also great. Leslie: "That girl is me as a 10-Year-Old". Bobby: "How did you do that?!"