Parks & Recreation: “Campaign Ad” Recap

I’d like to start this post off by saying – BOY do I like [easyazon-link asin=”B006FTCBF2″]Paul Rudd[/easyazon-link]. We had heard he’d be one of the big guest stars this season, and this episode marks the start of his run. The word is that he’ll be back for at least three more episodes, and I can’t wait to see where they take his character.

Now, let’s get back to discussing this week’s episode: “[easyazon-link asin=”B006ZTXZ16″]Campaign Ad[/easyazon-link]”. The main story was about Leslie’s dilemma between airing a negative ad, which her whole team voted to do, and making a much softer ‘what I’m about’ type ad. In true Leslie Knope fashion, her ideals were dead on, but execution didn’t quite cut the mustard. Ben’s negative ad was much better, but Leslie ended up taking matters out of his hands… literally – and stopped it from being aired. One of the highlights during this story was a scene where Ben is editing the ad with menacing voiceover practice between him, Tom, and Jerry. Threaded throughout the main story was Tom being Tom – declining to take a stand on anything, in order to be on the winning side in the end.

An offshoot of the main story showed stellar guest star Paul Rudd as Leslie’s opponent, Sweetum’s heir apparent, Bobby Newport. Bobby is completely oblivious to almost everything except the thought of not being bored. He has no concept of serving in Pawnee Government, City Issues, or even having an actual opponent. By the end of the episode I was wondering if the character was merely dense and spoiled or just plain short-bus slow (couldn’t think of a better way to put that). After Leslie airs her final ad, which is positive and shows her love of Pawnee, Bobby comes to visit Leslie and Ben, where he whines and begs them to stop running against him. It seems that Master Newport thinks that any ad not endorsing him is negative, and he has a tantrum to try and get his way. Hilariously played by all the actors involved.

One of the two side stories showcased April and Andy. Neither of them knew they had medical insurance, so when Andy (in a wonderful pratfall-type gag) gets a concussion, they go to Ann for advice. She informs them that they should go see a doctor, and explains to them what having medical insurance means (offscreen, but the implication is there). They visit the ever-[easyazon-link asin=”B0007IO6PA”]Newhart[/easyazon-link] like Dr. Harris (played in his recurring role by Cooper Thornton), where after he’s diagnosed with a very mild concussion, Andy rattles off a litany of other ailments, including a broken thumb.  Apparently, Ann didn’t explain the concept of a deductible with them, since they ‘dine and dash’ when presented with their five-hundred dollar bill. Andy meets an ambulance face-first on his escape from the hospital. April and Andy decide to take care of health issues on their own in a little sweet scene where April volunteers to be his nurse.

The last, short secondary story found Ron being ‘courted’ by Chris, in order to see if he was right to take over Ben’s old position. Of course, Ron misunderstands and thinks Chris is trying to befriend him in Ben’s absence. As all regular watchers of P&R know, Ron is not a big fan of friendship, and seeing him try to wiggle out of Chris’ many invitations was amusing. At one point he shoves Kyle at Chris as his surrogate, and in true Kyle fashion, he’s rejected.

One of the best things in the Parks & Recreation universe is its continuity. Leslie tapes part of her ad outside of Salvatore’s barber shop, mentioned in Season One. Also, they keep Sweetums owners, The Newports, in character, and seeing the return of small recurring characters like Doctor Harris are fun easter eggs for loyal viewers. I think my favorite nod to episodes past was the quick flashes of “Fewer Libraries” and “One park ranger for every 10,000 racoons”  when Leslie shows all the things she’s in favor of during the ad she made.

Ultimately, the ad Leslie and Ben ended up using was perfect for her campaign, even though it was much softer than Ben would have liked. They used footage from one of Leslie’s play-ads from when she was 10, which Bobby Newport was impressed by. He even asked if ‘that girl’ would do endorsements for him. Very cute interchange.

My favorite quotes:

April: “Hey Anne. Are you still a nurse, or did they fire you because you slept with all the doctors?”
Ann: “Do you want to try that again?”

Ann: “What’s wrong Andy?”
Andy: “Just got a headache, and I’m seeing double. And I’ve got a song stuck in my head, and my teeth hurt. Also, I’m hungry.”
Ann: “Okay well, some of those things are symptoms, and some of them are just being a person.”

Chris: “Ron Swanson!” as he points his fingers at Ron, gun style, “How are you?”
Ron: “Present.”

Tom: “I don’t know which idea is better, but I do know that I’ll end up on the winning side. When I bet on horses, I never lose. Why? I bet on all the horses.”

Leslie: “I’ll pick Ann and Donna for my team. You can take Jerry.”
Ben: “What?!”
Leslie: “Well, you wanted to go negative. You get the biggest negative in the world, buddy.”

Ron: “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?” (on Chris’ apparent buddying up to him)

Ron: (to Chris) “We did just have lunch last week, so I feel like we’ve spent enough social time together for the foreseeable… ever.”

Leslie: “We’re not going to quit the campaign. Why would we do that?”
Bobby Newport: “Because… I want it. C’mon, gimme it. Gimme it. Gimme it. C’mon gimme it. Just gimme the election. I’m sorry… please. Please.”
Ben: “Well Leslie, he does make a compelling argument.”

[easyazon-link asin=”B002DPPH6W”]Parks & Recreation[/easyazon-link] returns next Thursday, January 26, with an episode entitled: “Bowling for Votes”. I’ll be back next Friday – same bat time, same bat channel!