Parks and Recreation Review - 4.12 'Campaign Ad'

Posted by Dimitri Dorlis on 01.20.2012

Leslie meets her competition for city councilor, Andy and April go to the doctor, and Chris hangs out with Ron.

Not much to say here, except that I finally started playing as a mage in Skyrim and oh my god why did I not do this sooner?

Also if you were wondering, which you aren’t but I get to write this anyway, I’m rooting for an all-Harbaugh Super Bowl. That would be way more fun than listen to ESPN tell us how great a Patriots/Giants game will not be.



If you followed any news about the show while it was on hiatus, and I know there is maybe one of you who did, then you’d know that Paul Rudd was signed on in a guest capacity. You also know that Leslie is running a campaign for city councilor, and we haven’t seen any of her opponents yet. I’m going to let you add two and two together and figure out who showed up tonight as Leslie’s biggest opponent in her campaign.

Thank god the character is great. Paul Rudd portrays Bobby Newport, a man who has coasted on the success of his father his entire life, and owns a surprising 70% approval rating. Most of that has to do with his father employing over half the town, but still, 70% is pretty good in any election. It looks like a tough road to overcome. Luckily, newly-appointed campaign manager Ben has an idea: run an attack ad at halftime of the annual Pawnee/Eagleton basketball game (that’s the second time they’ve brought it up in two weeks. I was really hoping they would do something at it, but since it apparently occurred during this episode, guess not). Leslie is hesitant about doing an attack ad, as she wants to run a clean campaign or something. The two argue and eventually decide to make both a positive and negative ad, and then vote on which one is better.

It’s a simple storyline, really. Leslie wants to run a positive campaign because she is a positive person, while Ben wants to do an attack ad because he’s seen that Bobby Newport is a moron, and that he can be beaten. Even the ending is obvious but fine, as it becomes clear that Leslie doesn’t know how to make a real campaign ad, while Ben makes a really good attack ad. The two continue to argue, eventually missing out on running an ad during the game altogether. This leads to a compromise ad, which is actually incredibly well done.

To make the ending even better, we had a true face to face between Leslie and Bobby. It turns out that Bobby has entitlement issues and is mad that someone is running against him. He whines for a bit and the audience realize just how unfit Bobby Newport is to win a public election (the campaign ads throughout the episode helped stress the point as well). What this last segment really did was drive the point home that Leslie still has a shot at winning, while the overall story of the main plot was that Ben and Leslie are going to have to compromise, whether it be in their relationship or on campaign strategy.

Meanwhile, over in the B-plot, Andy manages to hurt himself again. Ann reminds both him and April that they have insurance provided for by the city government. Of course this leads to a bunch of scenes where the married couple take full advantage of their insurance, getting eye exams, x-rays, and allergy tests. It’s the standard stuff from these two, but that doesn’t make it any less hilarious, especially with Andy, who kept finding new ways to injure himself. The gravy train eventually runs out, as the twosome find that their insurance does not cover dentistry. A poorly-conceived getaway attempt ends with Andy going headfirst into an ambulance, but it was still a fun ride throughout, and really let Chris Pratt show off his comedic skills.

Finally, Chris hangs out with Ron for a day. It’s a simple plot, really, with the obvious personality clash leading to some fun situations (Ron cancelling the dam is hilarious just on its own), but it has some real consequences, as Chris thinks Ron would be perfect to fill the role of assistant city manager, and he’d be right. Ron is willing to do all the tough things that Chris can’t bring himself to do, while Chris is a much easier person to talk to compared to Ron. It’ll be interesting if they go down this route, but it would definitely not be a bad idea (this means Ron will end up declining it because he hates government and stuff but whatever).

Stray Observations
- Quick Parks and Rec drinking game for this episode: take a shot every time Bobby Newport mentions his father.
- “Hey Ann, are you still a nurse, or did they fire you because you slept with all the doctors?”
- if this episode proved anything, it’s that Andy is the best when it comes to physical comedy. The gold record scene is just wonderful.
- Mr. Belvedere would probably make a good campaign manager.
- “Ron Swanson, how are you?” “Present.”
- Thank god Champion showed up again in this episode. I was afraid they’d forget all about the little guy.
- “When I bet on horses, I never lose. Why? I bet on all the horses.”
- “Well you wanted to go negative, so you get the biggest negative in the world, buddy.” And so the continued burn-fest of Jerry continues.
- Tom, Ben, and Jerry making voices is wonderful.
- “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?”
- I’m sure someone, somewhere is writing out a list of all the things that Leslie Knope is pro.
- “Some guy looked at my weiner, touched it. That was weird.” “And that guy wasn’t even a doctor.” “That…what?”
- Continuity alert: Ron tries to use the automatic door closers before Chris can get in the room.
- 10 year old Leslie is adorable. Anyone who says otherwise is dumb.
- Hey, Kyle showed up! I mean, sure, no one still respects Kyle, but he’s still employed, at least.
- I love how Bobby Newport talks like a 10 year old who doesn’t get his way at the end.
- “No, no more doctors. They’re a bunch of scam artists. They reel you in with the free stuff, and next thing you know, BAM! You run into an ambulance. Every time.” Never change, Andy.

The 411: This was an important episode for the show. It introduced the big opponent for the second half of the season, gave Ron some character movement in regards to his job, and featured a great Andy/April plot. All of the jokes tonight hit, which is a hard thing for any comedy to do. It doesn’t get a 10 because it wasn’t as good as “End of the World” was, but it was still a very good episode. I’m gonna end up really disappointed when I have to give this show anything below a 9, because it’s just been that good.

Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]