Paul Rudd AND Adam Scott? On Parks and Recreation? Gah! Had Jason Segel also appeared on the show last night, I’m quite sure my heart would have given out from the excitement of seeing all my pretend boyfriends in one place.
“Campaign Ad” saw Leslie and Ben butt heads when they had to come up with a campaign ad to air during the big Pawnee high school basketball game. Leslie wanted to be true to herself and stay positive. Ben wanted to go negative and point out the many, many flaws in Leslie’s opponent’s campaign. Paul Rudd played said opponent, a dumb and rich guy named Bobby Newport who’s had everything handed to him on a silver platter and expects the same of the election. I’m glad Leslie’s opponent was like this – had he been a sinister villain it would have been too easy to side with Ben about the attack ad. Bobby Newport is a perfectly nice guy, but he’s dumb and has never had to work hard and doesn’t even want to be on City Council. Leslie wants to beat him, but he’s not such a jerk that she wants to publicly rip him to shreds. She wants to politely warn him that she’ll kick his butt in a debate, and then do it.
The episode was packed with humor, in so many ways. The Bobby Newport character was delightfully ridiculous, as were both of the ads Ben and Leslie originally created. Leslie had a giant list of things she was “pro”, but never even mentioned that she was running for City Council. Ben, Jerry and Tom (Tom & Jerry? Ben & Jerry’s? What joke should I make???) spent most of their time practicing their attack ad voices, which had me in a fit of giggles. Just watch!
The whole campaign team agreed, though, that Ben’s ad was the one that would get the job done. Leslie couldn’t go through with it, though – yes, she dreamed of winning an election, but she also dreamed of running a positive campaign. A compromise was found – they created an ad using the pretend campaign ad Leslie Knope had made at age ten, and used Bobby Newport’s own campaign ad to point out the flaws with his candidacy. Unfortunately, they had to put it on YouTube since they’d already lost their ad time.
Meanwhile, after Andy hurt his head we all learned that there are approximately 4,000 things wrong with him. He and April spent the day visiting multiple doctors and having their various needs attended to. Again, it was silly and ridiculous in the most delightful way. As the couple tried to flee the hospital to escape a $500 bill (poor Andy has no idea what “insurance” really is) Andy ran head into an ambulance.
I also loved the stuff with Chris and Ron. After Chris asked Ron to attend a meeting cutting programs, he invited the mustached one out for lunch. Ron said no, Chris laughed, and suddenly a confused Ron was out for lunch with Chris. Ron quickly put a kibosh on the budding friendship, and later Chris revealed that he was actually considering Ron for Ben’s old job. Interesting! I wouldn’t mind seeing Leslie lose that election if it meant she could have Ron’s old job, and he’d work under Chris.
There were so many small, hilarious moments in this episode that I’m almost certain to watch it again. What did you guys think of “Campaign Ad”? Did Paul Rudd crack you up?
- “Some of those things are symptoms, and some of them are just being a person.” – Ann
- Tom bets on all horses.
- Among Andy’s other injuries was hitting his head when he sneezed his face into a wall.
- “I ate a Twix with the wrapper still on and the wrapper never came out.” – Andy
- “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.” – Leslie
- “I hit my head, or brain helmet.” – Andy
- “Next thing I knew we were at lunch. Did he drug me?” – Ron
Some of my favorites:
- Better Better Business Bureau
- Westside Detoxification and Revitalization Project (What’s the Westside???)
- Fewer Libraries
- Playgrounds, Playgrounds, Playgrounds
- One police officer for every 5 citizens
- Start Talking to Cuba Again
- Unionizing Ice Cream Trucks
- Get Europe out of debt
