Parks and Recreation

Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones) attends a town meeting to ask that a construction pit be filled in after her boyfriend, Andy (Chris Pratt), fell into it and broke his legs. Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), a mid-level bureaucrat in the Pawnee parks and recreation department, promises to help turn the pit into a beautiful park. She is helped by Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari) and her former lover, city planner Mark Brendanawicz (Paul Schneider). Her boss, Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman), who believes in as little government interference as possible, initially refuses to greenlight the project. But Mark, impressed with Leslie’s optimism, convinces Ron to approve it by calling in a favor.

Leslie and the pit subcommittee canvas neighborhood houses to generate support for her park project and enroll attendees for an upcoming town meeting. The plan does not go as expected, especially when Tom detaches from the group and starts using questionable tactics, such as seeking favors from developers in return for preferential treatment. Leslie hopes the public meeting will impress her mother, local school official Marlene Griggs-Knope (Pamela Reed). However, the park’s supporters do not attend and opponents turn out in large numbers to voice their disapproval. The project is nearly voted down, but Leslie resorts to a filibuster to save it.

Leslie invites a local reporter (Alison Becker) to write a story about the pit, but the interviews go badly. Fearful of a negative story, Leslie asks Mark to talk to the reporter, but is jealous after Mark sleeps with her. When Leslie confronts Mark, he angrily quits the pit subcommittee. Ann convinces Mark to make up with Leslie and dissuade the reporter from using much of her negative material. Although the story is still largely unfavorable, Leslie remains optimistic. Meanwhile, Tom tries to advance his career by purposely losing online Scrabble games to his boss, Ron.

As Andy cleans up the house to surprise Ann, Leslie tries to infiltrate the boys’ club of politics by crashing an after-work gathering at Pawnee Town Hall. Trying to fit in, she opens a gift basket worth more than $25, breaking the local government ethics laws. She apologetically refers Pawnee officials to a website about the pit to highlight her accomplishments, but gets in more trouble when underage intern April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza) posts a video of herself drinking on the site. Leslie is called before an ethics committee, but is let off with a warning after Ron, who despises the town’s disciplinary process, defends her. Leslie is pleased when Mark tells her the warning officially makes her a member of the boys’ club.

During a banquet honoring her mother’s public service, Leslie tries to convince a local zoning official to support her proposed park project. The official resists the idea, so Leslie’s mother suggests Leslie blackmail her with information about her husband’s drinking problem. Leslie reluctantly goes along with the idea, but soon becomes uncomfortable with the seamy side of politics and decides not to go through with it. Meanwhile, Tom and Mark ditch the festivities to pick up women at a bar, but Mark finds he preferred hanging out with Leslie and Ann at the banquet.

Leslie attends what she believes is a business meeting with an elderly local government bigwig, unaware that her mother has secretly set her up on a blind date. An angry Ann learns Andy could have had his leg casts removed weeks ago, but lied about them so Ann would keep pampering him. Mark, disillusioned with his career, makes a pass at Ann, which she harshly rejects. Leslie and Mark end up drinking beer together by the pit and Mark tries to kiss her, but she refuses because he is drunk. Mark stumbles into the pit.