Parks and Recreation added a welcome new twist to the Knope 2012 campaign last night with the introduction of Leslie’s biggest opponent. We meet Bobby Newport (played by the always enjoyable Paul Rudd) at one of his rallies where we find out he is the heir to the Sweetums fortune and he is running just because he can.  P&R always manages to throw in commentary on the political process by giving it to us in smaller terms. It teaches us about how the media works and how constituents often don’t know what’s best for them. The introduction of Bobby Newport introduces us to a familiar political foe—the power hungry child of someone who is already powerful. Casting Paul Rudd here was an excellent choice because, like Chris Pratt in a lot of ways, he’s like a dumb puppy. Likeable, yet you don’t want him with any major responsibility.

Leslie’s campaign must now decide how to go about attacking Newport with an ad that will be aired during halftime of a popular high school basketball game. New campaign manager Ben wants to go negative, while Leslie hates the idea and wants to talk about her own positive self. The campaign team splits into two, one team helping Leslie, one helping Ben and they make two ads and decide to pick the better one.

While all of this is happening we have two B-stories. One with April and Andy getting all of their ailments checked out (this list is seemingly in the hundreds for Andy). Also Ron and Chris start to hang out since Ben is gone as is everyone else. April and Andy’s quest to fix their numerous problems (broken thumb, wisdom teeth, hunger) is pretty hilarious. Just listening to Andy rattle off each of his problems to a doctor got a big laugh from me. Also realization that they have medical insurance was funny itself. The Ron and Chris story fell flat for me. I love both of those characters but it reeked of the writers just trying to give those two guys something to do for the half hour. While I wasn’t a fan of their storyline, I can always listen to Ron talk about how little he cares for other people’s passions (also how he put out fires on his own).

After being treated to a number of hilariously inept Bobby Newport commercials where he talks about who is father is and how much he loves expensive dogs, we see the two teams put their ads together. The highlight of the episode, which I think most will agree on, is when everyone in Ben’s group works on saying “Bobby Newport” in that menacing, negative ad style that we all know so well. What makes this great is just how long it goes on, finally ending with Jerry. When we see the two ads, Leslie’s is clearly inferior as it doesn’t even mention she’s running. It does however list the hundred or so things she is in favor of. Ben’s ad is actually really good pointing out how Bobby Newport has had everything in his life handed to him. Unable to go negative, Leslie stops Ben from submitting the tape for the halftime spot. This means they need to come up with something they can agree on for an ad.

Since the ad time is obviously lost they decide to make a YouTube video ad that kind of combines the positive and negative aspects of both their ads. What they come up with is fairly brilliant. The ad shows a 10-year-old Leslie Knope suggesting a much smarter plan than the adult Bobby Newport. Not a smash hit, but it has about 1,000 views.

This leads to the finale of the episode where a clueless Bobby invites Leslie and Ben out to dinner and begs for her to stop running. He’s embarrassed by the video but he acts like a spoiled child with how he begs her to stop and just let him have the position. This seems to get something burning within Leslie as she toughens up and says she won’t stop running the ad. This episode serves as a wonderful building block for future shows during the campaign because it gives Leslie a true villain. Bobby Newport is everything she’s not: entitled, lazy and incompetent. After meeting with Newport, Leslie is more determined to win than ever.

Observations:

• At the rally I loved Bobby checking with his stoic security card on whether he was running unopposed.
• The reveal of Andy’s nasty broken thumb was hilarious.
• 10-year-old Leslie and Bobby Newport have one thing in common-they both love dogs.
• I also enjoyed April and Andy dine and dash after she’s had dental work done.
• “My dad’s friends with John Cougar Mellancamp, that’s pretty cool.” - Bobby Newport’s ad
• Chris asking Ron how he is: “Present.”