Parks and Recreation Episode 5.13 Emergency Response

Leslie is pitching a presentation for a new park in Pawnee to the planning commission. However, Councilman Jamm has other plans - specifically, to sell the lot to Paunch Burger. As the commission is unable to approve an underfunded project, Leslie has to raise $50,000 in one week or lose the lot to Jamm's proposition. Ben comes up with the genius idea to fund the parks project with their wedding registry instead of on useless department store items. The two agree to hold a black tie gala, combined with a silent auction, as a means of making up the remaining $50,000. With the plan decided, Leslie's team gets to work.

A week later, the Parks and Recreation team has eight hours to finish preparations for their fundraiser. As Leslie assigns each member an individual task, Chris rolls up in a police car panicked, ordering Leslie back to City Hall. It appears the Department of Emergency Preparedness has picked this day for their annual review of Pawnee's crisis procedures. Having failed 12 years in a row, Leslie has no choice but to go and leave Ben to manage the gala preparations.

Elsewhere, April is with Andy at the police station, helping him prepare to take the police entrance exam. The written exam has Andy nervous, but he's overconfident about the personality portion, citing the many times people have used the phrase, "...but he's got a great personality," in reference to him. April gives Andy a dead rabbit, which she found on the side of the road, as a good luck charm. With the creepy but thoughtful gift in hand, Andy enters the exam room.

Inside City Council, Leonard Tchulm - the head of the Indiana Department of Emergency Preparedness - addresses Leslie and her team. With the most important event she's ever organized looming in eight hours, Knope is determined to knock the emergency drill out of the park so that she can get back to setting up the fundraiser. As the drill begins, Leonard informs everyone that their "emergency" is Avian Flu. Leslie is organized, having assembled a massive binder - which she calls "Mission Im-Pawnee-able: Knope Protocol" - just for this instance.

Back at the fundraiser site, Ben orders Donna to go find some chairs, since they have tables but little else. Ron Swanson offers to appear on Pawnee Today - Pawnee's local access news show - to promote the event, as Leslie is stuck dealing with the Emergency Preparedness Drill. Tom is hard at work trying to convince a local chef to cater the event for free, but since that makes little business sense, the chef scoffs at the idea and tells Tom to leave.

Leslie tries desperately to eradicate the hypothetical bird flu from Pawnee, but the IDEP's Leonard Tchulm keeps throwing curveballs her way. First, he informs everyone that the transit systems have been shut down and because he was on one of the buses, Chris is now infected. He takes the news in stride. Then, Leonard claims the cell phone tower has been shut off and confiscates everyone's phones. Realizing the fix is in, Leslie uncovers that Councilman Jamm put the IDEP up to this abnormally thorough drill as a means of foiling her fundraiser plans. Having uncovered his evil plot, Leslie and her team immediately tank the drill on purpose so they can get back to the gala. Within minutes, the entire town of Pawnee is theoretically dead.

Back at the police station, Andy's personality exam is not going as well as he originally thought. Once the lie detector test is properly hooked up, Andy gets a little nervous and starts answering the administering officer's questions completely wrong. He fails the personality exam in a miserable fashion. Meanwhile, Ron Swanson has been forced to take control of Pawnee Today, as its usual host Joan Callamezzo has passed out on set from a terrible hangover. Ron fields viewer's calls with poise, helping them with their obscure problems while promoting the upcoming fundraiser.

Arriving in a panic, Leslie is shocked to find out the Parks and Rec team has pulled off the gala in the nick of time. Tom made food arrangements by convincing all of the fast food places in town to cater the event - after all, they have the most to lose from a new Paunch Burger. Ron's performance on Pawnee Today attracted a larger audience, and he even helped a child perform a tracheotomy on his elderly uncle, so for him, it was a rewarding day. Ben convinced the firemen on site, who'd been using the lot for a triage during the "emergency," to stick around for the event.

The gala is a huge success, and the Parks and Rec committee easily reaches their $50,000 goal. The IDEP's Leonard Tchulm is in attendance and agrees to give Pawnee another chance to complete their emergency preparedness evaluation. As the party goes on in full effect, Leslie tells Ben that this has been the best wedding present ever, so much so that she wishes they could just skip the next three months and get married that night. After a momentary pause, Ben says "Let's do it then. Let's get married, here, tonight." To be continued!