'Parks and Recreation' Season 4, Episode 12 Recap - 'Campaign Ad'

"Parks and Recreation" has an embarrassment of riches as far as talent goes. Each cast member is hilarious in his or her own right, the writers are top-notch, and each episode is wonderfully crafted. So adding Paul Rudd to the mix just seems outright unfair.

But that's exactly what happened in "Campaign Ad." We had an idea that Rudd would be showing up, we just weren't quite sure how soon. As it turns out, the answer is "very soon," as Rudd appeared in this episode to play Leslie's opponent in the City Council race, Bobby Newport.

Yep, another Newport. Fans of the show will recognize the last name. Bobby is the spoiled son of the family, a dim-witted, aimless, but generally good-spirited man who wanted to get his dad off his back, and decided that running for City Council would be pretty easy.

The character seems to be a bit of a Mitt Romney type: very rich and out of touch with the middle class, but trying just as hard as he can to connect. His fancy purebred dog that he got from a foreign dignitary doesn't help much.

However, Leslie still finds herself down 70 points in the polls, and has some serious ground to make up. The big plan from Ben (in his new position as campaign manager) is to buy ad time during the big Pawnee-Eagleton basketball game to air a campaign ad.

The question, though, is which kind of ad to air: Ben thinks an attack ad is a good idea, but that goes against Leslie's principles. Eventually they reach a cute middle ground, but only after their shot at airing during the game has passed. But the ad gets enough attention on YouTube that Bobby at least acknowledges that Leslie exists, and in a scene that showcases once again why everybody frickin' loves Paul Rudd, he whines and pleads and pouts in trying to convince Leslie to quit.

In conclusion, Paul Rudd is hilarious.

The other storylines were fun but short: Ron is being measured up by Chris for assistant city manager, and April and Andy go to the hospital when Andy gets a minor concussion, and use their insurance to get treatment for the ridiculous number of other problems they also have.

As dumb as Andy once again proves to be, though, could Bobby possibly be even dumber? I sincerely hope those two interact at some point, and soon. Rudd should be back for a few more episodes later on, so keep your fingers crossed.

Notes & Quotes:

-"How are you?" "Present."

-"Fix me!"

-"...potato shape, smudge, middle finger..."

-"That's not even padded."

-"They took my blood for science."