'Parks and Recreation' Season 4, Episode 3 Recap - 'Born and Raised'

Behold: an episode of "Parks and Recrecreation" so referential it was practically an episode of "30 Rock." Of course, that's not a bad thing, is it?

"Born and Raised" riffed on some familiar political theater that we've seen from our politicians, but did it Pawnee style. Leslie has written a book about Pawnee (which, by the way, is going to be a real book!) and published it as part of her campaign. She then went on Joan's show to get the Joan's Book Club sticker of approval (reference A) but was instead ambushed with some "gotcha" journalism (reference B) as Joan accused her of not being born in Pawnee like she claimed.

Leslie thinks that's just ridiculous, but when demands for her to produce her long-form birth certificate (reference C) arise, she is forced to go to Eagleton to get it. And when she does (with a little help from Burt Maclin, FBI), she makes a shocking discovery: she's actually an Eagletonian *gag*.

So Leslie makes a big speech about it not being where you were born, but where you were raised that counts. And the viewing audience would feel dumb for wanting to see Obama's birth certificate, except that I don't think any "birthers" actually watch this show.

But the real fun came from the B story, which had Ann making every attempt to have a conversation with April and/or Ron that lasts more than 10 seconds. She strikes out again and again, asking April for music recommendations ("The internet?") and asking Ron what he would take with him on a desert island ("Silence"). But finally she gets them with the gruesome medical story.

That little victory is fun, but the whole thing was really leading to two amazing Ron moments: one in which he whittled an entire recorder in a matter of minutes, and another in which he calls Ann "Jenny" when she gets too chummy. Bonus points for when he calls Chris "Steve."

Extra bonus points for "Is she going to powder her vagina?"

So after our little detour into Tammyland last week, we're back into Leslie's campaign. The ending was pretty sweet, and we even got a meaningful (and ever so longing) look between Leslie and Ben.