Ep 19. Live Ammo

Leslie Knope, the Deputy Director of the Parks and Recreation department of Pawnee, Indiana, is always on the go. In this episode, Leslie is passionate about her new initiative - to ban smoking in all public places. She's been working tirelessly to convince the City Council to pass the law. To make her point, Leslie hosts a public forum where people can voice their opinions on the issue.

At the forum, the supportive crowd cheers her and her anti-smoking stance, but things take a wrong turn when a man starts smoking in the room. Immediately, Leslie feels defeated and ashamed as her campaign hits a roadblock - people laugh at the irony of holding an anti-smoking forum while someone is smoking.

Meanwhile, Ron Swanson, the Director of the Parks and Recreation department, is preparing for the dreaded "Ron Swanson Pyramid of Greatness Employee of the Month Award." The award is a monthly recognition for the best employee, with the prize being a temporary parking spot close to City Hall. Tom Haverford, who desperately wants to win the award, offers Ron a gift card and flatters him about his pyramid. Ron is initially taken in by the flattery but eventually sees through it.

Elsewhere, Ben Wyatt, Leslie's boyfriend, is having trouble finding work after resigning from his job with Congressman Murray. He's still holding a grudge after the congressman had him resign due to a scandal he uncovered. Ben has been working odd jobs and is feeling underwhelmed with himself. Jerry Gergich, one of the employees of the department, offers Ben a job as his personal assistant, which Ben reluctantly takes.

Leslie is still troubled by the public smoking incident and decides to take action. She enlists the help of Tom and April Ludgate, another employee of the department, to launch a guerilla attack on smokers in the park. Leslie's plan is to catch smokers in their act and forcefully confiscate their cigarettes.

Ron is tasked with keeping the employees in check, but he’s equally curious as to what Leslie is up to. When he finds out, he warns Leslie of the potential backlash she might face, but she’s committed to her cause. During their operation, Tom gets caught up with a smoker who happens to be the owner of a successful restaurant. The owner threatens Tom with a lawsuit, which scares him into trying to convince Leslie to drop her campaign and issue an apology.

Meanwhile, Ben is getting tired of his job as Jerry's assistant. Although Jerry is a pretty nice guy, he's disorganized, bumbling, and a bit of a klutz. Ben decides to quit and take a risk by starting his own business. He reaches out to Tom and Andy Dwyer, another employee of the department who has a budding music career, for their help. They brainstorm a few business ideas and come up with the idea of creating a mobile phone game called “Cones of Dunshire.”

Back at the Parks and Recreation department, Leslie is feeling the pressure from her colleagues to apologize to the restaurant owner. She's also struggling with her own decision to go against her values. In the end, Leslie decides to stick to her cause and apologizes to the crowd for the smoking incident at her forum. She also announces that her anti-smoking law campaign will continue.

The episode ends with Ron presenting the "Ron Swanson Pyramid of Greatness Employee of the Month Award" to the winner - Jerry Gergich. Tom looks disappointed, but Ron later reveals that he made up the award just to encourage the employees, and he wants everyone to win. Tom is relieved and grateful, and he shows a rare moment of sincerity when he thanks Ron for his effort.

Overall, "Live Ammo" is a fun and entertaining episode of Parks and Recreation. The episode is full of hilarious moments, from April's reaction to catching a smoker to Ron's deadpan delivery of his award speech. The episode also introduces some interesting story arcs that will play out in the later seasons, such as Ben's aspiration to start his own business and Leslie's campaign for the anti-smoking law.