Parks and Recreation s04e21 Episode Script

Bus Tour

Okay, everybody.
Big, big news.
Uh, Leslie, would you like to do the honors? No, I think you should deliver the news.
Yeah, but you're the candidate.
Yeah, but you're the brilliant campaign manager.
- But you're the cutest.
- I love you.
I love you too.
Hey, were you going to tell us something? - Oh, yeah.
- Oh, right.
The latest poll has us only two points behind Bobby Newport! - Whoo! Yes! - Two points! I know, you guys, we only have one more day to close the gap, and we're going to do so in a one-time campaign blitz aboard the S.
S.
Knope.
This is going to be our home for the next 24 hours.
And if we win, hopefully, it will be the home - that Ben and I share forever.
- Uh, what? It's just an idea I had.
We don't have to do it.
Whatever.
We can talk about it.
Okay, here we go! We've come so far.
I want this so bad, I can taste it.
When I close my eyes, I can picture the flash of the cameras at my swearing in.
And I can hear the sound of the applause when I take my oath.
And I can see in the crowd president Obama smiling at me.
He made it.
I didn't think he would come, but he made it.
Hey, buddy.
A few days ago, on a routine campaign stop in downtown Pawnee, one Leslie Knope-- pause--was attacked-- play-- by a pie.
Luckily, it only hit Jerry, so no damage was done.
Play.
The only evidence we have is a video shot by-- pause--my wife, April Ludgate.
This is Bert Macklin's greatest assignment yet.
If you are watching, perpetrator, just know that you are still at large.
Okay, listen up, folks.
We have a security situation here.
As you know, when we reach the location, I will be conducting a security sweep.
Also, from now on, we'll be using code names.
You can address me as "eagle one.
" Ann, code name: "Been there, done that.
" April is "currently doing that.
" Donna is "it happened once in a dream.
" Chris, code name: "If I had to pick a dude.
" Ben is "eagle two.
" Oh, thank God.
No, please.
Come-- we have a problem.
The vans we rented to take senior citizens to the polls tomorrow are now, quote, "no longer available.
" What? I thought we locked those vans down, like, a week ago.
Yeah, we worked really hard to get those seniors back on our side after that ramp debacle.
- I really need their votes.
- Okay.
Tom, go down there and get those vans back.
I'll use my legendary Haverford charm.
I have total faith in you.
Take Donna with you.
Ron, you go too.
April, you are a very intelligent and savvy young woman.
I do not just think of you as just a gofer, but right now, I need you to get me a triple espresso with eight sugars.
Okay.
Wha-- I'm on it.
I'll go.
I'm going.
Please, I can go.
I don't mind.
It's better than listening to her stump speech for a millionth time.
No.
I will do it.
I have to do it.
I need to do it.
Good-bye.
This has been a difficult year for me, romantically.
Millicent Gergich, Ann Perkins, Andy's professor-- lots of disappointment, but if I keep my body moving and my mind occupied at all times, I will avoid falling into a bottomless pit of despair.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the next city councilor of the great city of Pawnee, Leslie Knope! This is "eagle one," "been there, done that" is leaving the stage.
"I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about it" is in position.
What do we want for our city? I'll tell you what I want.
I want better schools, I want cleaner streets, I want to expel the violent gangs of geese in Detweiler Square.
And I will finally eliminate this city's libraries! Thank you.
In the last few weeks, we've turned this campaign into a well-oiled machine.
Leslie's stump speech is 10 minutes and 40 seconds every time.
Here, check this out.
There will be a big laugh right now.
And now, a two-second awkward silence after Leslie does her Rodney Dangerfield impression.
I tell ya, these geese don't give me no respect.
No respect at all.
She insists on trying it every time, and it never works.
But the rest of the speech, fantastic.
When I was building parks, helping the community, and putting together the harvest festival, where was Bobby? He and his father, Nick Newport were exploiting this city for their personal gain.
You deserve more.
Here's the best part.
Watch what happens when she says Together, we can build a better Pawnee.
Get on your feet Everybody says they care about the issues, but at the end of the day, all anyone really wants is free clothing shot at them from a cannon.
I've been staring at this board for days.
I'm so close to putting it together.
There's got to be something we missed.
Let's go over this again.
The video shows that the pie came from a high angle, so it would've hit your face like this.
Mm-hmm.
Don't close your eyes.
Uh-- No, no.
It was actually from up higher.
Is that about right? - Yeah.
- Good.
Clean yourself up.
Let's do this again.
Hey, Bill! Tom Haverford from the Knope campaign.
And you brought the whole posse with you, huh? I'm not changing my mind.
We already paid for those vans, Mr.
Butler.
$900 for one day.
Yeah, it was $900, but now it's $10,000.
Excuse me? The Newport campaign offered me 10 grand to just rent the vans and park them somewhere.
So I'm going to tear up your contract, and I'm going to take the money.
Anything else? No? Great.
Well, what now? He's just playing hardball.
Let me tell you how it's gonna go down.
In a few minutes, we'll walk in there, we'll give him our demands, and then, bam! I start crying.
We need the vans, so please, give the vans, please? We need the vans.
And if elected, I promise to stop the Newports and Sweetums from blatantly dumping contaminants into the Pawnee river.
Leslie, can you comment on Bobby's father Nick Newport? Nick Newport has been intimidating and bullying and poisoning this town for years.
Frankly, he's a real jerk, and if he thinks he can buy this election for his son, he's wrong.
Sorry, I meant can you comment on Nick Newport dying earlier today? He died? I Sad.
Is that your official statement? "I sad"? No, my official statement is that is overall, a bummer.
Oof.
And--and together we can build a better Pawnee.
- Get on your feet - No, this is isn't the time.
No, guys.
Get up and make it happen Frankly, he's a real jerk.
Harsh words, but this reporter does love those t-shirt cannons.
Now, Jen, what are your thoughts about all of this? This is not a time for politics.
I am calling on Leslie Knope to cancel all of her campaign events out of respect for the Newport family.
Anything else would be a classless move, on par with spray-painting nipples on the Lincoln memorial.
Okay, emergency meeting.
I need everyone to gather around me in order of how much I trust them.
Here's the situation.
A man has died.
But that man is 98 years old, and he's an awful man.
However, he is a man, and he died.
Also, you called the dead man a jerk.
However, he was a jerk.
He put a lot of people out of work, he had tons of mistresses, he polluted this town.
Okay, Ben, what do we do? Okay, it's unfortunate, but the stakes are too high.
We can't just stop campaigning.
We stop, we lose.
Good answer, great body.
Ann, try to beat what he said.
I'm not going to beat him.
Not with that attitude.
Okay, fine.
I think you should stop.
At least until you apologize to Bobby in person.
April? I wasn't listening, but I strongly disagree with Ann.
Andy? If the--if the guy--if-- Okay.
I absolutely think that we should keep campaigning.
The worst possible thing we could do would be to stop, 'cause if the campaign stops, we all stop.
And stopping is certain death.
Who wants a panini? Anyone? Everyone? I'm going to say everyone.
All right.
All right, Leslie, what's your call? Ann, there is nothing harder in the entire world than saying no to your beautiful face.
But I'm going to.
No! We're going to keep campaigning.
Okay, but we're going to do it in a classy and respectful way to get Ann off of our backs.
What's next on the "schedge?" If you let Newport have the vans, they just sit there in a lot.
If you let us have the vans, they drive around town all day.
Free publicity.
Everyone will see your logo.
Which is you all pressed up on some chick with huge cans.
Yeah.
It was a hell of a day.
People need to know about it.
And I don't need free publicity.
I can just pay for it.
With my $10,000.
Look, I ain't gonna try to play a player.
You're trying to get beaucoup bucks just like the rest of us.
So how about this? I have a business idea for a gourmet alcoholic yogurt.
I call it Yogurt platinum.
I'll let you in on the ground floor.
And let me tell you, it's going to be worth way more than 10 grand.
Yeah, but now that I know your bad idea, I can start the company myself.
With my $10,000.
No, you can't do that! Ron! Tom, Donna, could you please give us a moment? I'd like to talk to Bill, man to man.
He's gonna steal yogurt platinum.
No, I'm not.
"We're all your friends," said Mr.
bacon.
"Welcome home.
" The end.
And that is Groffle, the awful Waffle, a book that I wrote and published on behalf of my education initiative.
Any questions? Yes? How did Groffle cross the syrup river? And why did you call Mr.
Newport a jerk? Ah--well, I should not have called Nick Newport a jerk, because we need to be respectful of all dead people.
I mean, not Stalin or Hitler, but-- I'm not calling Nick Newport Hitler.
Ms.
Knope, I have a follow-up to what I'm now deciding to call "jerk-gate.
" Are there any other deceased members of Bobby Newport's family you'd like to attack? And quit ducking the waffle question.
Did Groffle use a boat of some kind? All right, that's all the questions for now.
Thank you, everybody.
Are we to assume that he swam across the syrup river? Ms.
Knope! I'm never going to get away from these Nick Newport questions.
It's obvious what you need to do.
You have to apologize to Bobby and stop campaigning.
Okay, fine.
We go to Bobby Newport, you apologize Good.
And then we leak the details to the press, which restores your reputation and buys us enough time - to finish the bus tour.
- Nice.
No, that's not a real apology.
It's just sneaky.
I don't like it.
Ann, for once, this is not about you.
A man is dead.
Look, friend, I respect your slavish devotion to the free market, but you can't welch on a contract.
Where I come from, a man's word is sacred.
Okay, what's your stance on pinky swears, George Washington? I'm taking the money.
Fine.
I'll match it.
I'll give you $10,000 for the vans.
Deal? No.
Price has gone up.
Now it's $12,000.
What? Why? Look, I own a fleet of 22 crappy white vans, and for some reason there's a massive bidding war going on over them.
Now for a guy whose only assets are 22 crappy white vans, it's pretty much a dream scenario, so I'm just going to ride this out, see where it takes me.
And now it's 15,000.
Okay, I talked Newport's people into giving us ten minutes alone with Bobby, so we get in there, we apologize, and then we get back on the campaign trail.
Okay, how do we leak this to the press? Do we, like, release a statement? Do we call somebody? Um, I don't think that's going to be a problem.
Oh, my God, why are there so many people here? It's a trap.
It's a trap! We got to get out of here.
Turn around! Turn around! This is a time of solemnity and remembrance.
This is not a time for politi-- Oh, wow.
Leslie Knope is driving her campaign bus through a memorial service.
- Back it up! - Back it up! - Okay, back up! - Back it up! Just when we thought she couldn't stoop any lower.
Just--oh! - Oh! - Aah! - Uh - Go forward! Go forward! Go forward! I feel like he's dying all over again.
- Stop it! - Ah! - Oh.
- Oh, no.
Hi Sorry, are we late? So I--I hate to bring this up again, but I just want to make sure that I'm going to get paid.
It was a handshake agreement with Mr.
Newport.
It was for a lot of money.
Anyway, you can wire-transfer it.
Sorry for your loss.
I can't believe you turned this situation into a political sideshow.
Oh, come on, you guys were only going to apologize for the press.
No way, that's not us.
You don't know us at all.
It's rude to say it.
We wouldn't even think it.
Yeah, that's a ridiculous claim.
We brought a "sorry for your loss" fruit basket for Bobby.
And it is very classy.
No melon, no apples.
You were going to use us, and we just turned the tables on you.
'Cause I'm smarter and faster.
That is not a judgment.
That's just a fact.
We're both just doing whatever it takes to win, right? I love polka dots.
It's so cute.
I'm sorry, I should have seen this coming.
And we should not have driven here on a bus with your face on it.
No, it's my fault.
And you know what? Jen is right.
I'm no better than her.
No, Leslie, yes, you are.
All you need to do is stop the machine for a second and go apologize to Bobby.
Alone without cameras.
Thanks, Ann, but where was that advice six hours ago? That's not going to work.
I had to try.
April.
I just got Champion his dog food, cleaned your house, filed that paperwork-- you're officially April Ludgate Dwyer, installed a smoke detector, and now I'm back.
What's next? Nothing, Chris.
Just sit down somewhere and stop bothering me.
I can't.
I've had a very tough year.
I can't stop thinking about Ann and Millicent.
And if I'm alone with my thoughts, I go to a dark place.
Okay, first of all, dark places are awesome.
Secondly, Ann is kind of lame, so way to dodge a bullet.
And Millicent is Jerry's daughter, so two bullets.
And you're not alone.
You've got lots of friends.
Somewhere.
I assume.
You're going to be just fine.
Thank you.
You're right.
I'll be fine.
I'm not fine.
It didn't work.
Hey, Bobby.
Oh, hi.
Want to play bowling? Why don't you play with the real one? Oh.
I like this one better.
The little guy looks like me.
See? Hey, can we talk for a second? Look, I just wanted to say I'm really sorry your dad died, and I'm really, really sorry I called him a jerk.
That's okay.
He was, like, a million years old.
And he was kind of a jerk.
The only reason I did this campaign was to impress him, and he couldn't have cared less.
You know, my mom was a great athlete when she was a kid.
So in junior high, I joined the track team to impress her, even though I hated it.
And at the end of the year, I ran the 5,000 meters in this huge track event.
And I finished dead last.
And I thought that she was going to be really disappointed in me.
But she wasn't.
She ran up to me, and she wrapped me up in this big hug, and she told me she had never been more proud of me.
Thanks, Leslie.
That's a great story.
I'm not 100% sure I get the point, but-- You finished this race, Bobby.
The campaign is over, and you finished.
Win or lose, I bet you anything that your dad was proud of you.
Now I get it.
There you go.
Your mom and my dad are both dicks.
There's no vans within 50 miles, and, for some reason, no one wants to lend me $10,000.
Even if we had the dough, that bunco artist would just demand more, trust me.
Don't move.
Let's just stay here.
For like an hour, and not let him out.
This isn't right.
Our girl's worked hard.
We're so close.
I know he didn't just hit my baby! Hey! What the hell, guys? Move! All right.
Y'all got your seat belts on? Oh! Did you see that? That son of a bitch just rear-ended me.
Am I dead? What the hell? Exactly, Bill.
What the hell? You just rear-ended me.
That is not what happened.
- But I got witnesses.
- Yeah.
It went down exactly the way my girl said it did, you mean, bald man.
Hey, what about you, Mr.
"A man's word is sacred"? Well, it is, but you're an ass[Bleep.]
.
So we can settle this now.
I will accept payment in van rentals.
Gah! All right, let's go to the video again.
Sweet kick, Leslie exits the building, and then you get hit.
What else do we know? We know that Leslie was about 15 feet in front of you, so clearly the assailant has terrible aim.
Mm-hmm.
Or Leslie wasn't the target.
Well, who then? Okay, that's permanent marker.
Go find Ben, get a list of everyone he's ever fired.
Go, go! Macklin, you son of a bitch.
A lot of people have been asking me how I feel about everything that's happened today.
Well, let me tell you a little story.
My dad was this amazing athlete when he was a kid.
When I was in junior high, I started doing track just to impress him Even though I hated it.
At the end of the year, I entered the 5,000 meters.
And I won.
It was awesome.
My dad wrapped me in a big hug, said he was proud of me.
That's just a great story that happened between me and my dad and nobody else.
Oh, we're dead.
- It's over.
- That's my story.
Before I go, I want to bring up a special guest.
Somebody who's been very supportive and mega cool today.
Leslie Knope.
Will you come up here? - What? - Come on, come up here.
- Go, go, go, go, go.
- Do-- You know, Leslie's been getting a lot of heat today, but I want you all to know that we talked person-to-person, and she's really great.
People should stop being so mean to her.
In fact, if you don't vote for me tomorrow, you should vote for her, because she's super, super awesome lady.
Leslie, we did it! Yeah! Maybe we're not dead.
Chris, right? Hi, I'm Jen.
Hello.
You know, there are Bobby's in one, there's a dead guy in another, the rest are free.
What do you say? Oh! That is very flattering.
But you're the opposition campaign manager.
I--I couldn't do that to Leslie.
Oh, for God's sake, Chris.
This campaign is over.
My job is done and so is yours.
It's just sex.
I'm very good at it.
- Okay.
- Great! Let's do it.
Haven't got all day, honey.
Sewage Joe.
Ben Wyatt fired you for sending pictures of your penis to everyone, and you've come here to "pie" him.
Little twerp has it coming.
Oh, dude, I dare you.
Please.
Give me one reason to take you down.
I would love nothing more-- Oh, [Bleep.]
.
Ben, sorry.
All right, let's go.
Oh, I did it! Yeah.
Great job.

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