Season 1 Episode 4

Boys' Club

Original Air Date: 04/30/2009
Director: Michael McCullers
Writers: Greg Daniels, Michael Schur, and Alan Yang

This episode opens with Leslie and Tom being called out to investigate complaints about teenagers having a dog poop fight in the park.  Leslie doesn't quite believe it, but it is indeed true.  At first, she is grossed out, but then she joins the fight!

The Parks Department receives a gift basket of wine and cheese and Jerry and Tom want to open it, but Leslie stops them as it is unethical. 

Leslie has April create a social media web page, like Facebook I think, for The Pit.  She hosts an unveiling of the page and learns Mark is already a 'friend' of The Pit.  Ann, Leslie, April, and Tom look at Mark's photos with slutty women. 

At the same time, Mark is at what Leslie calls 'a boys club meeting.' He stands around in the courtyard of City Hall, drinking beer, with other men who work there.

Leslie and Ann decide to join the boys' club meeting.  To their surprise, the guys are more than fine with them joining.  Until, Leslie knocks into the table causing all the beer to break and spill.  Ann asks Mark about the slutty girls on his profile and he claims not to see them anymore at all.  When the beer runs out, the guys start to leave and Leslie make a decision she will regret.  She opens the gift basket of wine and cheese and takes it out to the boys' club meeting.  Meanwhile, April waits for her sister and draws all over her sisters' jeans. 

The next day Leslie feels awful about opening the basket.  Ann goes to work and asks Andy to clean up.  He takes a bunch of pain killers and actually does some cleaning. 
Leslie demands Ron turn her in for opening the gift basket.  Ron thinks she is blowing things out of proportion, but she insists.  Leslie e-mails the entire Pawnee government in an effort to whistleblow herself. In the e-mail, she includes a link to the Parks Department website.  She didn't realize though that April posted a video of herself drinking some of the wine Leslie stole.  Hah!

Leslie is interviewed by the people reviewing her case.  She admits to opening the basket and pleads for Aprils case. 

Andy puts himself in a plastic swimming pool to bathe and his neighbor Lawrence comes in and takes his boombox, resulting in Andy chasing Lawrence naked down the road.
It is decided that Leslie will get a letter in her file.  This is due to Ron's fierce defense of her character during the interview.  Ann goes to City Hall after work to see Leslie and Leslie reveals that she opened the gift basket for Mark! She tells Ann about how she and Mark had a brief affair a few years ago.  Oh gosh!
The next day, Mark brings Leslie a beer to drink with him. It seems like Mark thinks he is just being a good friend, but I can see how Leslie construes this as flirting.  LOL!  Leslie learns to chill out about a perfect record. Awesome!

Quotes

Tom  "When you're in government, there's a million ways to exploit your power. Have I ever given in to that temptation? No. Never. I'm not that kind of politician...I have a moral code and I never violate it. People look at me and they say 'Wow Tom, you are so pure, like a brown super man with a beard that just stands for justice and truth and the American way.'"

Leslie  "Politics is full of boys' clubs, formal and informal. Behind me are all the members of the city council over the past 30 years. And every day, as a woman, I have to walk past this wall of men. It can be very upsetting. Especially because of that guy. No matter what direction I move, he's always staring at my chest."

Leslie  "April, we're leaving and you're in charge and it's because you're a woman."

Leslie  "Did you hear that? That was the sound of a glass ceiling being shattered."

Leslie  "Maybe in your world it isn't a big deal. You're a white, Protestant man with a full, rich mustache. But I am a woman and I need to hold myself up to a higher standard."

Leslie  "Two days ago, I attended an informal boys' club meeting for the very first time. After one and a half beers, awash in the glow of acceptance, into this elite, exclusive club...I made a very unwise decision. A decision that will live in infamy. I opened a gift basket of wine and cheese. Our intern, April Ludgate, drank some of that wine without my knowledge. That was never part of the plan. She had not been invited to the meeting of the boys' club. I repeat- not been invited.  Though it is my hope that someday she lives in a world where the very idea of boys' clubs is ancient history."  

Ron  "No, I didn't do it for Leslie. I did it because I hate bureaucracy. My idea of a perfect government is one guy who sits in a small room at a desk. And the only thing he's allowed to decide is who to nuke. The man is chosen based on some kind of IQ test and maybe also a physical tournament, like a decathlon, and women are brought to him, maybe, when he desires them."