Leslie has been asked to lead a session of Pawnee Central High School's struggling Model UN club. She invites Ben, April and Andy to help. Ron, due to his hatred of government, refuses to participate.
Ron has been interviewing replacements for Tom's old job. Ron actually wants Tom back, and although Tom claims he's moved on to new ventures after the failure on Entertainment 720, Ron knows that he is actually working at Macy's, spraying perfume.
Millicent hasn't replied to Chris' calls or messages, so he asks Ann for advice. Ann jokingly suggests he investigate the situation, but he takes it seriously. He goes to ask Jerry what's been going on with Millicent, but he's not much help. Donna advises Chris to play hard to get.
Leslie starts the model UN. She is assigned Denmark, Ben is assigned Peru, Andy is assigned Finland, and April is assigned South Africa on the condition that she also be assigned the moon. The Model UN's task that afternoon is to solve a food crisis. Leslie and Ben's romantic relationship is over, but she wants to maintain the friendship, although Ben has his reservations. Leslie's campaign staff arrives for a photo op, so Leslie has Ben put things on hold until she gets back. When the photo op takes too long, Ben goes ahead without Leslie. Leslie is annoyed when she finds out. They step aside to discuss the situation, and Ben thinks they shouldn't spend time together, as he is not comfortable with them just being friends and calls her selfish for trying to have both him and her campaign. Angry, Leslie declares war on Ben.
Leslie and Ben try to rally support to their respective countries for the war and completely ignore the food crisis. The event spirals out of control, as Leslie stubbornly refuses to back down while Ben tries to calm things down.
Tom tells Ron that none of the interviewees were any good. He still refuses to take his job back, saying it would feel like he was moving "backwards".
Chris still hasn't made any progress with Millicent. Ann tells him that when they dated, he basically turned her into himself, and he broke up with her because he was bored with dating himself. She believes that his overly optimistic personality might be scaring Millicent off and she advises him to just lay off a bit.
The students kick Leslie and Ben out of the Model UN. April encourages Leslie to talk to Ben in private, where Ben suggests that they avoid each other from now on. Leslie wants to keep Ben in her life, so the two compromise to have a friendly chat at work for a few minutes each day.
Ron once again offers the job to Tom, telling him that he knows about the Macy's job. Tom finds the idea of coming back too embarrassing. At Tom's suggestion, Ron acts out a scene in front of the others where he begs Tom to come back. Tom doesn't follow the script, however, turning down the job again, and takes off. Ron chases after him and drags him back. Tom asks for his job back in front of everyone, and Ron agrees.
Leslie and Ben bring the students to the City Council chambers to make up for ruining the Model UN. Leslie also announces that there will be a state-wide Model UN event planned to be held in this room that the students will run.
Tropes
- Comically Missing the Point: Andy, as usual:
- After Leslie is kicked out of the model UN:Andy: Did we win? I think we won. What were we trying to do? I learned so much today.
- He has a little trouble with spelling:Andy: If you rearrange the letters of Peru, you can spell Europe.Ben: That's not true.Andy: Well, you have to rearrange them.
- After Leslie is kicked out of the model UN:
- Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon:Leslie: The only thing I will be waving is your decapitated head on a stick in front of your weeping mother!Ben: Good Lord.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Counselman Jamm's nameplate is seen in the City Counsel chambers, while he becomes more important in Season 5.
- Facepalm: Jerry gets very uncomfortable with some of the details of Chris's personal life.
- Global Ignorance: When choosing which nations they want to represent, Andy selects Germany because "they've never been the bad guys".
- Gratuitous French: Leslie uses this at every opportunity with Cassidy (the model UN club leader, and the French "delegate"), who very clearly reminds her of her teenaged self.
- Irony: Leslie and Ben, both experienced public servants, ruin the model UN conference by being more immature than a room full of high-schoolers... and April and Andy.
- Mic Drop: Ben does this after condemning Leslie in the model United Nations.
- Pass the Popcorn: Donna finds Chris and Ann discussing their past relationship to be endlessly entertaining.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: After Leslie and Ben are kicked out of the model UN, Andy invites them both to a "Camp David"
meeting. He then explains to camera that his friend David used to host camp-outs in his yard, where people could unwind and talk about their issues. - Shout-Out:
- A high school Model United Nations event is featured.
- Andy's reasons for refusing to represent certain countries:Leslie: I need a few more volunteers. Andy, will you be Iceland?Andy: The bad guys from Mighty Ducks 2? Don't think so.Leslie: Okay, how about Japan?Andy: The bad guys from Karate Kid 2? Even worse. How about Germany? They've never been the bad guys.
- Terrible Interviewees Montage: Ron invokes this deliberately when interviewing Tom's replacement, since his intent is to rehire Tom.
