- Leslie: Fairway Frank is this awful possum who lives near the sixth hole of the public golf course. And he's actually number three on the Parks Department's most wanted pest list, right behind the bats who like to poop on the bell tower and Poopy, the raccoon who poops all over the high school cafeteria.
Ann is going out of town, so she has hired April to house-sit for her. She hopes to use this as a bonding experience.
Leslie meets with Evelyn Rowshlind from the mayor's office. Mayor Gunderson's dog had a run-in with a possum at the golf course. Leslie is familiar with the possum, which is called "Fairway Frank". Evelyn admits that using Animal Control won't be effective, so she asks Leslie to form a task force to put down the possum.
Ron asks Mark to sign off on the expansion of his workshop. Mark has to schedule an inspection to make sure Ron doesn't have any code violations.
Leslie, Tom, and Andy go to Animal Control and enlist the help of two incompetent employees, Brett and Harris. At the golf course, Tom takes off running when Fairway Frank appears. Leslie makes plans with Brett and Harris, but Andy catches the possum with a flying tackle. Evelyn thanks Leslie and tells her that an interview is scheduled for PR. She also promises to do Leslie a favor sometime later. As Evelyn leaves, Leslie sees another possum on the fairway and is worried that they caught the wrong animal.
Mark inspects Ron's workshop, which has multiple violations. This offends Ron's idea of limited government interference. Ron offers to make Mark a canoe, but Mark refuses it, giving him twenty-four hours to fix the code violations.
Back at the department office, reporter Shauna Mulwae-Tweep interviews Andy for a newspaper article. After he brags about the capture, Shauna suggests his heroics might win him back the affections of Ann, much to Andy's excitement. April, who has romantic feelings for Andy, overhears this and storms out of the room.
When Leslie tells April about the possum confusion, April decides to help Leslie figure out the truth. She snubs Andy when he tells her about his photoshoot.
Animal Control arrives at the Parks department to take the possum away. Leslie needs to continue her investigation, so she gets April to take the possum to Ann's house. Evelyn is upset that the possum is gone, but Leslie won't tell her where it is. April lets the possum out in Ann's house, and Leslie goes there to help. Both of them are freaked out, but April won't let Leslie call Andy for help.
Ron starts working on his code violations. Mark shows up to help. Mark shuts up Ron when he starts to complain about the city codes. Ron later rationalizes it as bringing his shop up to "Swanson code". The next day, Mark finds a newly-built canoe in his office.
Andy apologizes to April, though he doesn't know why she was mad at him. He shows her the newspaper article, in which he thanks her for bringing him coffee.
Evelyn meets with Leslie, who won't tell her where the possum is. Evelyn takes back her favor. Leslie later reveals she has donated the possum to the zoo.
Tropes
- Artistic License – Biology: In-Universe — Leslie and April both apparently believe possums lay eggs, and are afraid that the one they caught may have done so in Ann's bed.
- Blatant Lies:April: I've gotta help Leslie find the truth. Not because I'm pissed at Andy, which I'm not. Because I care so deeply about possums.
- Later she blames the possum for not using a coaster on Ann's coffee table.
- Also? Brett and Harris aren't here.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: It's hard to imagine the Ron from later seasons being so cavalier about safety; if anything, you'd expect him to maintain much higher standards than the law requires out of sheer professionalism.
- Hesitation Equals Dishonesty: Ron, both times Mark asks if his workshop is up to code.
- Insistent Terminology: Leslie insists on calling her team a "task force".
- Killer Rabbit: The titular animal is quite aggressive and kicks the plot off by attacking the mayor's dog. There is some Truth in Television to this.
- Leeroy Jenkins: As Leslie comes up with a detailed attack plan with her "task force" for getting Fairway Frank, Andy takes the thing down himself with a flying tackle.
- Ship Tease: In addition to April becoming jealous at the thought of Andy trying to capture to possum to impress Ann, Andy also credits April with giving him the coffee that helped give him energy.
- Too Dumb to Live: It's not necessarily out of stupidity so much as it's for his distaste of government regulations, but Ron's woodshop is full of safety hazards, including oily rags hanging above the fireplace and an expired fire extinguisher.
- The Unreveal: The episode doesn't confirm whether or not the possum they captured was really Fairway Frank.
