- Leslie: I think we may have used up all our luck tonight. Actually, not all of it, he's about to get lucky.
Leslie has an interview on Buddy Wood's Indianapolis morning show. Buddy is a famous reporter whose interviews tend to be the "lucky charm" that gets candidates elected, so Leslie considers this a huge break. Meanwhile, Ron and April help Andy prepare for his Women's Studies final.
Ann and Tom think Ben is really tightly wound right now. Tom is happy that he and Ann have not broken up recently. Ben gets a call from Buddy Wood, who is heading back to Indianapolis to do another story and has canceled the interview with Leslie. Ben suggests everyone go to bed early to get an early start on work tomorrow. Leslie suggests getting a drink to blow off steam. Ben declines, deciding to go over polling numbers. Leslie, Ann, and Tom head out to the bar.
Andy takes his oral final exam, reciting trivia facts he'd learned when his teacher, Linda, just wants to hear what he got out of the class. He passes his class (having only taken it pass/fail). Ron offers to take Andy and April out for dinner in celebration, and Andy invites Linda to come along.
Donna and Jerry work on campaign flyers. Donna notices that Jerry likes the tedium of stuffing envelopes. She becomes fascinated by watching him and cancels her date.
Leslie, Ann, and Tom are enjoying themselves, teasing the absent Ben for being grumpy and uptight. Leslie gets a call from Ben, who tells her that Buddy Wood's flight out of Pawnee is delayed, and if they get to the airport in time, he will do a brief interview with her. However, Leslie is drunk, and the cabs are taken. They take Tom's rented hot tub limousine to the airport while Leslie drinks a bunch of water and tries to sober up.
At dinner, April and Andy see Chris at the restaurant eating alone. April, knowing that he's still reeling from his breakup with Millicent, invites him to join them. Chris introduces Linda to the homemade salad dressing he likes to bring to restaurants when going out. April and Andy note that Chris and Linda seem to be hitting it off and decide to try to get the two together to help Chris.
Paul, an airport employee, arranges things for the interview after thanking Leslie for getting new name tags for the staff. Leslie meets with Buddy Wood, who is disgusted with the condition of Pawnee and the airport. Buddy is condescending and rude throughout the interview as Leslie tries to defend Pawnee and the airport. Buddy brings up Leslie's dating scandal and ignores what she wants to say about her proposed improvements to the town. Leslie starts to criticize Buddy, letting slip that she's had a few drinks. Buddy calls attention to her drunken state, and Leslie storms off clumsily, ending the disastrous interview. Buddy is thrilled at the idea of broadcasting the interview in the morning, and Leslie fails to talk him out of airing the tape.
Chris has to leave, but before he does, he asks Linda out. She politely declines, citing that she just got out of a relationship. After Chris leaves, Ron suggests they go to JJ's Diner, but Linda suggests that she and Ron go back to his place. Ron accepts her offer, to April and Andy's astonishment.
Ben, Leslie, Ann, and Tom decide to take the hot tub limo to Indianapolis in the hopes of talking Buddy out of airing the interview. The drive will take all night, and Leslie passes out drunk.
It's now 4 in the morning, and Donna suggests to Jerry that they wrap things up. Jerry realizes that he has put the handout flyers in the envelopes instead of the mailing flyers. He cheerfully prepares to do the entire job over while Donna gets them coffee.
Later in the morning, Leslie and her team arrive at Buddy's house. Leslie begs him to get rid of the tape but Buddy angrily reveals that the airport staff lost the bag containing his equipment and he no longer has the tape. The group quickly leaves in the limo, with Ben breaking open a bottle of champagne to celebrate this amazing stroke of luck.
Ron arrives at work in a cheery mood, wearing his "Tiger Woods outfit" (which he always wears the day after having sex), and gives April and Andy donuts and cash. Chris arrives and mentions that he intends to ask Linda out later. After Chris leaves, April and Andy tell Ron he has to let Chris know that he and Linda are dating. Ron approaches Chris and tells him what happened. Chris appreciates Ron's honesty and hugs him, admitting that he is very lonely.
Ann and Tom break up (again) when Ann is annoyed at the 48-hour anniversary gift Tom gave her.
Leslie reflects on how lucky she is to have Ben and her campaign team, as well as how lucky she is that the tape was lost. Unbeknownst to anyone, the airport staff deliberately threw the luggage with the interview footage out because of Buddy's rudeness.
Tropes
- Alcohol Hic: During the interview.Buddy Wood: Miss Knope, are you inebriated?
Leslie: No! Preposterous! Are you in(hic)ebriated? ...That was bad timing. - Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Leslie stumbles over her words while drunk, and gets somewhat belligerent with Buddy.
- All Amazons Want Hercules: Professor Linda is rather taken with Ron.
- Amazon Chaser: Ron, in turn, is attracted to Professor Linda.
- Brick Joke: When Andy wants to bail out of his final, Ron tells him that grownups face their problems head-on. Later, Andy and April try to convince Ron that he has to tell Chris about going out with Linda:Andy: You know, Ron, someone once told me that this is not how grownups deal with tough situations. We face them, head-on.Ron: Fine.Andy: Oh my God, Ron, it was you who told me that. That's crazy!
- Costume-Test Montage: Leslie tries on various outfits for her upcoming interview with an Indianapolis talk show host, including a pair of pants that has the word "Nympho" written on the butt.
- The Dog Bites Back: The Pawnee airport workers throw out Buddy's bag with the interview tape after he insulted their town and workplace one too many times.
- Jerkass: Buddy Wood is practically a male Joan Calamezzo.
- The Matchmaker: April tries to set up Chris, still sad from breaking up with Millicent, with Andy's women's studies professor. Professor Linda ends up sleeping with Ron instead.
- Nice to the Waiter:
- While Leslie can steamroll people if she thinks they're getting in her way, by and large, she has a reputation for great thoughtfulness and consideration, even to menial workers. Her kindness towards the workers at Pawnee's municipal airport (she knows them all by name) ends up paying off when the airport employees throw the bag containing Buddy's interview footage away on purpose.
- This trope manifests directly when Ron, April, Andy, and Chris are all dining out, accompanied by Andy's Women's Studies professor. The waitress asks Chris (and has done many times before) to please stop bringing his own dressing to the restaurant. Chris' response is to brush her off, and then hawk the dressing to Professor Linda, right in front of the waitress. Ron, when he orders his third steak, places his order nice and early, with a smile, and a "please, and thank you." Guess which one Professor Linda decides to spend the night with?
- Nightmare Fetishist: After Chris describes the book he was reading (a limbless woman who attempted to swim the English Channel and immediately drowned in her attempt), April comments that it's cool.
- Noodle Incident: When Ben half-sarcastically suggests burning down Buddy Wood's broadcast offices to prevent the footage of the interview from airing.Leslie: That's so sweet. I've never had a boyfriend threaten to commit arson for me before.
Donna: Eh, it gets old. - Parental Substitute: Andy did a paper on positive male role models about Ron for his class.
- Pet the Dog: April continues becoming nicer to Chris and trying to cheer him up following his break up with Millicent by trying to set him up on a date with Professor Linda.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Jerry stays up until four in the morning stuffing envelopes, then realizes he's used the wrong forms. After a few seconds of disappointment, he gets straight back to work.
