- Ron: At this very moment, Leslie is throwing herself in front of a freight train named Tammy... for me and you. Leslie is a wonderful, loyal friend who was very important in my life. But I would sooner visit Europe than have something romantic happen between us.
It's Christmastime in Pawnee. Leslie congratulates Ron on an award he won from the Indiana Fine Woodworking Association for a chair he recently constructed. Ron realizes this may be the first time he's ever actually wanted to attend an event and plans on taking his girlfriend Diane with him. Leslie subsequently invites herself. Ron and Diane arrive at the awards ceremony and immediately run into Leslie, who is overjoyed at finally getting the chance to meet Diane. As a giddy Ron runs off to meet some other woodworkers he's admired, Leslie eagerly sits with Diane in an attempt to quickly get to know her.
Meanwhile, Tom, April, Andy, and Donna are planning their annual "Jerry Dinner". They explain to Ann that anytime Jerry does something stupid, they put a $1 bill in a box, and at the end of the year, treat themselves to a fancy dinner with the money they accumulated; this year, they've collected over $500. Ann doesn't approve of this sort of mockery, but her opinion is dismissed by the group. While on their way to the restaurant, the group reminisces about some pranks they pulled on Jerry over the year, and Donna has a change of heart. She turns the car around and drives to Jerry's house to invite him to dinner. However, upon arriving at Jerry's house, they find he is throwing a big lavish Christmas party. The four of them are confused as to why they weren't invited, as they spot Ann, Chris, and Ben arriving at the front door. Inside, Ben is keeping a close eye on Chris, who has been struggling with depression over the last year, and making sure he's fine.
Back at the awards event, Leslie is head-over-heels excited about how perfect of a fit Ron and Diane are. Though Ron neither wants nor needs her approval, Leslie keeps on giving it. Just as she's musing about how this just may turn out to be the best night of Ron's life, she hears a familiar voice from across the room: Tammy 2, Ron's ex-wife, has entered the building. Tammy beelines straight for Ron, ever eager to mess with him and potentially ruin his life. Leslie is quick to usher Tammy away and warn her not to mess with Ron's big night. Tammy does not heed Leslie's warning.
Back at Jerry's, the cold foursome is huddled outside a window, peering in at the warm, lovely festivities going on inside. When they get Ann's attention, Ann lets Donna inside since she was the one who turned the car around but keeps the rest of them out. Chris introduces Ben to Jerry's wife Gayle, and Ben is taken aback by her beauty. Minutes later, Jerry and his family joyfully perform a Christmas tune for the guests. Outside, Tom, Andy, and April realize they never received Jerry's invitation due to Tom installing a filter on their email accounts that automatically flagged all of Jerry's emails to them as spam. Looking through their spam folders, they uncover three years' worth of nice messages from Jerry: wedding congratulations, birthday wishes, and, of course, their party invitations.
At the ceremony, Tammy plops herself down at Ron's table. When Ron goes up onstage to accept his award, Tammy distracts him from making his acceptance speech by flashing him. Later, as Diane and Leslie are both looking for Ron, Diane admits that she does not actually feel threatened by Tammy. Rather, she's concerned about Leslie, as she and Ron have a close relationship that Diane doesn't understand, and she's worried there may be no room for another woman in Ron's life. When Leslie finally finds Ron, she tells him about Diane's misconceptions. While Ron is anything but romantically interested in Leslie, he does finally admit that they're friends. Leslie hands him her car keys so that he can go find Diane, while she goes off to deal with the crazy Tammy hiding out in Ron's car.
At the Christmas party, Millicent makes a surprise appearance, with a new boyfriend in tow. Much to the surprise of Ben, Chris takes it all in stride and is genuinely happy for her. Ann finally lets April, Andy, and Tom in after they give the money they would've originally used for their fancy dinner to Jerry as a gesture of goodwill, under the guise of having raised money for his hospital bills.
Working hard to keep Tammy off Ron's trail, Leslie drives the car to the middle of nowhere and tries to dispose of the keys, but Tammy's too quick for her. They spend the entire night fighting. At a quiet bar, Diane admits to Ron that she's worried that she'll never get as close to him as Leslie is. Ron then shows her something that not many people know about, especially not Leslie: his alter ego, Duke Silver. They then get a call from the police informing them that Tammy is being arrested and had locked Leslie in the trunk of her car.
Tropes
- Ax-Crazy: Literally, when Tammy 2 chases Leslie around with an ax.
- Badass Boast: Diane tells the cops to undo the cuffs on Tammy to fight her off herself.
- Big Eater: Andy can eat up to eighty pieces of sushi before he gets sick.
- Cat Fight: The brawl in a dumpster between Leslie and Tammy 2.Tammy: I am so turned on right now.
- Christmas Episode: With holiday festivities at Jerry's house, complete with the Gergiches singing carols together.
- Continuity Nod: To "Halloween Surprise" regarding Jerry's hospital bills after his heart attack.
- Deteriorates Into Gibberish: Ron gets distracted when Tammy's flashing him while he's onstage, causing him to trail off and stumble as he speaks.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Tammy flashes Ron just as he's accepting his award. He goes from speaking coherently to stumbling over his words.
- Has a Type: Millicent's new boyfriend Carl is very similar to Chris. Also counts as an example of Birds of a Feather, as she clearly goes for men with similar athletic interests as herself.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: Tom, Andy, April, and Donna installed a filter on their email accounts to automatically flag all of Jerry's emails to them as spam, causing them to miss their invitations to his incredibly lavish Christmas party.
- Hypocritical Humor: Tom, Andy, and April complain that Jerry didn't invite them to his really nice Christmas party, which they only discovered when Donna had an attack of conscience about their annual "Jerry Dinner" where they treat themselves to a lavish and fancy dinner while making fun of him behind his back. Moreover, they never received an invite to his really nice-looking Christmas party due to ignoring all of his emails to them.
- I'll Kill You!: One of Duke Silver's fangirls says this to Diane after he calls her his Duchess.
- Internal Reveal: Ron lets Diane know about his alter ego, Duke Silver.
- Jerkass Realization: While driving to the restaurant and listening to April, Andy, and Tom list all the pranks they pulled on Jerry over the past year, Donna realizes that they've all been unnecessarily mean to Jerry.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Tom, Andy, and April at least get some degree of payback for how they treated Jerry, being forced to wait outside in the cold while most of their friends spend a pleasant evening inside. Made even better by the fact that they did it to themselves, and they could have gone inside at any time.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Played straight with Andy, April, and Tom for their role in bullying Jerry, but inverted for Donna, who insists it would be wrong to exclude him from their "Jerry Dinner" after spending a year making fun of him, collecting money whenever he did anything stupid (often by them pranking him), and using the money to treat themselves to a fancy dinner; Donna chose to drive to Jerry's house to pick him up for dinner against the others' protests, but while Ann refused to let Andy, Tom, and April into Jerry's Party for "being meanies", she let Donna in as a reward for driving over there for Jerry. Because Donna drove them there, Andy, Tom, and April were left out in the cold with no way of leaving. As the cherry on top, it turns out they were invited after all, but because Tom put a filter on their emails to mark any emails they got from Jerry as spam, they missed their invitations, so they were left out in the cold for their own behavior.
- The Missus and the Ex:
- A more amicable gender-inverted example: Millicent makes a surprise appearance at the party, with a new boyfriend in tow. Chris takes it in stride though and is happy for the two of them.
- The more acrimonious version happens with Tammy 2 and Diane, with Tammy immediately trying to break them up to get Ron back for herself and Diane considering Tammy a psychotic nuisance at best.
- Pet the Dog: Donna is the one to get an attack of conscience and get the rest of the "Jerry Dinner" crew to Jerry's family's Christmas party. Ann also shows that while she's made fun of Jerry on occasions herself, she isn't going to let the people who are usually the biggest jerks to him into his party. And, to make up for all the times they made fun of him, Tom, April, and Andy give Jerry the money they would've used for the dinner.
- Platonic Life-Partners: What Ron and Leslie are at the bottom of everything. Diane even says that she feels somewhat threatened by their close friendship, but Ron reassures her that he and Leslie are Just Friends.
- Punk in the Trunk: Leslie ends up in the trunk of Ron's car courtesy of Tammy 2.
- Shipper on Deck: Leslie is a huge one for Diane and Ron, and risks life and limb to protect them from Tammy 2.
- Shutting Up Now: A subtle example. In the end, Tammy Two (who is under arrest) makes a lascivious comment to Ron about the handcuffs she's wearing. Diane requests that the officer take the cuffs off... because "I want it to be a fair fight." Clearly taken aback by the threat, Tammy Two cringes, averts eye contact and stops talking.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: When Jerry finally sees Tom, April, and Andy at the door, he assumes that they had just forgotten to give him their RSVPs to the party. The three of them don't correct him and instead give him the dinner fund as a gift.
- The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: Jerry's two other daughters, Miriam and Gladys, are very beautiful as well.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: A big one for Jerry, as it's shown while he is the Butt-Monkey at work, his home life is incredibly satisfying and fulfilling.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Gayle Gergich is jaw-droppingly gorgeous (being played by former supermodel Christie Brinkley even). Ben is very weirded out by this, but Chris, who has already met Gayle, takes it in stride and leaves Ben some advice:Ben: So Gayle and Jerry...?
Chris: I've thought about it a lot. There is no logical explanation. - Unseen No More: Jerry's wife Gayle was initially The Ghost until this episode.
- What Does She See in Him?: Upon meeting Gayle for the first time, Ben is dumbfounded as to how she and Jerry got together. Chris advises him to not dwell on it, as he himself realized a long time ago there is no logical explanation.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Ann is appalled at how mean-spirited the "Jerry Dinner" is, and lays into Donna, April, Tom, and Andy for it. Donna realizes she has a point.
