Leslie finds out Jerry is retiring and looks through his file. Seeing that he had a lot of dreams when he was first hired, she tries to help him fulfill some of them, but nothing really turns out the way she hoped.
Now that Jerry is gone, the department needs a new "Jerry" - someone who will be the butt of jokes. Everyone is nervous about becoming the new Jerry. Tom, despite being extremely careful, makes a verbal slip up and everyone else immediately designates him the new Jerry.
Ann and Chris go to the fertility clinic and are asked if they want to "donate" now. They agree at first but get cold feet and run off. After some discussion, they realize they still have feelings for each other and decide to make the baby the old-fashioned way.
Leslie visits Jerry at his home and has breakfast with him and his family. Jerry is grateful for her efforts and tells her that he has a happy life.
Tom is desperate to shake off his new status as the "Jerry" of the office. His attempts to make Andy the new Jerry fail because, as Donna puts it, Andy doesn't get embarrassed by anything. Tom admits to Ron that he used to be the Jerry of his previous job before he moved to Pawnee and reinvented himself, and begs Ron to hire an intern, but the intern is too perfect to be a Jerry. Finally, Ron decides to bring Jerry back a couple of times a week so that Tom won't have to be the office's punching bag.
Tropes
- The Ace: Jerry is regarded as this by his family, but it also seems to be weirdly true: at work, he's a chronic klutz who's always knocking things over, but at the Gergich breakfast table it's Leslie who knocks a mug off the table and Jerry who effortlessly catches it, even playfully throwing it in the air and catching it again.Jerry: Whoa! [kindly smile at Leslie] You almost dropped that, clumsy.Leslie: ...Where am I?
- Continuity Nod: In "Park Safety", Jerry reveals that he has two years until he retires with full benefits and pension, a fact he brings up a few more times throughout the show. He later retires in this episode.
- Hypocrite: Tom used to be the "Jerry" of his previous workplace, so his picking on Jerry himself looks even worse, as Tom should know better than anyone else how that feels.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: Tom reveals that he was the "Jerry" of his previous office before he came to Pawnee and reinvented himself, which adds a whole new dimension to his antagonism toward Jerry himself. Given Tom was easily the worst to Jerry, this reveal implies he picks on Jerry to keep him at the bottom of the office pecking order so as to never be in that position again and his reinvention and obsession with selling himself as a hip "baller" is him overcompensating for his past.
- This also plays a part in why Tom's attempts to make Andy the new "Jerry" fail - Andy is unabashedly shameless and genuinely comfortable in his own skin, whereas Tom's dignity is so fragile and artificial that simply having a slip of the tongue and saying "pile files" is sufficient to turn him into a laughingstock.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Tom, who's usually the most antagonistic towards Jerry, becomes the office's designated Butt-Monkey in this episode after the latter's retirement.
- Relationship Upgrade: After going through several ups and downs, Ann and Chris officially get together.
- Running Gag: After Gayle Gergich physically appeared, Ben takes to asking just how she and Jerry got together. Here, he wonders if she's a Deep Cover Agent.
- 10-Minute Retirement: Jerry retires, but is brought back on board (though it's not full-time).
- Too Dumb to Fool: A variant with Andy. Tom tries to make him the new "Jerry" of the department by making him undergo embarrassing things, but the attempts don't work because Andy's general stupidity and obliviousness make him completely immune to shame and embarrassment so people laugh with him instead of at him.
