- Leslie: Welcome everyone to the first meeting of the Parks Committee of Pawnee, or PCP. Because like the drug PCP, we are so fast-acting and powerful we should be illegal.
Leslie is serving her two-week paid suspension, but she sneaks into the office at night to grab some work to take home. She is caught by Chris and before running off, she gives him a thoughtful Christmas present.
Ben and Leslie enjoy breakfast at JJ's Diner, relaxing and happy at not having to worry about being seen in public anymore. Leslie is to meet with her political advisers to determine where to go from here with her campaign, while Ben has a job interview at Barney Varmn's accounting firm.
At the office, Ann gives out Leslie's presents to the staff. As usual, Leslie has given everyone something very thoughtful and personal. Feeling that they owe her for always being there for them, the department team decide they need to come up with a gift just as thoughtful and personal for her.
Leslie meets with her campaign advisers, who tell her that there's no point in doing any campaign work until the newest poll results come in, to determine any damage done by Leslie's dating scandal. Ben's interview at the accounting firm goes well and he's hired right on the spot.
The Parks staff meets to discuss what to give Leslie for Christmas. After combing through her most loved things, Ron suggests making a miniature model of the Parks Department. Ann then adds that due to Leslie's love for sweets, a gingerbread model decorated with candy would be even better, and everyone but Ron dashes off to start the project.
Leslie and Ben discuss their day at dinner. Ben tells Leslie about the job offer from the accounting firm, and when he doesn't seem enthusiastic, she suggests he take a month off to look around for opportunities. In turn, he suggests she can act as a private citizen to improve the town, so she runs off to start a citizen action committee to keep busy and continue involvement with the local government. Her group is quickly formed and called the Parks Committee of Pawnee (or PCP). During their first meeting, they come up with ideas for how to improve the parks.
Ben tries out for an interview with local perfume mogul Dennis Feinstein for the position of CFO but is appalled that Feinstein discusses firing Eddie, the current CFO, while he's in the room. Feinstein's business practices and generally repugnant personality only further turn him off, and Ben walks out on the interview.
Donna and Jerry hold a public forum, which Leslie and her PCP group attend. Leslie presents their demands, but Jerry informs her that the meeting is only for discussing the rec center. After the meeting, Leslie has her team call Chris every fifteen minutes to discuss their demands.
Ron tries to make his gingerbread office replica but can't quite manage it, getting frustrated through it. Andy helps him, and Ron decides that he should remove himself from the project.
Leslie meets with Chris. He agrees to meet with her committee but wants her to stop the incessant calling. Leslie is happy to see she can still do fine work as a private citizen but her optimism is crushed once she then meets with her campaign advisers and learns that her poll numbers have gone from 26% to 1%. With her numbers so low, the team decide that they can't recover from this and they can't run her campaign anymore. Later, Leslie meets with Ann and tells her that she can't find anyone else to run her campaign. Ann tries to encourage her, without success.
Ben decides to take the accounting job, but on his first day, he runs into Jean-Ralphio, who tells him he should do what he loves. He quits yet again.
Leslie meets with Chris. As he feels guilty for derailing Leslie's campaign, he gives her a Christmas present: her suspension has been lifted early. Ben tells Leslie that he turned down the job to look for something else, and heads home while she goes into the Parks office. She sees the gingerbread office that they made and is touched by their gift. Ron presents his own gift to her (as he wasn't able to help on the gingerbread replica): he made a wood replica of the City Council chambers. The department also presents her with another gift, revealing they have volunteered to become her new campaign staff. Leslie is deeply touched and admires their devotion to her, but tries to dissuade them from putting their lives on hold for her. They remind Leslie of all her tireless efforts to assist co-workers and friends over the years, and that no one hesitated to jump on board. Leslie happily accepts their help and has a fun Christmas celebration with the department.
Tropes
- Blatant Lies: Donna wanted silver M&Ms, but since they don't exist, she spray painted some M&Ms with silver paint.Ann: Ok, those are poisonous. So no one eat them.Andy: (has silver paint dust around his mouth) Yeah, duh.Ann: Go throw up.Andy: I didn't eat any.Ann and April: Go throw up.
- Christmas Episode: The Parks employees spend the episode working on a thoughtful Christmas gift for Leslie.
- Comically Missing the Point: Leslie gets Andy a framed gold certification record for one of his MouseRat albums:Andy: I need to get a picture of me holding this so I can frame it.
- Distinction Without a Difference:Leslie: Oh, I'm not gonna do my job. I'm just gonna oversee the department, check in on the parks, and attend any meetings that are required of the Deputy Director.
- Fun with Acronyms: Leslie forms a citizen action committee named the Parks Committee of Pawnee. Just like the drug PCP, they are so powerful and fast-acting they should be illegal. Later, she tells Chris she's starting a new organization: LSD (Leslie's Sorry Division).
- Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Perfumer Dennis Feinstein justifies his deplorable treatment of an employee by saying that the employee should be treated like you'd pay $25,000 to hunt someone in another country. He then makes an aside comment about how much he loved that vacation.
- Incredibly Lame Fun: The boring accountant Barney Varmn finds Ben's accounting related puns to be the funniest things he's ever heard.
- It's All About Me: Leslie's approach to gift giving: "Giving Christmas gifts is like a sport to me. Finding or making that perfect something. It's also like a sport to me because I always win."
- Manly Tears:
- Ron sheds a Single Tear over Leslie's Christmas gift for him - a remote controlled lock for the doors to his office.
- He also gets all choked up when he sees that April made a marshmallow Ron Swanson (complete with folded arms because his co-workers are annoying him).
- The Oner: Jean-Ralphio's entire tenure at Barney's accounting firm, during which he admits he knows nothing about accounting, lied about his knowledge of QuickBooks Pro, sexually harasses another employee, gets fired, and heads out the same way he came in, all without breaking his stride. All in about a minute.
- Shout-Out: The episode's title is "Citizen Knope".
- Take That!: April's Christmas gift is a painting of her as a warrior who slaughtered The Black Eyed Peas.
- Workaholic: She's only suspended for a couple weeks, with pay, but Leslie won't stop working.
