- Ben: If there's anyone who can bring my parents together, it's no one. No one can bring my parents together.
Leslie and Ben announce their engagement and plan their engagement party with Ann's help. Everything seems to be in place, but Ben is reluctant to invite both of his parents to the party, as they got divorced 30 years ago and still utterly hate each other to the point that they can't even be in the same room together. Leslie, however, is determined to change this and assures Ben that the Knope-Wyatt Unity Quilt she made will fix everything.
Meanwhile, Tom and Jean-Ralphio work on a pitch for Tom's next big business venture: Rent-A-Swag. Ron has agreed to listen to Tom's pitch and consider investing some start-up money. Tom and Jean-Ralphio rehearse their flashy presentation in front of April and Andy, but it is not well received, forcing the pair to reconsider aspects of the presentation to better suit Ron. April convinces Tom that a flashy presentation won't impress Ron, so he decides to spend the night working on a new presentation. Jean-Ralphio, not interested in doing any work, bails on him.
At the party, Chris has an emotional breakdown, as the therapy sessions he's been attending have dredged up the issues he's been keeping a lid on for years. He's happy for his friends, but at the same time is depressed because he feels alone. Ann takes it upon herself to comfort Chris and recruits April and Andy to try to help him through this.
The rest of the festivities are going well until Ben's parents arrive, and all hell breaks loose. Ben's father, Steve, has brought along his much younger girlfriend, Ulani, whom Ben's mother Julia completely detests. The two waste no time sniping at each other, and their behavior becomes completely unbearable. In an attempt to smooth things out, Leslie unveils the Knope-Wyatt Unity Quilt. For a moment, the two families are awestruck by Leslie's beautifully made creation where each family member is represented by his or her own square on the quilt, which Leslie thoughtfully created by hand. However, the moment is ruined when Ulani requests a square of her own, as adding Ulani did not cross Leslie's mind at the time. Leslie crudely adds Ulani in, but Julia immediately cuts the square out, stating Ulani isn't really a member of the family. Ulani then drops a bombshell: she really is about to be a part of the family because she's pregnant with Steve's baby.
After momentarily contemplating running away from this, Ben and Leslie are forced to sit down Steve and Julia to give them a talking to. They explain that they don't expect them to like each other – in fact, they'd prefer it if they didn't socialize – but if they want to come to the wedding, they should at least try to be civil through it. Both of them apologize for their childish behavior and agree to the terms.
All through the night, Tom has been working on his new presentation without Jean-Ralphio's help. Jean-Ralphio starts another conversation with Ron at the party where he reveals that he has started to look into other oppprtunities, which he confirms means Tom has fired him. When Tom begins his presentation to Ron the next morning, Ron immediately agrees to invest, stating that Tom dumping Jean-Ralphio has shown Ron that Tom is serious about his business.
Tropes
- 555: Phone numbers on Pawnee taxicabs.
- The Cameo: Jonathan Banks plays Ben's father Steve.
- Casting Gag: According to Michael Schur, Jonathan Banks was cast as Steve because they modeled the character after Mike Ehrmantraut and decided to get the actor himself to play it.
- Cheer Up Episode: In the B-plot of the episode, Ann sees that Chris has been having a hard time lately so she devotes herself to helping him through this.
- Fight for the Last Bite: Ron and Ben's dad have a stare down after each of them reaches for the last bacon-wrapped shrimp. Sadly, the audience never learns who got it.
- Foreshadowing: Back in "Meet 'n' Greet", Ben remarked that his parents' method of problem-solving was to keep everything bottled up and just subtly hint at what was bothering them and how they're still divorced because of that. Here, we get to see just how acrimonious things are.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Leslie's mom's response to Ben's parents' bickering is to continually grab more wine.
- If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Everyone in the department gives this speech to an increasingly bewildered Ben.
- Inelegant Blubbering: Chris is like this throughout the whole party, as he feels emotionally broken from how alone he feels.
- Mail-Order Bride: Julia makes a snipe at her ex-husband by asking him if he got his much younger and vaguely foreign new wife through such a service.
- May–December Romance: Ben's father Steve is remarried to Ulani, a woman who's around Ben's own age, if not possibly younger.
- Meet the In-Laws: Leslie hosts a party to celebrate her and Ben getting engaged. Things go swimmingly at first... until Ben's divorced parents (plus his dad's new wife, who also happens to be pregnant) show up. Things get tense at many points throughout the episode, forcing the duo to put their foot down and demand that they put their differences aside until the wedding is over.
- One Drink Will Kill the Baby: This leads to the reveal that Ben's father's girlfriend is pregnant, which makes an already bad situation (Julia, his ex-wife and Ben's mother, is in the room) way worse.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Tom cuts Jean-Ralphio out of his business venture. This is so out-of-character that when Ron finds out, he agrees on the spot to invest.
- Parent with New Paramour: Ben's father has gotten remarried to a much younger woman, much to Ben's mother's disgust.
- Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Ben's parents routinely engage in this throughout the engagement party. Even Marlene is shocked at the level of acrimony between them.
- Practically Different Generations: Ben's in his mid-thirties and finds out his father and stepmother are expecting a baby.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Ben suggests they have Twizzlers instead of Red Vines at their party. Leslie tells him that "We're a Red Vines family. You're going to have to get used to that." Later, at the party, Leslie offers Red Vines to Ben's dad. He earnestly replies, "We're a Twizzlers family."
- Too Much Information: After seeing how bad Ben's parents' fighting is, Leslie asks Marlene if she and Leslie's father ever fought like that. Marlene tells her that while they occasionally had arguments, they usually just forgot about it and had make up sex, much to Leslie's disgust.Leslie: How can you be so wise and so inappropriate at the same time?
- You Are Not Alone: Ann, April, and Andy refuse to leave Chris alone while he's in a dark emotional place, and stay by his side comforting him through the night.
