- Wreston St. James: I call it the Pawnee Commons - a celebration of Pawnee's history and people.
Leslie works on a proposed park for Lot 48. She appears on the local radio show Wamapoke County Public Radio to call out to any designers for their ideas for the park, but the only decent reply she gets comes from an Eagleton citizen, Wreston St. James. She doesn't want to work with him, but Ben convinces her to meet with him and give him a chance. In Eagleton, an excited Ben and a bitter Leslie meet Wreston in the park that he most recently designed, a beautiful space that looks like something straight out of the Danish countryside, complete with fountains, men on horseback, Japanese gardens and Segway tours. Leslie doesn't understand why a fancy Eagleton architect would want to help with a Pawnee park, but Wreston assures her that for him, it's about the people and he was inspired by Leslie's passionate plea on the radio, but Leslie still doesn't trust him. Ben convinces her to move past her hatred for Eagleton and level with Wreston. She hesitantly agrees to have Wreston be the architect for the park, and in a gesture of goodwill, Wreston agrees to design the park pro bono. He ensures Leslie and Ben that he will begin planning immediately and deliver a model design as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Andy is bored with his new security job and invites April to hang out with him. They role-play as Burt Macklin and Judy Hitler. While in the middle of a chase, they run into a little boy named Joey, who was separated from his mother and gets scared when Andy yells "Burt Macklin, FBI!" at him. After April calms Joey down and Andy drops the act, they promise to help Joey find his mother.
Elsewhere, Tom gets the rest of the crew to help him refurbish his new Rent-A-Swag store. At the end of a long day, Rent-A-Swag's facelift is finally complete. While the color of the walls looks like dried phlegm, and the place is kind of depressing overall, it's the best Tom can do at this point. To show his gratitude to everyone, he presents them with two cans of a soda and one very small pizza.
Two of Wreston's employees stop by Leslie's office to deliver the park model, which turns out to be a cruel joke mocking Pawnee. As Ben calms Leslie down, he sets up a meeting with Wreston to figure things out. An apologetic Wreston explains the two assistants went behind his back and that he had nothing to do with the prank and fired them both. Suddenly, Leslie turns up at the meeting and sprays whipped cream all over Wreston to get back at him, but in an embarrassing admission, Ben informs her of the truth. Leslie quickly flees the scene.
April, Andy, and Joey wander City Hall and eventually find Joey's mother, who is extremely grateful for their help. April suggests Andy retire Burt Macklin, which he does reluctantly, as April gives "Burt" a dramatic exit from the FBI, complete with a handmade certificate and the sound of gunfire salute coming from April's iPhone.
The following day, Ann takes Tom out to breakfast and hands him a stack of bills, revealing everyone chipped in so that Tom could really spruce up the store. He does just that, and the final product impresses everyone.
Moving on from both incidents, Wreston finally unveils his real model for the lot, naming it the Pawnee Commons. Leslie and Ben are enamored with it – it's a celebration of Pawnee's past and present, complete with a Wamapoke-themed playground and food trucks serving cuisine from local restaurants. The park of Leslie's dreams looks like it's finally getting on its feet.
Tropes
- Beware the Nice Ones: When the two Jerkass Eagleton park architects show up with their model mocking Pawnee, Leslie's voice gets very low when she threatens to rip their throats out.
- California Doubling: Lampshaded; Ben questions the large number of palm trees found in Eagleton, which an Eagletonian explains/the show handwaves as being the result of Eagleton's unique geologic placement.
- Casual Kink: Part of April and Andy's role-playing as Judy Hitler and Burt Macklin involves April being tied up for the "interrogation." She's easily able to slip out in this particular case as part of the game but it still counts.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Further reinforcing the way Mark was all but completely forgotten about (if not effectively erased from existence altogether), the plans he drew up for Lot 48 before leaving at the end of Season 2 are completely forgotten about.
- Consummate Professional: Despite being an Eagletonian, Wreston is strictly professional about his architectural work and extends this attitude to Pawnee. In fact, when he learns of his employees' prank, he immediately fires them for their unprofessional conduct.
- Comic Role Play: Andy as Macklin squares off with April as Judy Hitler.
- Gagging on Your Words: Leslie can't say "sorry" to Wreston because he's from Eagleton.
- It's Quiet… Too Quiet: Invoked by April when beginning a new Burt Macklin, FBI adventure.
- Jerkass: The majority of Eagleton is this once again, as Wreston's interns give their own park model that cruelly mocks Pawnee and the other employees at Wreston's firm wanted to promote them because of the prank.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: Tom introduces the others to the site of "Rent-a-Swag" as "Friends, former lovers, acquaintances, and Jerry".
- Nice Guy: Wreston is a nice and considerate man who just wants to make good parks for the people to enjoy, much like Leslie herself does.
- Only Sane Man: Unlike the other Eagletonians, Wreston is a friendly guy who treats Pawnee as a regular town. He even thinks the Small Town Rivalry is stupid because most people on both sides have ancestors who settled in both towns.
- Tranquil Fury: Leslie snarls in a low voice to Wreston's interns that they have five seconds to get out of her office after presenting their "idea" for the park.
