5x13 Emergency Response

[7.5/10] Definitely an enjoyable episode, and hey! It’s Mike from Veep!

I like the animating crisis of this one, that right in the middle of a big project, Leslie is pulled away for a test drill by the state examining board. To be honest, the whole gala thing and need to make up the $50,000 dollars to get the Pawnee Commons off the ground feels pretty rushed and shoehorned in, but it works as a goal.

The actual faux-crisis leads to some good laughs. Leslie’s fake news clips are hilarious, and a nice chance for Amy Poehler to show off her skills at silly accents and newsperson voices. The various emergency responses are amusing, particularly the guy from animal control. I also like both the reveal that this was all set up by Jamm to keep Leslie occupied and Leslie’s unorthodox solution of not only failing the test but speeding up the process so that it can conclude and she can get back to setting up the gala.

That also leaves everyone else to pick up the pieces in suitably amusing ways. Ron ending up as the de facto host of Pawnee Today was a very funny choice. Between his pithy, hand-carved wisdom and Joan’s “allergies” there was a lot of fun to be had. There’s also fun character moments for everyone else, between Tom figuring out how to use the threat of competition from paunchburger to have food trucks cater, Donna finding…a chair, Jerry panicking because he doesn’t know the drill is fake, and Ben using the fake triage center as a way to attract attendees.

The one story that’s funny but a little odd is Andy failing his personality exam for the police department while acing the written exam. The “idiot is actually a genius” trope is kind of played out, though there’s been the occasional hint. The exam itself, or at least the bits we see, are pretty hilarious though.

Of course, things all work out for getting the money for Pawnee Commons and Leslie is touched. And we’ll have more time to talk about the ending when we get to the next episode!