1. Ben goes back to his hometown (and gets kidney stones). Ben gets offered the key to Partridge, the Minnesota town that Ben ran as mayor when he was 18 – which he also ran into the ground by spending all the town’s money on an ice–themed amusement park. Before he’s slated to accept the key, he’s struck with kidney stones and goes to the hospital. Leslie goes to accept it on his behalf but finds out that it was all a plan to humiliate Ben by giving him an “ice key” that melted. Ben is high on painkillers and says hilarious stuff.
2. Ron gets Jammed! Councilman Jamm decides to sue Ron for punching him in the face at Leslie’s wedding ($46 million in damages). When he meets with Jamm’s lawyers, Ron ends up looking pretty bad – a hilarious sequence of flashbacks shows Ron’s years–long desire to punch Jamm in the face. But Andy, Tom and April save the day by Jamming Jamm and getting him to drop the suit.
3. Chris and Ann aren’t compatible – or are they? Chris and Ann take a parenting compatibility test and don’t do so hot – they score a 58% (Jerry and Ann get a 84%. Ann is frightened). After some funny moments that underscore how different they are, they ultimately decide to go forward with the babeh plan, because they both want to make a happy kid. Aww.
4. Ron Ulysses Swanson. Yes, that’s his real middle name. This was another great episode for Ron, who delivered nearly all of the comic highlights. On lying and dairy products: “Skim milk is water that’s lying about being milk.”
5. A good episode, but one of this season’s weaker entries. It was amusing but not nearly as LOL–provoking as this season’s strongest episodes. It developed something unexpected – Ron getting sued – and went back to a part of Ben’s past, but nothing terribly big happened. The Ann baby plotline is getting tired at this point and there are a few other story arcs – April’s and Andy’s, for example – that are begging to be teased out some more.
