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Happy Holidays from Pawnee! Today Gay Perello makes her second appearance on the pod, this time to celebrate with Rob and Alan. In "Galentine's Day" Leslie and Justin try to reunite Leslie's Mom with an old flame, only to discover he's a total loon. On today's episode find out how many ice cream sandwiches Chris Pratt can eat in one sitting, why there were 3 pages of gifts Gay was asked to make, and how the writers lost Yang for an entire week! Got a question for the Pawnee Town Hall? Send us an email: [email protected]) or leave a 30-Second voicemail at: (310) 893-6992
Leslie throws her annual "Galentine's Day" party for her female friends, celebrated the day before Valentine's Day. She asks her mother, Marlene, to tell the story about how she fell in love with a lifeguard that saved her from drowning in 1968, but the two had to break it off over objections from Marlene's parents. Leslie later tells the story to Justin, who is amazed by the tale and wants to unite the two. He tracks down Marlene's old flame, Frank Beckerson* (John Larroquette)*, and convinces Leslie to go with him to Illinois and reunite the two on Valentine's Day at the Senior Center Valentine's Dance, which the parks department oversees.
Leslie and Justin meet Frank, a strange and depressed man who has constant panic attacks. Leslie begins to have doubts about bringing him to her mother and tries to call it off, but Justin insists that they should "let this unfold." At the dance, where Andy's band, Mouse Rat, is playing, Frank meets up with Marlene, who is repulsed by Frank's past current unemployment and overall failure at life. She turns down his offer for a second chance at love, prompting him to storm onto the stage and denounce her over the microphone. Leslie apologizes to her mother for bringing Frank. She is later upset with Justin, but has trouble pinpointing the reasons for her dissatisfaction. Ron explains that Justin is a "tourist," meaning that he takes "vacations in people's lives" and only cares about telling interesting stories to impress other people, which makes him selfish. Two older women then recognize Ron as jazz saxophonist Duke Silver, but he denies it. Leslie later breaks up with Justin, which Tom takes especially hard, reacting as if his parents were getting divorced.
Before the senior dance, Tom invites his ex-wife Wendy to his office to finally disclose his romantic feelings for her, but she rejects him. Not satisfied with the outcome, he attempts to blackmail her into a date using an alimony lawsuit as leverage. Tom and Wendy are later shown hugging and presumably making amends, although their conversation remains inaudible. Meanwhile, April's boyfriend Derek and his boyfriend Ben mock the senior citizens, causing April to question why their interactions must constantly be "cloaked in like 15 layers of irony." They accuse her of "lameness," which they attribute to spending time with Andy, and provide her with several ultimatums. She breaks up with them in response. Ann and Mark, at the same time, celebrate their first Valentine's Day together. In an interview with the camera crew, Ann describes the relationship as "good," but her tone of voice and body language around Mark contradict her statements. She later becomes jealous when Andy dedicates a song to April, even going so far as to question April about the possibility of a budding relationship between April and Andy.