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"The Bubble" is the fifteenth episode of the third season of the American comedy television series ''Parks and Recreation'', and the 45th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 19, 2011. In the episode, Leslie becomes nervous when her new boyfriend Ben has a business meeting with her tough mother, Marlene. Meanwhile, Chris tries to make some changes in the parks department, much to the chagrin of the staff. Written by Greg Levine and Brian Rowe and directed by Matt Sohn, "The Bubble" originally aired back-to-back along with "Lil' Sebastian". The two are stand-alone episodes not originally meant to run together, but because the third season premiered late, they had to be shown together so the series' season would conclude by the end of the television season. The episode featured a guest appearance by Pamela Reed as Leslie's mother Marlene, her first appearance since the second season episode "Galentine's Day". "The Bubble" marked a major progression for the character Tom Haverford, who starts considering if he should leave his city hall position, which sets the stage for him to leave the position in "Li'l Sebastian". "The Bubble" received generally positive reviews and, according to Nielsen Media Research, was seen by an estimated 4.27 million household viewers. Combined with an estimated 3.72 million household viewers with "Li'l Sebastian", the two episodes' ratings were about even with the previous week's episodes, "The Fight" and "Road Trip". ==Plot== In a cold open scene, the parks department welcomes Ann (Rashida Jones) to her new office in city hall and fill it with balloons, much to the chagrin of her cranky officemate Stuart (Jim Jansen). Leslie (Amy Poehler) and Ben (Adam Scott) are dating, but they are keeping their relationship a secret due to a no-dating policy at work. They are enjoying what Leslie calls "the bubble", or the beginning of a relationship when everything is simple and fun. It is suddenly threatened, however, when Ben has a meeting with Leslie's mother Marlene (Pamela Reed), a notoriously tough politician in the Pawnee school system, who wants Ben to approve the purchase of four new school buses despite a difficult budget season. Afraid of ruining the bubble, Leslie initially tells Ben she is not related to Marlene. Right before Ben's meeting, however, Leslie admits Marlene is her mother, making him nervous and causing him to capitulate to all of her demands during the meeting. Marlene considers Ben weak, so Leslie becomes determined to prove that he is a tough boss to impress Marlene. Meanwhile, Chris (Rob Lowe) has enacted numerous changes to the parks department; he promotes Jerry (Jim O'Heir) to public relations director, appoints April (Aubrey Plaza) as everyone's assistant, places Tom (Aziz Ansari) on the nightmarish fourth floor with Andy (Chris Pratt) as his temporary assistant, and makes Ron (Nick Offerman) sit in the middle of a circular desk after the removal of his office, to force him to interact with people. Ron believes everything will eventually go back to normal as it has with past city managers that implemented drastic changes. However, Donna (Retta) is concerned the overly-determined Chris will not do so and demands that Ron talk to him. On the fourth floor, Tom's attempts to charm some of the elderly women into doing his work fails miserably, as they ignore him and all adore Andy. Leslie trains Ben for his next meeting with her mother. He impresses Marlene so much with his tough negotiation skills that she becomes flirtatious with him. An uncomfortable Ben tells Leslie they should tell her about their relationship, but Leslie does not want to lose the bubble. Fed up, Ben storms into Marlene's office and tells her that he is dating her daughter and asks her to keep it secret. Marlene laughs off the situation and tells Leslie that she approves of Ben. Meanwhile, Ron tells Chris the changes do not play to his staff's strengths because Jerry only does well in the background, Tom only does well if people are all aware of his activities, and April only does well if people leave her the hell alone. Chris takes in Ron's well-reasoned arguments and they cut a deal where Chris will return everything to the way it was after Ron does one more week of interacting with the public. Nevertheless, Tom is frustrated with the experience and begins to contemplate leaving his city hall job to pursue his own entrepreneurial interests. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Bubble (Parks and Recreation)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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