Susan Yeagley: 94 Meetings (S2E21)

Our friend Susan Yeagley AKA Jessica Wicks joins us in Pawnee today—to speak with Alan and Rob about the 21st episode of season 2! In "94 Meetings"  Leslie goes all out to save a gazebo on the historical register from being destroyed. On today's show you'll hear how Susan made her character more nuanced the second time around, how working with Amy was like working with a Jedi, and the secret origin of April's nickname! Got a question for the Pawnee Town Hall? Send us an email: [email protected] Or leave a 30-Second voicemail at: (310) 893-6992 In an effort to keep citizens from meeting with Ron, April has scheduled all meetings for a date she thought didn’t exist. Realizing the date does in fact exist, it turns out Ron is now faced with 93 meetings in a single day. He enlists the aid of April, Andy, Leslie and Ann to help handle them, while telling Jerry that he is free to go home early for the day. During her first meeting, Leslie learns a historic town monument, the Turnbill mansion, is soon to be altered by its new renter, the former Miss Pawnee beauty pageant winner Jessica Wicks (Susan Yeagley). Leslie and Tom leave to meet with her at the mansion, where Jessica is planning a birthday party for her extremely old husband, the wealthy Nick Newport Sr. (Christopher Murray), founder of the Sweetums candy company. Leslie is shocked to find that Jessica has already made alterations, such as hanging up nude portraits of herself and her husband and painting the original hardwood floors black, but completely outraged when Jessica reveals her plans to demolish an old gazebo in the backyard of Turnbill Mansion. The gazebo is the site of a historic wedding between a Pawnee Native American and white woman, which became a "bloodbath" when knowledge of the wedding became public. In efforts to thwart the demolition Leslie has Tom chain her to the front gate to prevent construction crews from entering; however, she mistakenly assumes the gate opens from the middle when it actually opens from the side, enabling the crews to enter right past Leslie and demolish the gazebo. At the end of the day, Ann and Mark arrive to free her, and Leslie finally reveals to Tom the true source of her anxiety—Mark's intentions to marry Ann. On the one hand, she wants her friends to be happy. On the other hand, she used to have romantic feelings for Mark, she feels insecure about being single, and she worries about losing her two friends. In response, Tom assures her not to worry, thus empowering Leslie to crash and ruin Jessica's party. Meanwhile, Ron and the rest of the Parks Dept. trudge on with the meetings: April acts as uninterested as possible, Andy makes promises to people against Ron's wishes, and Ann provides several medical consults. After all the meetings have concluded and a stern berating for causing the mess in the first place, April arranges her own meeting with Ron where she announces she is quitting. When Andy learns this, he convinces Ron that April is a great assistant and Ron heads to April’s house to change her mind and discovers her incredibly welcoming and nice parents. Despite April’s embarrassment over her normal family, Ron convinces April to stay and April reveals that she knows Ron is Duke Silver. The two exchange a look and it’s clear they agree to keep each other’s secrets. On her first day back, April successfully scares off a citizen wanting to meet with Ron by scheduling truly absurd meeting dates and times such as June 50th, the "one-teenth" of "march-tember" and 2:65 PM. Ron gives her an approving smile and nod while watching from his office.