Parks and Recreation Wiki

This site contains spoilers! Proceed with caution!

READ MORE

Parks and Recreation Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Parks and Recreation Wiki

If we're going to beat all the other departments, we have to choose something that will stand the test of time. Like the Mona Lisa, or the music of Squeeze.
Leslie Knope

"The Camel" is the ninth episode in the second season of the NBC television series Parks and Recreation. It originally aired on November 12, 2009 to 4.67 million viewers.

Synopsis[]

After one of the murals in City Hall is defaced, Leslie and the Parks Department compete to come up with a new design. Meanwhile, Andy and Ron share an uncomfortable moment at the shoeshine stand.

Storyline[]

The Pawnee council decides it will replace the town hall's "Spirit of Pawnee" mural, which has been repeatedly vandalized because of its racist undertones. When each Pawnee department is asked to propose a new mural, Leslie becomes determined for the Parks Department to win, especially after she is taunted by Sewage Joe from the Sanitation Department. Everyone in the Parks Department, including Ann, is told to come up with a possible design to submit in the contest.

Meanwhile, Andy is getting used to his new job as the City Hall shoeshine stand operator, and Ron pays for a shine. Ron is impressed when Andy actually eases the pain from his bunion, and he later purposely scuffs his shoe so he can get a second shine. Andy is initially flattered, but starts to grow uncomfortable when Ron returns for a third shoeshine, especially when Ron makes an involuntary noise that sounds like a sexual moan, seriously embarrassing both men.

The department show their proposed mural designs, but none are quite satisfactory. Ann, who acknowledges a lack of creative talent, presents a drawing of a park that is widely panned by the others. Tom paid a local artist at the Pawnee School of the Arts University to make a painting for him, and he is initially unsatisfied with the result (a colorful abstract painting), but when presenting it to the staff, however, he suddenly experiences his first emotional reaction to a work of art. April presents a dark and bizarre piece made of garbage she found in a dumpster. Donna presents a redone version of The Last Supper using famous people from Indiana in the places of Jesus and the disciples. Jerry presents a beautiful pointillist photo-mosaic of city hall, but he is laughed out of the room when he accidentally calls his mural a "murinal". Leslie proposes a picture of a historic Pawnee bread factory fire, which she thinks will win because it's dark and depressing. When the parks department casts votes for the best mural, they each vote for their own mural design. As a compromise, Leslie suggests they each combine pieces from their individual murals into one group project mural, but the end result is an ugly and confusing mess. Leslie asks Mark for some feedback, and he likens it to a camel, citing the saying that a camel looks like a horse that was designed by a committee. Leslie implores him to help them out, so he draws a simple sketch of an old man feeding pigeons in the park. Mark himself admits the sketch is dull, but claims it will win because it's simple and appealing to everyone. Nobody in the Parks Department likes it except for Ron, but Leslie insists on entering it so they will win, much to everybody's disappointment.

After a day of clumsily avoiding each other, Ron and Andy discuss the awkward incident and decide it would be best to just pretend it never happened.

While waiting to present the sketch, Leslie sees how much fun the Fire Department had in making their mural, and she (with a little encouragement from Mark, who admits it's "way more fun") decides to enter the Parks Department's original "camel" mural after all. The town council committee are confused by the proposal, but the Parks Department have fun presenting it and break into laughter. In the end, the town decides not to spend any money on a new mural and simply renames the old one "The Diversity Express". The Parks Department is nevertheless proud of their work, which they hang in their office; Ron also hangs Mark's sketch in his office.

Cast[]

Quotes[]

Joe: Sewage! Let's roll.
Tom: Damn! How does sewage always get the hottest interns?

Ron: I got my first job when I was 9. Worked at a sheet metal factory. In two weeks, I was running the floor. Child labor laws are ruining this country.

Andy: I feel right at home as a shoe-shiner. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I know I'm doing it really, really well.

Jerry: For my murinal, I was inspired by the death of my grandma.
Tom: You said "murinal". [laughs]
Jerry: No, I didn't.
Ann: Yes, you did. You said "murinal"; I heard it. [she laughs]
Jerry: Anyway, she-
April: [interrupts] Jerry, why don't you put that murinal in the Men's room so people can murinate all over it? [everyone laughs]
Tom: Jerry, go to the doctor - you might have a murinary tract infection. [everyone continues to laugh]

Tom, April, Donna: [chanting] Murinal! Murinal!! Murinal!!!

Jerry: [describing his mural] It's Pointillism, and each dot is a photo of a citizen of the town.
Tom: No one cares. At all. [laughs at Jerry's expense]

Leslie: June 8, 1922. The Pawnee Bread Factory burned to the ground. We lost a lot of good bread that day, as well as several human lives. And it also made the whole town smell like toast, which one resident described as "disturbingly enticing."

Mark: [upon examining the department's combined mural] Well, you made a camel. You've never heard that saying? "The camel was actually a horse designed by a committee." And what you guys have here is one ugly camel.

Trivia[]

  • The episode was written by Rachel Axler and was directed by Millicent Shelton. The title refers to the figure of speech that a camel is a "horse made by a committee", and refers to the final mural proposed by the parks department.
  • "The Camel" included references to several Indiana celebrities, including Greg Kinnear, John Mellencamp, Larry Bird, Michael Jackson and David Letterman, all of whom are placed in a mural resembling Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper.
  • Stand-up comedian Kirk Fox made a guest appearance as Sewage Joe. According to Nielsen Ratings, "The Camel" was seen by 4.67 million households, a drop from the previous week. The episode received generally positive reviews, with particular praise for the Ron and Andy subplot, and the jokes involving Jerry's "murinal".
Advertisement