*Slight spoilers for “Dog Spray Afternoon.”*
This is probably one of the better episodes of Central Park I’ve seen so far. Even though most of the characters are still stuck within their one “thing,” both main plots are fun, and the presence of Andrew Rannells brings a different flavor to the show-narrator device.
Owen is beyond hyped about the new owl-nest cam livestreaming on the park website, while Paige is similarly amped about her prospective exposé uncovering some dirty dealings between Bitsy and the Russian mob. Meanwhile, Birdie, the busker narrator, has been relieved of his duties, having broken the sacred rule of narrator non-intervention, and he’s forced to watch a new narrator take over.
Other than the always-catchy music and Daveed Diggs’s delightfully-deadpan performance as Helen, one aspect of the show I typically enjoy is Owen’s over-the-top enthusiasm about All Things Central Park. Nest cameras are always really popular anyway, so it makes sense that he’d be completely losing his mind over the new owl-nest camera, glued to the unchanging screen for hours. “it’s an owls’ nest,” he enthuses to his family. “They are the Beyoncé of birds—if Beyoncé could turn her head all the way around.” But it’s only a matter of time before nest-watching leads to ill-conceived hijinks for him and Cole.
The Paige investigation plot is fun too. She “infiltrates” Bitsy’s hotel (a.k.a. books a room) and snoops around for info about a hush-hush private event. But naturally, it’s Molly, who’s tagged along purely for the fancy hotel amenities, who stumbles on the real scoop. This is a legitimately good line from Paige: “I know it’s a lot of money [for the room], but my gut has a hunch that my inklings are right!”
Then we’ve got Andrew Rannells as Griffin the narrator. It’s only fitting that an episode that reunites Rannells with Josh Gad winds up semi-recreating their dynamic from The Book of Mormon. Birdie is the gung-ho, try-hard narrator who plays fast and loose with the rules, while Griffin is an agreeable poster boy of a by-the-book narrator. Only instead of Birdie glomming onto Griffin as his “new best friend,” he resents the interloper and longs to get him ousted. But Griffin doesn’t have any sympathy for Birdie, reminding him, “You messed up! We’re narrators, not guardian angels.”
We get, not one, but two songs from Rannells here, so I’m very grateful to Central Park for that. The opening number, “First-Class Hands,” is a pleasant little ditty explaining the changing of the guard, narrator-wise, and is fully of not-so-subtle digs about how much better Griffin is than Birdie. Even better is “Way Too Close,” the duet Griffin and Birdie sing together. In it, Griffin again chastises Birdie for intervening in the lives of their subjects and likens him to, among other things, farm kids who get too attached to their “pet” pig before it winds up on their breakfast table. It’s funny—as much as I enjoy the talented cast and some of the great songs, I’ve never a serious fan of The Book of Mormon, but for whatever reason, hearing Rannells and Gad sing together makes me so damn happy.
Rannells has only appeared in these two episodes, so here’s my Central Park wrap-up:
Recommend?
In General – Possibly. It’s not as good as I want it to be, but the cast is excellent and the songs never disappoint. And it does seem like it’s improving somewhat as it goes on.
Andrew Rannells – I think I would. Even though a narrator character isn’t the most interesting thing around, it’s worth it for the songs and the Josh Gad reunion alone.
Warnings
Mild
language, some gross-out humor, and a little cartoon violence.
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