Full Recap of ‘Central Park’ Season 3 and the Key Moments

Central Park is one of the best animated shows on any streaming platform. The animated musical comedy adventure secured season 3, following our favorite characters in one of the best parks in the world. I’ve watched every episode of the third season and compiled all the main plot points into one comprehensive recap.

Episode 1 – “A Star Is Owen”

The episode starts with a fun little song that highlights everyone mentioning the show’s return. I loved how they got everyone involved in this because it was like a “hey, welcome back, everyone.”

After our intro, Birdie talks about how spring is full of change, including his breaking down, saying that Mayor Whitebottom had to resign and was replaced by an interim mayor, Mayor Quincy. Owen has been super busy since taking over but hasn’t had much time. However, he is trying to attract more high-profile shoots at the park.

We move inside, where Owen announces that they have Gina Tracker, FBI will be shooting at the park today. Paige and the rest of the family are excited because it is their favorite TV show. The Tillmans will head to the set, but Birdie lets us know that things aren’t going to go as planned.

The Tillmans are getting the tour of the set. First, the man gives them all the details that Gina Tracker will film. Next, he introduces the family to a man who is excited to meet the family. The guy mentions how he is a massive fan of the family, including Paige’s work at the newspaper. So naturally, the kids are overzealous and are trying to get involved on the set.

It’s the raccoon’s lunch (yes, you read that right, ha), and Cole wants to volunteer to eat lunch with them, and the guy tells him that he can help feed them. Then, Molly wants to go inside the makeup trailer, which he tells her she can. Next, he asks Paige what she wants to do, including an exclusive interview with Gina’s sidekick Nicole. Finally, he gets to Owen and wants him to use him as an extra for the show. Owen’s response is as expected; he is EXCITED.

We move to Bitsy, who is getting her feet rubbed, and while she does, she lets the park know that she is coming for it and buying it. Her assistant Helen asks how it will happen without Mayor Whitebottom in her pocket. She explains easy because there is a special election in a few months and will ensure they will be in her pocket.

Owen is ready to rock and roll back on the set, but Nathan (the director we met earlier who loved the family) starts to direct traffic from spreading trash, needles, and dead bodies all over the park. Owen freaks out a little because he doesn’t want them to make a mess of the park. He breaks down how the park has murders. But Owen refutes that, but Nathan tells him this is the Gina Tracker, FBI show, and that, of course, there will be these types of things.

As this is happening, Birdie mentions Helen is struggling extra hard to find someone to back as Mayor. Next, we see her questioning candidate after candidate and not having any luck. Finally, Owen approaches Nathan about how the show isn’t painting the park in a great light. He tries to reassure him that he needs to relax and have a good time with this. Back to Bitsy, who calls Helen, who struggles to find her “puppet.”

And here we are, with our first song break out mid-episode centered around Hellen trying to find a candidate. One thing that continues to impress me about this show as we enter the third season is their ability to write these incredible songs that are HILARIOUS. I love Daveed Diggs as Helen.

On the set of Gina Tracker, FBI, the shoot begins, which shows the raccoon going after the trash while Owen is in the background. At this moment, the raccoon has a moment to stop shooting, and then we see Owen try to put his two cents in, which Nathan isn’t a fan of. However, Owen continues to try to share his input, and Turrent is FREAKING OUT.

Episode 1 Ending

We see a big blowup between Owen and Nathan, and as it is happening, the Mayor arrives on the set. Owen continues to explain how the show could be so much better if they did things a little more his way. We see Owen try to go into detail with a lovely little song. The funniest thing about this moment is that as Owen is singing how amazing the park is, he is holding a head in his hand the entire time.

The song fell on deaf ears as Nathan said, “Alright, can we get back to shooting now?” The family offers their support to Owen, which he appreciates. Owen knows how much fun they are having on the set and tells them to stay. Next, Bitsy is upset because Helen hasn’t found their person yet, but as they watch the news, the interim Mayor is on the TV talking about declining the Met Gala invite.

As the episode closes, Helen suggests that the interim Mayor is their puppet. Next, the interim Mayor chases down Owen to talk to him. He was impressed with Owen’s little song and his passion for the park. The back and forth between the two was much to my delight of Owen. However, Bitsy and Helen look on and see that Owen already has his claws on the interim Mayor. However, Bitsy doesn’t care because she will be sure to make him our puppet.

Episode 2 – “Paige’s Next Chapter”

Central Park Season 3 (Credit – Apple TV+)

The episode begins with Birdie narrating what is ahead, including talking about how Paige’s sister Abby is moving to the big city to chase her dream of being an actress. Next, we move to the house where Paige is freaking out because she is trying to get everyone together for Abby coming into town. Owen brings up Paige’s interview with a publisher about writing a book. But Paige changes the subject with a song about her sister coming in to chase her dreams.

After the song is over, Cole and Molly argue about what dessert to make for Aunt Abby, leading to them fighting over who Abby’s favorite is. Owen tells them to list what they need to cook and that they will get it from the grocery store. However, he mentions it is not a competition, leading to more fighting between Cole and Molly because Molly says it’s a competition for Abby’s favorite.

We head to Bitsy’s house, where she is feeding the dog. The piano player from the lounge shows up to let her know that he can’t play the piano because he is moving a dog house. Bitsy, who doesn’t care, says to fire him, but the piano player says that his wife can replace him. Bitsy says that if she isn’t good, they are both fired.

Paige heads over to Abby to see her and give her a housewarming plant. Abby is obviously excited to see her and wants to show her around the apartment and her roommates. Abby’s roommates include an older couple and a DJ. Paige said now that she is a plant momma, she needs a watering can for her apartment.

Owen is at the grocery store trying to find the ingredients for the kid’s desserts. Back to Paige and Abby, they are leaving the garden place, where Abby tells her that she is heading for some headshots. Paige is concerned that where Abby is going could be dangerous. Abby asks about her meeting, but we know Paige is putting it off, so she goes with Abby cause she is concerned.

At home, Owen gives the kids all their ingredients and reminds them this isn’t a competition. Instead, however, the kids are cutthroat and throw insults back and forth at each other. I love the banter between these two; they have the perfect brother/sister vibe.

We return to the lounge, where the piano man’s wife, Devora, shows up to take his spot. She tries to introduce herself, but Bitsy doesn’t care and moves on. Helen informed Bitsy that people from Capshaw Financial would be there soon, and they agreed to the fee Bitsy quoted them. Next, we find out that they wanted to explore the lounge while they were around. Devora begins to sing, which terrifies Bitsy and leads to Helen saying she is scatting. Insert Birdie to break down what scatting is to all of us.

In the car, Paige is trying to find reviews of this Posey photographer that her sister is going to but can’t. Abby hates the subway, so they are riding in a cab, where Paige tells her that she needs to get used to riding the subway to get around faster.

The bakeoff is going awful. Owen sees the dishes are rough, and the trash is filled with attempts at what they were making. So, it becomes a song battle between Molly and Cole over who will win. Honestly, this battle is the highlight of this episode.

Episode 2 Ending

We have arrived at the photographer’s house, which is about as sketchy as Paige thought it would be. Paige is questioning EVERYTHING in Lester’s house. Abby is trying to calm Paige down and let her attempt to take these pictures. Then, Paige bumps into something, and a d***o falls out. This causes the sisters to freak out, but it isn’t what Paige thought it was. Lester is a dog photographer trying to break into the human picture-taking business.

Paige realizes it’s only thirty minutes from her meeting and begins to freak out! Abby goes off because she knows this is everything Paige wanted from life. The duo get their stuff together and head on their way. While on the bus, Paige realizes they won’t make it. Abby breaks into a song about how she looks up to her. Abby overcomes her fear of riding on the subway to ensure she gets to the meeting on time.

Back at the house, Molly and Cole are done with their desserts. Owen says he wants to try the desserts, and he tried Cole’s gum, and it wasn’t great. Next, he tries Molly’s, which is also a disaster. Owen being the good dad he is, mixes the duos desserts to help them present them to Abby. The episode comes to an end with a toast from Owen to Paige about her upcoming book.

Episode 3  – “Ice Ice Not Baby”

It’s the last week of the skating season, and Molly is alone and sad at the skating rink. So how did we get here? Well, Birdie hops in to tell us that three hours earlier, we see Molly and a boy skating together while singing a song. Everything seemed to be going great between the two. First, however, Molly attempts to put her hands in his pockets to warm up her hands, but it gets awkward. Then Molly asks if they will partake in the Couples Skate, to which Brendan obliges.

We move to my favorite character, Bitsy, who is going over her schedule with Helen. At 3:30, she has the first meeting with the interim Mayor today. She has it planned for two of their employees to act on her behalf to talk about how great of a boss she is. Bitsy always announces she will fire the front desk lady for giving someone a free upgrade. Helen retorts, “Oh, the horror.” I can’t get enough of these two together. It makes the show worth it all in itself.

At the Owen and Paige house, where Abby arrives to say she booked her first gig in a commercial. Cole is excited and says he will help her prepare for the audition. Back to Molly and Brendan, who get her some skates that fit and off to get a snack together. A crew of friends from school confronts the crew about Molly finally getting out of the house from her homework.

Bitsy has her meeting with the interim Mayor. As they sit there, her “employees” (the ones Helen got to say nice things) are walking up to say all these wonderful things about Bitsy in front of the Mayor. The Mayor is an interesting character, and while someone brought in towels, he got excited and asked Bitsy to take him to the laundry room so he could see it.

Abby is prepping for an audition with Owen and Cole, and things aren’t going as she wants them to. Back to the skating ring, where Molly is acting a little wild, pretending for the upcoming Couples Skate. When Bernard gives her a score of 8, she isn’t thrilled with it because they are supposed to give each other 10s. This leads to an argument between the duo, which causes him to storm away.

And if the show’s songwriting couldn’t get any funnier, we get a song surrounding laundry. After the song is over, the Mayor says he would love to stay in the laundry room more, and Bitsy says they have some business to discuss. The Mayor says they could chat over them doing some laundry, but Bitsy refuses to say yes even though Helen is telling her to say yes.

Meanwhile, back at the rink, Molly tells her friends that she and Brendan got into a fight, and they said it would help her get to the bottom of their argument. Her friends were going over scenarios to help, but none of them were working. She can’t figure out the problem (we can as she acted crazy over him giving her an 8).

The Front Desk Clerk has arrived in the laundry room, and Bitsy informs her she is fired. While Bitsy is trying to be discreet, the Mayor hears what is happening. So Bitsy is forced to do an about-face with the entire situation and says she is giving her a promotion. Moments later, the Mayor walks away, and Bitsy sends Helen to fire her.

Episode 3 Ending

After discussing every scenario that could’ve led to her argument with Bernard, Molly determines it was him being jealous of talking to another boy. So she hunts Bernard down to confront him about that. However, Bernard tries to fire back at Molly because that isn’t the case. Molly takes his hot chocolate away from him because it’s hurting his stomach. She realized he had bought her a present but threw it in the trash. When she picked it up out of the garbage, she looked up, and he was gone.

Back to the Bitsy and the Mayor, the duo had a wonderful day together. Bitsy finally plants the seed in his ear that she wants to see him as more than interim Mayor. Then, she says she supports him financially and, in return, helps her with something, including getting Central Park. The Mayor says he is working with Owen and that she should work with him and will set it up. Bitsy isn’t thrilled with how it all turned out.

After the entire episode of prepping for the audition, Abby gets a call from her agent that she isn’t getting the role. While everyone thought she would be down, come to find out, someone else got the part that was a big star, so she equated that with being a good thing.

Poor Molly is alone as the Couples Skate is set to begin. First, however, she sees a microphone and asks to use it. Over the intercom, Molly announces that she is looking for Brendan. He appears. She tells him she understands why he didn’t want her to put her hands in his pockets. Bernard explained why he was upset and shared his concern that he doesn’t know anything about art. A cute little moment between these two. The episode ends with the duo knocking the dance out of the ballpark, with Birdie serenading us.

Episode 4 – “A Triptych Down Memory Lane”

Central Park Season 3 (Credit – Apple TV+)

It’s Saturday in the park, Owen is prepping his campaign for the I heart the park, and Paige is struggling with her work deadlines while trying to write her book. Paige and Owen have been working non-stop, and it’s taking a toll on the family. It being Saturday, the day everyone doesn’t work, Paige enters the room to let the family know she has to pick up a couch with Abby.

Paige informs everyone that the cable guy is coming to fix the cable, and she will upgrade their package. The kids are ecstatic, and Paige tells them they can pick whatever package when the cable guy gets there. When Owen asks when they plan to arrive because he wants to go into the office, Paige says, “between 9 AM and 9 PM,” and bails. I couldn’t have laughed any harder at this moment because it was equally painful and so accurate. Cable companies suck so badly.

While the kids go back and forth about the package they want to upgrade, Owen informs them he needs to finish the proposal he is working on for the Mayor. Unfortunately, Henrietta is missing, which is the name of the external hard drive they use to store all of their family stuff that Owen has been using for both work and family stuff lately. The kids freak out because they have so many things on them, and Owen freaks out because the first chapter of Paige’s book is on it.

Owen calls Elwood to find out if he has seen the hard drive, to which he responds that he has been using it for work stuff. Elwood also lets him know that he password-protected it but can’t remember the password. The hard drive wipes after ten password attempts, and after trying six times, Owen tells him to stop because if he doesn’t, it will wipe the entire thing.

Cole takes the phone from his Dad to talk to Elwood and jog his brain about the password. Thus, this moment leads to storytime for Cole, which involves animals being dropped off in Montana and traveling cross-country back to New York. Then, of course, it leads to a stupid (and funny) song from our animals. Cole is the worst storyteller ever (in a good way), and Molly makes fun of it at every chance.

Next, Molly decides to take over the conversation and tell Elwood how to get the password out of him is to tell him a scary story to scare it out of him. But unfortunately, the story leads to a whirlwind of events that doesn’t equate to them getting the password. Owen is on the edge because Paige calls to let him know she is closer to coming home.

It’s Owen’s turn to try to get Elwood to get the password out of his head. However, like the rest of them, it isn’t working, and then Paige comes home, and she is taking it rather well. Instead of worrying about the book, Paige mentions that all the family pictures are on it. Look, this show is really good, but anyone watching this and watching this episode could learn a thing or two from it about how we lose sight of important things by overworking ourselves—a great teaching moment for not just the Tillermans but us, the viewer.

Owen states he has been working so much and losing his mind, and Paige agrees she has been doing the same. All of her time has been spent on work and the book. Next, Owen apologizes to Elwood for stressing him out, which leads to, yes, you guessed it right, a song. The creativity of the writing on these songs impresses me weekly.

Episode 4 Ending

At the song’s end, Elwood finally remembers the password that brings much joy to the Tillerman family. Then, Elwood breaks down how he figured out the hard drive’s password. Instead of going to get it, Owen tells him that he will get it tomorrow because he wants to spend time with his family. Next, the cable guy arrives to inform them that the package they wanted promotion expired last week and it would be $25 extra a month. Paige responds, no, just fix our connection. Ha!

Episode 5 – “Golden Owen: Manager Damager”

The episode starts with Owen making breakfast but is nervous because of the Annual New York City Parks Manager conference. Owen is excited to get the band back together as they haven’t seen each other in a long time since the early days of being regular park workers. Of course, this leads to a song that breaks down their friendship and everything they used to do together. The song includes a funny story about how they wanted to get tattoos, but the pain was too much, and they all got dot tattoos on their buts.

“Pancakes and Aunt Abby, this is the perfect day”

Owen is even more excited cause he gets to bring Paige to the conference. Because of this, Abby is coming to the house to hang out with the kids. Next, Owen tells a story about how the guys pulled a fast one on him at the last conference by saying they would sneak out for a beer, but they gave him an address to a cupcake shop instead. We find that Owen’s plan to get them back is to get them to eat week-old cupcakes. I love how Cole says, “I can’t wait to be an adult to find out why that is funny,” right to his face.

As all this is happening, the Mayor calls Owen to tell him that the park commissioner is intrigued by his “I heart the park” campaign. However, he mentions that he will need approval from the Park Manager executive community. Owen isn’t concerned because he is on the board and knows the rest of the crew on it.

My favorite duo has returned after a one-episode hiatus, and of course, I am talking about Bitsy and Helen. Bitsy realizes the floors haven’t been cleaned in a while, and she wants it down ASAP. Helen reminds her that she fired the guy, but Bitsy tells her to bring him back to get them nice and shiny.

The kids are hanging out with Abby, and she is trying to figure out what to do with the kids. They bring up some crazy ideas like eating a thousand-dollar burrito or taking a helicopter tour, but Abby reminds them that she is a little light on cash and needs something smaller to do with them. However, Abby is looking for a job, and the kids said they would help her find a job.

Owen and Paige have arrived at the conference, and he is showing her around. Next, we see Owen lay out the week-old cupcakes for the guys to eat. The guys show up to snag a cupcake and start to talk crap about Owen and that he doesn’t manage an actual park while Owen is close by and can hear them. It hurts his feelings.

We see Owen telling Paige that they call him “Golden Owen” because they don’t think they work that hard. Paige tries to comfort him by saying they don’t mean it, but he says they do. He says they always email, but Paige takes a peak at the emails and realizes that Owen brags quite a lot about Central Park’s greatness. Finally, Owen admits that he needs them to sign off on the park campaign, and Paige needs to butter them up about anything other than the park. So Paige agrees to be a reporter and help him get to the bottom of it.

The man comes in and cleans the floors for Bitsy. When Helen sees him, she thanks him for returning even though Bitsy had fired him. He tells her Bitsy has fired no worries as plenty of people. However, when Helen goes to check on the floors, they look good, but they are slippery, and she falls to the ground. So he did have hard feelings towards Bitsy and did it on purpose.

We move back to the conference, where Owen is about to see the guys for the first time, and Paige has uncovered a few talking points to approach them with. The guys act excited to see him and Paige gets them all to sit together. While sitting there, Paige feeds him notes and talking points to get the guys on his side.

Helen is still laid out on the floor, unable to get up. As she is lying there, she hears the elevator go off and knows it is Bitsy. Helen tells Bitsy don’t talk on the floor, and of course, Bitsy marches to the beat of her drum and does, leading her to fall on the floor next to Helen. Watching Bitsy try to get up was one of the funniest things I’ve seen on this show yet.

The job hunt for Abby has hit its low as every place is turning her down. While she gets turned down by one, the next asks her about her special skills, leading to her breaking into a song about her special skills. Finally, however, they were kicked out of the latest establishment.

Episode 5 Ending

Things are going well. Paige continues to feed notes to him, and it is working. But someone snags Paige and leaves Owen alone, and he starts to STRUGGLE. The guys finally break down and feel bad because he is interested in the things they love. One of the guys mentioned that maybe they were jealous of his success and were sorry. So the guys offer to buy him a drink at the bar. Owen arrives at the bar where they signed him up to ride a bull (he mentioned earlier that he was a bull rider).

Helen and Bitsy are still stuck, but Helen comes up with an idea to shove Bitsy down the hall to Helen’s bathroom to save them. It works, and Helen tells Bitsy to call for help, but first, she wants to call the floor guy to fire him again.

When it is time for Owen to ride the bull, he breaks down because he overheard him talking about him, which led to all of these things, but the icing on the cake is letting them know he needs their signature for the park. It causes them to get mad at him again. Not only does this lead to a song, but a country-music style song about how hard he works at Central Park. Leslie Odom Jr.’s singing range is on FULL DISPLAY.

The episode ends with the guys agreeing to sign the paperwork after seeing their old friend Owen come out through the song. Then we see the kids walking home with Abby, who had given up on finding a job until they were at a restaurant, and some quit opening the door for her to show off her waitressing skills, leading to her getting a job.

Episode 6 – “A Matter of Life and Boeuf”

Central Park Season 3 (Credit – Apple TV+)

The show starts with Abby making a big breakfast because she is trying to butter up Paige and Owen. As she is about to share, she has an exciting new job, but she is working for Bitsy, who we know isn’t a beloved person to the Tillman family. Paige and Owen arrive at the table, and Abby gives the big news. Paige realizes that she is onto something. Cole blurts out that Abby is working for Bitsy, and Paige freaks out a little. However, Abby talks them into coming to dinner tonight.

We move to my two favorite characters, Bitsy and Helen, where we see Helen awake. Bitsy tells her that someone ordered the côte de boeuf. Birdie breaks down what precisely the côte de boeuf is. Bitsy added a $20,000 steak to the menu because she wanted to raise Brandenham’s rep. Once she serves this steak, she will become an enemy of every restaurant in town. With this being ordered for tonight’s dinner and the Tillman family coming, we know this isn’t going to end well for anyone.

Birdie breaks into a song about what makes the côte de boeuf so special, followed by an assist by Abby joining in on the song to let the Tillmans know why tonight is going to be so special. Dinner has begun, and the Tillmans are having themselves a little bit of a good time. That was until Bitsy arrived at the restaurant, laying out the groundwork until her brother came, and this is when we found out he ordered the steak.

Ambrose (her brother) says he wanted to see how she could mess up something so good, causing Bitsy to head to the kitchen and lose her s**t. Of course, she freaks out, knocking all the food all over the ground, and the chef arrives to announce he is ready to cook the steak and tells Abby she will be doing the presentation, much to her delight.

Much to the surprise of no one, Ambrose wants Bitsy and the chef to throw the $20,000 steak into a blender and make it drink. Bitsy freaks out and blames Paige as the steak fell off the plate and has gone missing. Paige storms into the room to protect her sister from Bitsy because she wants to throw her in jail. Bitsy is trying to get to the bottom of who stole the steak and wants to find out now.

But of course, we break into a song about the mystery of who stole the steak. We get each person singing, pointing fingers at another person in the classic “whodunnit.” Finally, Helen stops all the noise to let Bitsy know that Bitsy’s dog is the one that ate the steak. Next, we find out that there was sauce on the steak, which would have killed Ambrose, opening the question of who would want to kill Ambrose.

Episode 6 Ending

The steak sauce was found in Bitsy’s pocket, causing her to be the main suspect in trying to poison Ambrose. However, Abby refuses to believe that Bitsy would do such a thing. A mix of things happens where Abby convinces Paige to believe that Bitsy didn’t commit the crime. Followed by Ambrose’s girlfriend finally admits to being the one who did it and ultimately settles the case.

As the episode closes, Bitsy apologizes to Abby for accusing her of the crime. As the Tillmans and Abby walk home, Abby says she will look for a new job in the morning, but Paige tells her not to, that she should stay at the job at Bitsy’s restaurant.

Episode 7 – “Slumber-Dog-Molly-An-Aire”

The episode begins with Molly getting advice from her Mom about gossip from school. Then, Birdie informs us that Molly tells Paige EVERYTHING that happens at her school. Molly is having a slumber party but is worried because two of her friends coming over are having a bit of a fight right now. Molly tells her Mom that she doesn’t want any little kids’ stuff at the slumber party, only big kid stuff.

Now we are at breakfast, where Paige promises Molly that the boys will stay out of the party. However, Cole says he could lend a helping hand in prepping for the party. While she is skeptical, Molly reluctantly agrees to his help. Paige and Owen are finally excited because they can relax and watch a movie they’ve been trying to watch for a while called “The Return Policy.” That doesn’t sound like a real movie, but I would watch it.

Bitsy wakes up from having a MASSIVE nightmare that scared her. She wants room service to bring her a special drink of tea and three shots of tequila. We see Abby enter the room to give her the glass, and as she leaves, Abby tells her that maybe she should move the bed, which could help with the dreams. Bitsy forces Helen and Abby to move the bed instead of bringing anyone in. Bitsy is hands down the best part of this show every week.

Molly’s friends arrive at the slumber party, where Cole greets the guests with an appetizer. When Paige enters the room, she breaks down all the gossip from school in front of the kids causing them to question Molly if she tells her Mom everything that is happening at school. Molly defers and says only the basics, but the kids make her realize it might not be right. Cole and Enrique (Cole’s best friend) had prepared the perfect room for her friends.

However, Molly’s friends inform her that they plan to meet with some boys at the park tonight. It makes Molly sad because she thought they were there for the slumber party, but they convince her they need to do big kid things and sneak out and go to the park. Cole busted her as she was sneaking out, and Molly told him not to tell anyone what they were doing. Instead, she talks Cole into making noises so their Mom doesn’t realize they are gone.

Bad news: Owen passes out on the couch while watching the movie, which frees Paige up to be noisy about what the girls are up to. Back in the bedroom, Cole and Enrique break into song and alter their voices to sound like the girls to keep Paige out of the room. At the park, the girls go over what they intend to do, including how they will kiss the boys. Molly is freaking out because they run into a road-closed sign, and she knows if they make it across, they won’t make it back by 11 o’clock.

Back at the Bitsy household, Abby and Helen could finally move the bed, but they settled it under a vent where cold air was shooting down on her, and she told them to move the bed again. However, after trying to push it again, the bed broke, and Abby was unhappy.

Paige darts upstairs to check in on the kids, and Cole answers the door, where he attempts to cover up that they are gone. However, Cole isn’t good at lying to his Mom, and he blurts out that the kids are heading to the park to kiss boys. Paige darts out of the room and heads to find Molly and her friends. As she is driving, she begins to question everything and wonder what else Molly has lied to her about.

Episode 7 Ending

As Paige attempts to cross the bridge, she gets stuck, which causes her to try to call Owen, who is passed out on the couch. Next, she calls Molly, who answers the phone and tells the truth, but Molly finds out that her Mom is stuck on the bridge. The boys that Molly and her friends were supposed to meet ended up helping Paige up from being stuck.

Finally, the bed is FIXED! But we find out the man who fixed her bed was the guy scarring her in Bitsy’s dreams. So after he fixes the bed, Helen fires him for what he did to Bitsy in her dreams. BAHAHAHA I swear this duo is the only reason this show has been good this year. I hate we don’t see more of the duo in each episode.

We finally see Paige confront Molly and her friends in the park with the boys they were supposed to meet. Unfortunately, the car is in the mud, and they all work together to get the car out of the mud. When they get home, Molly has difficulty getting to sleep because she feels terrible for sneaking out of the house. Yes, you guessed it, this leads to a song between the two trying to repair the lost trust—a cute little moment between the two to end the episode.

Episode 8 – “Lunar Palaver”

Central Park Season 3 (Credit – Apple TV+)

The episode starts with Cole breaking out in a song about waking up and getting prepared for his Saturday. While he is dancing around the park, a woman is scared by Cole, who is wielding a wooden sword, and the lady says she felt threatened by Cole. Owen does what any father should and stands up to the questionable lady. However, this was Cole’s first run-in with someone who might be racist, and Owen knows he will have to sit down and talk with him.

We see an anxious Owen walking through the park, and he breaks into a song about how it shouldn’t be any different for Cole because of the color of his skin. Honestly, we get quite a few laughs from this show, but this song was powerful and moving. It broke down a lot of what is wrong with society’s racial profiling.

Helen is bolting from Bitsy because she is off to some fancy she isn’t invited to. As Helen leaves, Bitsy asks where she is going and tells her it’s none of her business for the next five hours. Bitsy is a bit perplexed and heads to the balcony, where she sees Helen putting on lipstick and getting into a car. She no longer cares about the event and wants to know where Helen is going.

At the Tillman’s household, Owen talks to Paige about what happened in the park. As they are discussing it, Molly walks in, and they let her know what went down. Next, Cole comes in and is excited because Lunar Palaver is happening, and Owen decides to hold off talking about it after that is over. Finally, birdie breaks down Lunar Palaver, a nerdy event that occurs under the full moon.

Back to the snooping Bitsy, who is inside the restaurant that Helen is at. However, the lady at the door lets her know they aren’t taking walk-ins because they are packed. So Bitsy opens the checkbook to bribe her to give her a seat in the restaurant. We see Helen and a man out on what looks like a date.

We see Owen and Cole are off to find him a costume for the big event while on their way. Owen is trying to have the talk with him, but Cole’s overzealous excitement about the event prevents him from doing so. Owen attempts to break the story down to him in logical terms of the people at the event, but they arrive at the costume place, putting a pause on the conversation. When Owen gets home, we see Cole’s costume, which is even worse than just the sword he was wielding earlier, causing Paige to have some concern.

While they are on their date, the man Helen is out with breaks out into song. He offers to rescue Helen from the world and wants to free her from all of her problems. Bitsy leaves because she can’t handle it anymore. Helen mid-song states that she will be filthy rich once Bitsy passes on, and she can’t leave that.

Episode 8 Ending

Owen has the talk with Cole, and there isn’t much I can add to this other than this moment was impactful on so many levels. I highly urge anyone who watches this show to share it with anyone they know. Including their kids because they could learn so much from this moment. A job well done by the entire writing team and Leslie Odom Jr. for his brilliant delivery of this whole monologue.

We get a confrontation between Helen’s boyfriend and Bitsy, who offers him money, never to see Helen again. While he puts it off for a second, he agrees to take the money and the deal.

We get a confrontation between Helen’s boyfriend and Bitsy, who offers him money, never to see Helen again. While he puts it off for a second, he agrees to take the money and the deal. Helen returns to work and tells Bitsy about her day, including how she broke it off with the guy. Bitsy freaks out because she realizes she paid the man for nothing. BAHAHAHAHAHAHA, I love these two so much.

As the episode closes, Owen walks Cole to the big event and lets him go on his merry way. What an incredible episode!

Episode 9 – “A Killer Deadline”

The episode starts with Owen making his lunch as he will be a playground Pop at the kid’s school today. Playground Pop is something to encourage fathers to come to the school, which typically leads to them embarrassing their kids. Maybe I need to do this at my kid’s school, as I would love to embarrass them. So the kids beg Owen not to do anything while he is at their school to embarrass them.

Paige is in a writer’s slump (I know that all too well) for her upcoming book. Her publisher is on her case about writing, and the first three chapters of her book are due tonight, resulting in Paige losing her mind. So the kids try to throw some words of encouragement her way, which, you guessed it, leads to a song. Should I try to break out into a song next time I write? I wonder if that works.

Abby heads to work on her day off to talk to Helen about her schedule. She needs Wednesdays off to take an acting accent class, and Helen doesn’t care. Abby sees Bitsy and attempts to go to Helen to get the day off. Helen needs Abby’s help Bitsy. Abby says she will only help if Helen gives her off Wednesdays, and she obliges.

At the school, it is KICKBALL DAY, which I wrote in all caps because Birdie is excited because the entire school is playing in a kickball tournament. The students have two choices: either partake in kickball or study, and only a few select kids pick the studying, one of which is Molly. Owen can’t believe it and tries to talk her into doing the kickball instead. Finally, Owen convinces her to give it a try.

Paige is at home trying to write, and well, everything stands her way. Stupid articles on the internet, someone knocking on the door, and everything else that could stop her is stopping her. Her boss stops by to ask about the article, and she closes the door as she says it will be done. However, her boss suggested getting a hotel room to write in to block out all the noise from her house, which at first seemed like a bad idea, but after hearing her phone ring and the dryer go off, Paige realized it was not a bad idea after all.

At the school, Owen is on the court to show Molly how to conquer playing kickball ahead of the tournament. Yes, you guessed it again, it leads to a song. I can easily see this entire thing ending up with Owen embarrassing Molly.

At the hotel, things aren’t going as planned for Paige in her attempt to get to writing. Someone left a package at her door, the room is gross, and no one is answering the front desk. However, as the plug for the hotel room falls, Paige overhears someone in the next room over talking about secretive stuff causing her to be even more distracted.

The kickball tournament is set to begin, and I am sure I am excited to see how this unfolds. Molly gets onto the field to try out the pitch that her dad taught her, and the kid kicks it out of the park, causing Molly to quit kickball and go to study where she wanted to be in the first place. Owen isn’t thrilled and quite upset about her leaving.

Episode 9 Ending

As Paige is eavesdropping in the hotel, she hears someone mention the missing package (it’s in her hotel room). They said if someone had the box, they would kill them, leading to Paige freaking out. Paige calls her boss to figure out what she should do, and he tells her to leave, but she wants to write the story of what is going on next door.

Back on the field, Molly tells Owen she wants to learn more about her pitch because she enjoyed learning it. Then, Molly enters the game and proceeds to strike the kid out and help the team win the game.

Abby is helping Helen not get fired by Bitsy because of all the madness that has unfolded. As a man walks in, he says a few nice things about Bitsy, which is just what she needs to have that little boost of confidence. She forgets everything that went down and heads upstairs. Moments later, it was revealed that it was an actor that Abby got to help get everything back on track.

As the episode comes to a close, we find out that the entire story of Molly being at the hotel was made up in her head and was the story she is turning into the paper.

Episode 10 – “Money Candy”

Central Park Season 3 (Credit – Apple TV+)

The episode begins with Cole (Tituss Burgess) and Molly (Emmy Raver-Lampman) dancing upstairs while watching a music video of Money Candy. The duo is terrible dancers, and while they are dancing, Paige (Kathryn Hahn) and Owen (Leslie Odom Jr.) are listening, awaiting the noise of one of them getting hurt. Owen comes up with the idea of buying the kids tickets to the Money Candy concert for the kids. While Paige says they are expensive, Owen makes a case that they have been super busy, and it would make them the best parents ever.

Abby arrives at the house to ask to spend time, and she hears the kids are listening to Money Candy and goes to hang out with them. Paige realizes she will have to buy three tickets now. Next, Bitsy (Stanley Tucci) and Helen (Daveed Diggs) are hanging out when her dog Champagne ends up breaking a plant, and she freaks out because the plant almost landed on the dog.

We move to the concert line, where Paige and Owen discuss how long it is, and Owen throws down some bad dad jokes. They also realize that the kids have mentioned Money Candy plenty of times around the house but never pay attention. They learn the entire time they were in a knockoff merch line and that they should’ve bought tickets four months ago. As they try to buy some merch, but it is super expensive.

Back to Bitsy and Helen, the former decides that she wants another Champagne (dog), and when Helen suggests that she can get her one, Bitsy says she will clone her dog. Abby’s roommate calls her to find out that one of the Money Candy members is at their house, causing them all to freak out. Owen comes up with the idea of trying to hunt down Money Candy to let the kids meet them and become the best parents ever.

The five of them explored the city from place to place to see if they could find them. Unfortunately, from pizza shops to hotels, they are not having any success. After being thrown out of the hotel, they take to social media. Finally, Owen realizes that the reflection in one of the bandmate’s glasses is in the park.

We move to the cloning place with Helen and Bitsy. Helen is 100% against this idea, but the doctor-ish is pitching Bitsy, and she is ALL IN. Well, for the first time in the episode, we break into a song where Helen is trying to let Bitsy know how terrible of an idea this cloning of her dog is. I love Daveed Diggs. However, the song isn’t successful because Bitsy tells the lady she wants to clone the dog as soon as it ends. As it is about to begin, Bitsy has a last-minute change of heart.

Episode 10 Ending

Owen decides to send his team to the park to help find Money Candy. They end up riding around the park, and BOOM, they found them. In the middle of the park, Owen gets a call that someone has broken into their house. Owen and Paige show up, but Paige isn’t nervous about going in to find out who is in their home. Well, come to find out, Money Candy was in their house because they needed to use the restroom.

Although Money Candy wants to make their fans happy, they tell Owen and Paige they can’t break the rules. The two members of the band say they need Owen’s help to make it through the park unnoticed and to the venue in time for the concert. Because they were helpful, the group handed them tickets to the show tonight. Then, of course, it breaks into Owen and Paige singing about how it all went down. I love this show sometimes, even though it lacks any focus on certain storylines.

Episode 11 – “The Puffs Go Poof”

It looks as if the episode will follow Fista Puffs, Molly’s superhero comic she has made. We get a montage of Fista Puff battling out with a supervillain shortly after getting her hair done. Middle of the story, Paige interrupts to find out if she wants to come down for The Chat and Chuck. Apparently, The Chat and Chuck are discussing your clothes and finding out what you keep or don’t. It sounds more complicated than it should be.

Bitsy throws pens at Helen while just trying to hand her a drink. Bitsy had a meeting with a content creation team because Bitsy had searched her name on the internet, and there was a ton of negativity. So Helen suggested she hire a team to try and alter the image. Seriously, I love these two so much, and they are a weekly delight when they are on the screen.

Back into the world of Fista Puff, where she has a TON of hair, which she wants to change but finds out that if she does change, she might lose some of her powers for good. However, she goes through with altering her hair. We see Fista go into battle vs. Dr. Splash in the water, who cannot save them because she can’t get her hair weight.

One side note here: The editing of this episode caused a massive headache. I understand we had three storylines at once, but my goodness, how they did it was such a disaster.

The meeting with the content creation team goes about as I would want it to. The trio of creators is modern-day social media people, and Bitsy is completely confused by everything they say. It breaks out into a song, highlighting what they will do to change the algorithm in favor of all the top searches being good things. An entire series based on Bitsy and Helen needs to happen, seriously.

Episode 11 Ending

We return to the battle, where we hear that Fista Puff can’t make any changes because it will shift things forever. So she is forced with a decision. Next, The Chat vs. Chuck is hilarious between Owen, Paige, and Cole. At the same time, Cole is the smart one and can decide to throw things away. First, however, Paige struggles to part with some of her stuff. Then, Owen tries to latch onto the old shorts that should be thrown away. Although the idea is simple, I thought the entire writing of this story was well executed.

All of this leads to a song that everyone partakes in with the message of being okay with yourself. Then, ultimately, Fista Puffs can take down Dr. Splash for good. While the episode did veer off the track, it did have a strong message within it.

Episode 12 – “A Hot Dog To Remember”

Central Park Season 3 (Credit – Apple TV+)

The episode starts with us seeing Louie’s Hot Dogs and possibly how it all started. Then, a montage of him putting up the tent, making the hot dogs, and pumping them out to streetwalkers daily. We see generations pass as he made hundreds of thousands of people happy with the hot dog stand.

Present-day, Owen sees someone dumping trash into a dumpster. We found out he will be a new vendor at Boiled Bologna. He isn’t pleased with throwing all his trash in the park trash cans, and he gives him a warning for dumping his waste. We find out that Louie is about to set the record for being in the park for over thirty years the following day.

The family is at the table, and Owen is toasting to Paige, who turned in her first draft of her book to the publisher. Oh, so NOW we are talking about the book again. It’s about time. Paige says this free time will allow her to spend time with the family. She offers to spend the day with Molly and her friends, who aren’t thrilled with the idea. Next, Cole wants to go to the reptile store with Owen to get a turtle. Owen does what any parent does and tries to talk him out of the idea of having one.

Louie calls Owen to let him know that he won’t be able to get his cart set up in time. Owen volunteers to open the cart for him to help him set the record and says that he and Cole will be the ones to do it. Cole is NOT happy with being forced into this one.

Our favorite time of the episode, Bitsy, has arrived, and we see Abby, who brought her a drink. Helen informs Bitsy that the Mapsie camera will be in town today. Birdie breaks down that once a year, the Mapsie camera drives through Manhattan and takes pictures of the streets. Last year, it got Bitsy on camera trapped inside a spiderweb, which has stayed year-round. Bahahahahahah, incredible.

Off to find the food cart for Owen and Cole to find the hot dog cart to head to set it up for Louie. The duo works together to get everything together to ensure everything is lined up to make history. Of course, it is all done via song, which is hilarious as this show’s ability to make songs about the most random things ever always amazes me.

Paige’s editor calls to talk about her book. First, she told her about some of the errors within the text. Next, the 18-49 mysterious department wants to talk to Paige and tell her that she doesn’t love the ending. Paige is not thrilled with the idea of having to change it. She sits down at the table to run the end by Molly. Molly asks if she has attempted to work the ending in real life, and she says no. This leads Paige to say they should go to Coney Island to recreate the end and prove the editor wrong.

Owen and Cole struggle to make it to the park in time by pushing the hot dog cart. But, it isn’t as easy as they thought it would be. They are stuck because Owen’s shoelace got caught in the wheel. While trying to fix this, the Boiled Bologna guy tramples over the duo, causing a massive mess.

Episode 12 Ending

At Coney Island, the three kids are trying to help their mom on the roller coaster to see if her book’s end does, in fact, work. We get a song for some apparent reason, but they struggle to see her because they are having so much fun on the roller coaster. Finally, Paige realizes that she needs to overcome her fears and ride the coaster to see if she can see them herself. After trying it herself, she could make it work, and her ending does work after all.

Someone decides to help Owen and Cole, but it doesn’t help much either because they aren’t able to make it in time. Cole makes them realize they need all the help they can get and announce in the middle of the street that they are trying to make Louie’s record happen. The entire city pitches in to help them get the cart, highlighting Louie’s importance to the town. Of course, they made it happen, and Louie was able to set the record.

We move on to Bitsy, who discovers that Mapsie cameras are on their way. So Helen sends her out to get a different picture. However, as she goes outside, a wedding happens at the place, and birdseed is thrown in the air. It causes birds to attack her, and pictures are taken, and instead of a spiderweb picture, she has a picture of birds attacking her. I love Bitsy.

Episode 13 – “The Brandenpire Strikes Back”

We kick off the finale with Owen’s “I heart the park” fundraiser not going as planned. But, the biggest event to date was thrown by Owen with “I heart the park fest,” filled with food trucks, singing, and so much more. First, we see Paige try to pick up Owen and remind him that he is doing everything possible to make this work. Next, we see Abby awaiting a phone call for an audition for a significant role.

Hey, Bitsy is talking about making moves with the Mayor! Finally, Bitsy talks about how she has been buttering him up for months and is ready to make the final move to put him in her pocket. However, the mayor’s office called and said they were canceling their meeting due to the strike happening outside her place. We get a very funny protest song happening with a BRILLIANT transition to Owen and Abby singing another song but blending both in one of the more creative moments in the series.

Of course, Bitsy is MASSIVELY upset over the protests. Next, Abby arrives and is put in charge of delivering the chandelier to the Mayor’s office. Then, we see the Mayor arrive to talk to Owen about how impressed he was able to make this happen because nobody believed he could pull it off. Shortly after chatting up Owen, he lets him know Commissioner Frantz is coming to check out the park. He is freaking out because she only comes when something is wrong.

While so much is going on at the park, Owen continues to be stuck on selling the tots. He is freaking out, and Paige is trying his best to get him to calm down. Finally, Paige gets him to relax and take a step back for a few minutes. Bitsy is telling Helen to stop being a downer, but she is just telling her all the things that are happening outside the hotel, including the news talking to former employees that are making her look bad. She orders Helen to end this, or she will end her work there. On the bus, Abby gets the call that it is down to her and one other person for the part. Abby almost said she was busy (delivering the chandelier), but she hopped off the bus and headed for the audition.

Elwood and Owen head to get ice cream. While eating, Owen asks Elwood for advice on how to relax in times like this. Elwood breaks out into a song about how to deal with his anxiety. Honestly, I loved this song because I could use this advice on dealing with my anxiety and my head being all over the place. It’s one of the things I love about the show — they aren’t afraid to tackle real issues, even with songs, which makes the show relatable.

Helen tells Bitsy the people’s demands which include an apology. Bitsy quickly says she will do it, much to Helen’s surprise, but she, of course, tells her that it’ll be a fake one. Abby did well at the audition but forgot the chandelier in the audition room. When she goes back in, she overhears them talking about how the other actress didn’t love seeing someone else auditioning too and took the lower rate. One of the people said they felt bad for using Abby like that because she was nice. All this happened while Abby was listening in.

Episode 13 Ending

As Abby heads to leave, she gets a call from Bitsy, who is ready to find out whether or not she delivered the chandelier. Well, after hearing those bad things at the audition, Abby turns it into a song and calls her out. Helen gets on the phone and congratulates her for doing something few have done. One of the women inside the audition came out and said that if Abby did that in the audition, she would get more roles.

As Bitsy is on the megaphone giving her insincere apology, a protestor calls her out for it. The protestor says they want her to apologize to Helen. Instead, Bitsy announces a 5% wage increase and an extra fifteen minutes for bathroom breaks, and the protestors are elated. The lead protestor apologizes for Helen not getting the apology, but Helen lets her know that she set it up this way and that if they need something done, don’t protest. Instead, come to her because Bitsy might be the boss, but she runs the place.

Owen arrives back at the park and sees Commissioner Kranz. Before Kranz can speak, Owen apologizes for things not going as planned with the fundraiser. She stops him to tell him that she doesn’t visit more because she knows that his places are running great in his hands. Owen is shocked and befuddled but equally as happy. She says the campaign is a huge success and congratulations. The season ends with a montage of everyone singing a song.

I’m honestly very neutral on the season finale of Central Park. The entire season was supposed to be built on Bitsy and Owen with the Mayor. They barely addressed it through thirteen episodes, and when the finale comes, it’s a very lackluster finish.

And that completes my full recap of Central Park Season 3. What was your favorite episode? Comment below.