Central Park series premiere recap: A musical breath of fresh air

Central Park recap: New series is a musical breath of fresh air.

It’s no secret that things are rough in the world right now, so the introduction of Apple TV+’s latest animated series from the creators of Bob’s Burgers could not have arrived at a better time.  In our Central Park recap, we’ll dig into the first two episodes of the series and why it is a show worth your time!

For anyone unsure about watching the show, it currently has a Certified Fresh seal of approval from Rotten Tomatoes!

Central Park recap: What happens in the series premiere episode?

To begin, Central Park is an animated musical comedy series that should definitely appeal to Frozen fans out there, considering two of the leads are none other than Olaf and Anna — Josh Gad and Kristen Bell. The music is infectious. We’ll go over the songs in our Central Park recap.

We’re first introduced to a local troubadour in Central Park named Birdie (Gad), who serves as the show’s narrator and frequently breaks the fourth wall while also being an actual character in the series.

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The opening song, “Central in My Heart,” is a great way to set up the hilarious and charming tone of the cartoon. As the final notes come to a close, Birdie introduces us to the Tillerman family, who lives in the iconic Edendale Castle.

Owen (Leslie Odom Jr.) is the park manager while his wife Paige (Kathryn Hahn) is an intrepid reporter hankering to hit the big time with hard-hitting news stories. Their children are Cole (Tituss Burgess) and Molly (Kristen Bell).

Cole is an avid animal lover which comes into play in the first episode when he finds a small dog named Shampagne, who happens to belong to the series’ villain, Bitsy Brandenham (Stanley Tucci).

Bitsy is a wealthy heiress intent on destroying Central Park and turning it into a strip mall surrounded by condominiums. She offers a steep reward for the return of Shampagne, but poor Cole has bonded with the dog and is not keen on returning him.

Unfortunately for Owen, the reward causes tons of people to invade the park in search of the dog, trampling his beloved Turtlehead flowers.

Ultimately, Owen discovers that his son has the dog and ignores his pleas to keep it (in the song “Poops I’ll Pick It Up”). They return Shampagne to Bitsy, and Paige writes an article about the Turtleheads getting destroyed, which does please Owen, giving him hope that the festival will be even better next year.

Elsewhere, Molly meets a cute boy named Brendan at the park and tries to get him to notice her.

Additional songs from the episode include “Heiress to a Fortune,” “Own It,” “Central to My Plot,” and “Shampagne Was My Best Friend.”

Central Park recap: What happens Season 1, Episode 2?

In the second episode of Central Park, Owen is stressed out over an impending meeting with the Central Park League. They are a vital part of the park as they delegate funding.

Owen has to tend to Skater’s Circle, which is an area of the park that has fallen into relative disarray after Owen banned skating because the skaters couldn’t stop littering. A “mini-mugging” occurs in the area that makes the League uneasy.

To smooth things over, Owen visits a man named Glorious Gary, but their initial meeting doesn’t go well. Birdie steps in to try and mitigate things between the two men. With a little understanding from both men, Owen begins to realize why skating isn’t such a bad thing after all and even learns how to use a pair of skates himself.

Molly continues her superhero fantasy by trying to help Cole visit Shampagne since he is still mourning the loss of the dog. But the doorman catches on to their ruse before they can rescue the small pup. Even though they can’t take him back to the Tillerman residence, Cole learns that Shampagne does remember him and that makes his day a little bit better.

As for Paige, she’s still trying to chase down a juicy news story but winds up being delegated to cover a boring town meeting. At least, that’s what it seems to be at first. But then something happens during the council meeting or the “P3” that could change everything.

A potential debate starts about potentially defunding the park, something Bitsy is, of course, behind. She announces her nefarious plan to reduce the park to rubble in favor of parks. Paige tries to let Owen know about this latest development, but he’s busy with Gary learning how to skate.

Music in this episode includes “Make ‘Em Pay,” “Weirdos Make Great Superheroes,” and “Do It While You Can.”

Do you agree with our first official Central Park recap? Are you planning to stick with the series? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

The first two episodes of Central Park are now streaming on Apple TV+. New episodes arrive on Fridays.