Central Park – Rival Busker

By: Paige Zinaman

Griffin (Andrew Rannells), the new narrator and rival busker, is taking over Birdie’s (Josh Gad) job. Griffin starts the show off with calming words and promises of being better than Birdie, which then starts him off on a song about the audience being in “First Class Hands.” Birdie arrives to the park confused as to why Griffin is there. He soon finds out that he’s been fired for spilling the truth to Paige (Kathryn Hahn) about Bitsy (Stanley Tucci) in last week’s episode. Griffin and Birdie go back and forth over what is right and wrong until ultimately Griffin tells Birdie that he should go and that he needs to get the audience back on track.

Griffin takes the audience to Owen (Leslie Odom Jr.), Paige, Molly (Kristen Bell) and Cole (Tituss Burgess) where the family are watching a camera being installed in a tree so people can watch the owl nest. Paige is confused and asks Owen if this is what he meant when he asked them if they wanted to see something cool. Owen quickly asks Molly and Cole if he was, in fact, right and that it was cool to which Molly is quick to say no to only for Cole to tell her that “owls are the Beyoncé of birds.” They start cracking jokes about how the camera will go live at five and relating it to reality TV for owls.

At the Brandenham Hotel Bitsy’s bubble bath is interrupted by Helen (Daveed Diggs) who alerts her that she has a phone call from Dmitry (David Herman), one of the rich men from the meeting to buy Central Park. Bitsy is quick to tell Helen to answer the call while she shifts to the other side of the tub having Helen put the phone on speaker. She asks Dmitry if he’s considered her offer to buy Central Park and much to Bitsy’s dismay he tells her that he’s been thinking about it but it’s on the back burner because what is currently on the front burner is the hotel his daughter was supposed to have her wedding at is on fire and it’s kind of their fault. He tells Bitsy that he has a proposal for her. This includes having her hotel host the daughter’s wedding in four hours. Bitsy agrees to do it with the condition that they talk business after the wedding.

Back at Central Park Paige and Cole are at home as Paige ends a phone call. She turns to Cole and tells him that she got a hot tip from friend at the paper and is about to tell him before she asks him to set the table only to quickly tell him to not touch her notes. It’s at this moment Molly enters asking if they are going to be eating around her papers again, quickly calling dibs on the chair that has no papers on or in front of it. Owen comes in surveying the table while making the comment that he can eat on his lap. Paige tells everyone to listen because Doug (Brian Huskey) from work saw something strange happen at the Brandenham Hotel. The scene quickly switches to Dmitry pulling up and meeting with Bitsy and Helen at the front doors. Paige tells the family that she has to find a way to sneak into the hotel and discover what is going on in that secret ballroom. Molly asks Paige how she plans to do so because unless you’re a guest and staying there it’s a fortress to get into. Paige gets the idea to stay at the hotel and calls Marvin to get the paper to pay for her to stay there for a night to which she is automatically told no when she turns to Owen asking for them to use their money and five hundred dollars. Much to Owen’s pain they agree to do it. Cole reminds him that the owl cams would take away the pain of that much money being spent. Owen turns to Molly asking if she’s in to which is quickly asking Paige to go with her to the hotel and not being left with Owen or Cole.

Bitsy, Helen, Dmitry and his daughter all show up to the secret ballroom where his daughter is taste testing food for her wedding but seems to be passing on all the food while continuing to eat it all. Bitsy is getting impatient as Dmitry continues to eat the appetizers and finally asks him if they could talk business. He dodges by telling Bitsy he’s too nervous and that if everything goes right there will be no business which worries Bitsy for a moment before Dmitry clarifies what he meant. Meanwhile, Owen and Cole are sitting in front of the laptop waiting for the owl cam to go live. The camera finally goes live leaving Cole and Owen in amazement as Paige and Molly head to the door ready to leave for the hotel. As both Paige and Molly leave Owen mentions to Cole that owls aren’t really intelligent at all to which Cole responds, “Well, it’s a good thing they’re hot.” Owen agrees with this wholeheartedly.

Back at the Brandenham Hotel Paige and Molly are being shown to their rooms with them marveling in the small wonders the hotel has. Paige sets up the desk as her workstation and tells Molly that she has to go on her mission and to not even look at the snacks as she leaves. Cole and Owen are still watching the owl cam as both of them fall asleep and wait to go to the bathroom. They talk for a few seconds before Cole notices the screen change and yells about owl babies. Paige is on stakeout in the font lobby when a couple of Russian guests walk inside and head to the elevator. Paige is following close behind hoping they’ll lead her to the secret ballroom. When the elevator comes too slow for Paige she darts to the stairwell and climbs the ten floors to which the gentlemen got off at. Much to Paige’s delight she is led to what looks like the ballroom only to be stopped by security at the door asking for her name. She asks one of the men to at least tell her if the room is in fact the secret ballroom. He replies with the negative and Paige walks away frustrated. The scene once again goes to Owen and Cole as they continue their watch on the owl cam. Cole is giving the little owls names when they note that the mother owl has been gone for a long time. Right then one of the little owls jumps from its nest much to Cole and Owen’s horror. They quickly jump up and justify why they are about to go mess with nature and help little Tito.

Meanwhile, Molly is left in the room and she is having a hard time adjusting to the riches that the room offers. Just as the phone rings she is quick to answer with her wakeup call and asks the desk clerk if she could set another to which she tells Molly that once you’re up then you’re up for good. Bitsy, Helen and Dmitry are walking around the ballroom as the wedding begins. Bitsy makes note of how everyone is talking about how amazing everything is even on short notice. Bitsy jumps in with business talk only to be interrupted by Dmitry asking where his daughter is. Bitsy tries to quickly reassure him that she is probably dealing with wedding stuff when suddenly a member of the hotel kitchen staff arrives and tells the three that Anya (Jessica Lowe) grabbed a bunch of meat and ran off telling the staff to not let them find her. Bitsy gets Helen to close all the doors so they can find Anya. She makes a joke about finding someone that looks like Anya, but quickly changes course and leads the group from the ballroom. Back in the park Griffin starts to tell the audience what was about to happen until Birdie shows up with his violin and starts playing. This stops Griffin mid-sentence. He looks at Birdie who innocently responds with, “What? I’m just busking.” Griffin tries to continue as Birdie keeps getting louder. Griffin tells Birdie that he needs to leave. Birdie responds that he’s not leaving because the family needs him. Griffin tells Birdie he’s too close to the family and what is happening. This leads them to sing an amazing song representing how you could be too close and how that could affect you personally.

Finally, Griffin gets Birdie to leave as he narrates his departure much to Birdie’s dismay. While that happens, Cole and Owen make it to the nest where Tito left. Cole tries to get the little owl to make a sound but receives nothing back. It’s at this moment Owen tells Cole he’s going to have to climb up the tree to help Tito. Molly is walking around the hallway when she hears someone coming from the tiny elevator who asks for help because they are stuck. She opens the door as Anya falls out of it just as the two security guards come looking for her. Anya tells Molly that she needs to hide and Molly quickly ushers her into the hotel room. Owen just places Tito back in the nest as Cole praises him, giving his father a shock as he told Cole to stay out of the tree. Cole tells Owen he had a case of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) just as he notices how high they truly were. Owen quickly gets Cole off the branch just as it snaps off. Owen mentions that they needed that branch to get down as Cole tells him that they are going to be stuck. Owen quickly tells Cole that they won’t be stuck in the tree and that they’ll just use the owl cam to signal for help. Things start to get worse as the mother owl comes back threatening them for being too close to her little owl babies. Paige arrives back to the room ashamed that she didn’t get anything for her story as Molly brings her attention to the snacks that litter the floor. Paige starts to get upset when Molly tells her that it wasn’t her as Anya pops up saying that her father will pay for everything. Anya explains to both Paige and Molly what was happening in the ballroom, telling them that she can’t marry her fiancé because he’s a normal guy and her family is not. Paige tells her that if she truly loves him that she should take the jump and do it anyway. Finally, after listening to Molly and Paige, Anya declares that she wants to marry Zach and asks if they’d like to come to her wedding. Paige quickly agrees to that and says she can’t wait to meet Anya’s dad. Griffin is talking about how things for Owen and Cole are getting worse when Birdie shows up telling Griffin that they need their help. Owen and Cole try to keep climbing up the tree as Birdie explains to Griffin that he doesn’t care what happens to him but he’s going to help Owen and Cole. He heads off to get them a ladder. Meanwhile, at the wedding Molly and Paige take photos of Dmitry and Bitsy as they continue to dance. Birdie is accepting his fate and leaving when there’s a dig. It seems that Birdie is back in charge much to Griffin’s confusion.