‘Central Park’ Recap: ‘Central Dark’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the season two premiere of ‘Central Park’.
​
We live in an era of storytelling, especially in regard to television, where creative minds are eager to one up everything they’ve done, and it makes sense as to why. For audiences now expect their entertainment to wow them at every single turn and they want the stakes to be bigger and for the characters to explore new challenges every season… or they might just tune out and find a show that will do just that, and that isn’t an insult or a judging statement in the slightest. It is simply the way of things, and it persists because shows have proven now that they can in fact, provide viewers with this high level of entertainment and that has led to some powerful storytelling in this era of peak television. 
​
But what’s fascinating about the modern T.V. market, is that not every single show is subscribing to this mantra. Instead, there are some shows out there that are eager to prove that with the right setting and quality writing… a television series can thrive without having to be bigger every single season and one such series that has made a grand effort to lead the charge on proving to the world that a laid-back formula can work… is Central Park on AppleTV+. Because season one of this incredible and downright fun series made a point to focus upon stories that celebrated the wonder of living in the big city, alongside featuring some fascinating commentary on gentrification and how big money is eager to shape the world in a sanitized image and how regular people can stand tall against that when they choose to. 

Which are elements that make this a supremely relatable and human series, one that also features some wonderful musical numbers that you can tap your toe to and well, it is wonderful to see that the series isn’t going to divert from this formula in the slightest. Because the season two premiere of this magnificent saga, ‘Central Dark’, continued this proud tradition of relaxed storytelling, the kind that is complete with quality commentary, by reuniting us with Bitsy Brandenham and the Tillerman family, sometime after Bitsy’s plan to buy Central Park exploded in her face to show us… that life has gone on for both parties. For Bitsy is back to running her hotel and being the usual sassy and lushy lass that she has always been, and Central Park is running just fine with Owen at the helm and well, that allowed for a low-key and extremely intelligent season two premiere to take place.

---

One that allowed for us to experience a summertime problem that sometimes impacts life in the Big Apple, blackouts. Which in turn allowed for a little social commentary to take place, the kind that explored how much we rely upon our televisions and our electronic devices to get us through our day since the power going out put the Tillerman family's plans for the night in a strange place. Because they were ready to enjoy their favorite show and nothing more on this eve. But instead, no power led to a tense board game night, one where everyone got a touch testy with one another because they weren’t able to escape into television or their devices and while everything turned out okay in the end, the minor verbal scuffle the family got into served as a fine reminder... that sometimes we do need to put those devices down and make an effort to connect and communicate with those we love. 
​
Yet while watching the Tillerman family learn that lesson could have kept our attention for the entire half hour, this show still had more interesting commentary to offer its audience. Specifically, it wanted to explore how sometimes a lack of power in both the literal and figurative sense can bring egotistical people down to earth for a moment. A feat that this story accomplished by having Bitsy Brandenham be hunted by her fellow socialites. Because she happened to flaunt her new money-making scheme in front of all of them at a local gathering and well, since they are of the same moral fiber as she is… they were quick to try and rob her of her plans once the power went out. All so they could reap the benefits of said plans, and while she of course survived thanks to the wonder that is Helen, it was quite nice to see Bitsy be brought down from her ivory tower if only for a moment and it should be interesting to see if she did indeed learn something from this little incident… since there were flashes of kindness from Bitsy.

In the end however, this was simply a wonderful re-introduction to this magical world. One that really was low-key in nature since it didn’t feature any grand schemes or setups. It was just another day in the life of folks in Central Park and Weehawken, New Jersey and it was as compelling as could be since we are invested in the lives of these wonderful characters and episodes like these, help us to get to know them and relate to them. Plus, you can never go wrong with some quality commentary, and it doesn’t hurt that the musical numbers in this episode slap hard for sure, especially the Weehawken song and well, this was just the perfect way to ease us back into this wonderful series and it will be quite delightful to just kick back and get lost in this story once again as season two continues along. Until next time.   

---