‘Central Park’ Recap: ‘Live It Up Tonight’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 109 of ‘Central Park’.
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Often times when we think about a hero and the villain fighting it out in any respective story, some baseline images come into our mind. The kind that involve those two offering up some epic speeches to one another before finally throwing down and duking it out in the hopes of getting what they want out of life. Which makes sense because often times in storytelling, that is precisely how it goes down, especially in television and cinema, where that kind of showdown can be further enhanced by brilliant visuals and musical stings. But while that does make for fine dramatic moments, battles between ‘good’ and ‘evil’ don’t always have to be that grandiose in nature. Sometimes just a solid back and forth from afar, the kind where the hero and the villain are able to trade different kinds of blows can be just as entertaining and engaging, and for proof, look no further than the next episode of Central Park.

Because ‘Live It Up Tonight’ saw Bitsy Brandenham and Owen Tillerman go to war and exchange some heavy blows, without ever standing in front of one another, and this grand showdown came to fruition by way of another intricate plan on Bitsy’s part. One where she had her beloved Mayor send the toughest auditor imaginable to the Park, in the hopes of uncovering some form of corruption within its lush environment, all so the Mayor could make that problem public at a fake awards ceremony. Wherein Bitsy could continue to pitch why she should be in charge of Central Park and its outright future. Which is a pretty solid plan since it would catch Owen and Elwood off guard and while Bitsy found herself locked in her own storeroom, because that’s just the kind of thing that Bitsy makes happen, Owen worked to offer up a proverbial counterpunch to this dastardly plan.

For unfortunately, Anita (an auditor affectionately referred to as the ‘Praudtior’), found a single discrepancy in the Park’s recording keeping. Specifically, that a receipt for $850 worth of worms was missing and sadly that was Elwood’s fault. For he needed the receipt to provide a safe transport for his own special pet worm (named Dianne). Which meant that in order to show that there was no corruption or mishandling of money within the park, Owen had to procure a receipt within a single hour. Something that motivated he and Paige to cancel their romantic dinner plans so they could make it to the Worm Store in Brooklyn and back to the Park on time. A feat that was seemingly impossible. But thanks to a huge assist from Paige, the kind that will fill the Tillerman house with candles for a good long time, and Elwood’s natural dancing skills; once again the Park is safe since Anita could find no wrongdoing.

Yet while it was quite cool to see a different kind of battle royale between the hero and the villain, this show would be nothing without something quirky and fun happening within the framework of the plot as well and thankfully, that came forth by way of Molly and Cole’s journey in this tale. Because they decided to go on a supremely special night tour in the park, one that highlighted some of the filming locations from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and this was just, a delightful sequence for certain. For not only were we treated to Home Alone themed musical numbers and delicious puns to go with them, we also got to watch Molly be a (mostly) responsible sister by guiding and helping her brother when things got scary. And the use of the world mostly pops up here, simply because, well… when you get the opportunity to scare the crap out of your sibling with a vampire hiss, you take it.

But all of that aside, this really was another delightful episode. One that once again handled some bigger storytelling ideas in quite the dynamic manner. However, there is one particular flaw with this tale that needs to be addressed. Specifically, we needed more of the movie tour. Because the terror Cole experienced at seeing bats, ended the tour before we could see how it ends. So hopefully we can finish the tour with Zoom someday and who knows, maybe we can see the family go on the Ghostbusters II tour as well. But all joking aside, the only problem here, is that we are coming to the end of season one of this magnificent show. Which is a shame, because this saga has been nothing but refreshing from beginning to end and while it will be tough to see this season come to a close next week, at least we can bask in another fun and hilarious tale, one that hopefully set the stage for another unique showdown between Bitsy and Owen. Until next time.  

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