Name: Central Park season 3 episode 5
Director: Steven Theis
Released: 2022-09-23T00:00:00

The fifth episode of Central Park season 3 sees Owen reuniting with his old pals, who believe he has changed over the course of years. The episode is now streaming on Apple TV+.

Recap

Owen was pretty excited about the New York City Park Manager’s Conference. After all, he will be reuniting with his old friends, Gannon, Ned, and Alonzo.

They all started out together as newbies at Flushing Meadows Park in Queens. Today, they all run their own parks and also serve on the Park Manager Executive Committee.

Owen planned to take Paige along with him. The kids will be spending an entire day with their favorite Aunt Abby.

Owen, on his side, prepared a prank for his friends as a payback for the one they played on him the last time they met.

Before he could leave for the conference, the mayor called. He informed Owen that the Park Commissioner is quite intrigued by his “I Heart The Park” Campaign. All he needs now is approval from the Park Manager Executive Committee.

Owen had nothing to worry about since all his friends were part of the same committee. So he and Paige left for the conference.

Owen’s prank involved making his friends eat week-old cupcakes. He decided to hide and watch his friends as they ate them.

At the same time, he also overheard their conversation. Owen’s friends were talking behind his back. They believe Owen has changed and is now full of himself.

Owen shared their feelings with Paige. She investigated and found out that the only thing Owen talks about with them is his Central Park and its progress.

If he wants to rebuild his friendship, he needs to support the interests of his friends as well.

Paige helped him track down everything his friends were up to. Following that, Owen pretended to love all these things in front of them.

When his friends realized that this is their good old Owen and they were wrong, they confessed that they were jealous of him and were talking behind his back. To make up for it, they invited him for a beer.

Owen initially believed it is another one of their pranks, but luckily, the bar they invited him to exists. The prank was a mechanical bull.

Owen had lied about his love for bull riding. Now he had to prove it.

Owen came clean that he lied about the interests he spoke of because he wanted his old friends back and also their signatures for his campaign.

Owen’s friends were disappointed. They thought all of this was for Central Park again, but Owen proved his friendship by riding the mechanical bull and breaking his back.

Owen’s friends appreciated his love for them and signed up for the campaign.

Amidst all of this, one of Bisty’s ex-employees took revenge on her by building slippery floors at her house.

Cole and Molly helped Aunt Abby to find a job, and she eventually got one as a waitress at Bitsy’s Brandenham Hotel.

Review

As an episode on friendship, the storyline of the fifth episode didn’t hit hard enough like it should have been, and Owen’s friends failed to make any impact here.
The unfunny jokes and pranks Owen came up with are cool, but the timing was still a bit off and it was quite awkward.
The trio of Aunt Abby, Cole, and Molly could have come up as quite entertaining, but the third plot involving Bitsy and Helen took the screen time that the trio could have used for themselves.
Bitsy and Helen’s subplot was completely unnecessary in what could’ve been an average Central Park episode.