Recap / Central Park S3E12 "A Hot Dog to Remember"

RECAP:
Index
Season One: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
Season Two: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16
Season Three: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13

"He touched us with his hot dogs"

Original Release Date: November 11, 2022

Written by: Halsted Sullivan
Directed by: Mario D'Anna

♫ Slingin' links while he helped somebody
His spicy mustard never burned no one
When we were hungry Louie served us wieners
He touched us with his hot dogs (He touched us with his hot dogs)
Now it's time for us to help somebody (We want snacks)
'Cause every dog deserves to have his day
So now we're helping Louise sell his wieners
'Cause he touched us
Gave us
Served us
Thrilled us
Hot dogs!
Hot dogs! ♫

—"He Touched Us (With His Hot Dogs)"

Owen and Cole volunteer to help Louie the hot dog vendor who's taking the morning off to attend his daughter's graduation so he can break a park record. While spending time with Molly, Hazel, and Shauna, Paige gets a call from her editor on her book and they request she change the ending because it doesn't seem believable, so Paige takes Molly and her friends to Coney Island to prove her ending is possible. Meanwhile, Bitsy is trying to get a good photo on the Mapsie camera when it drives by her hotel after her previous one was embarrassing.

Songs

• "Louie's Life"
  Written by: Germaine Franco
• "Doin' It for Louie" - Owen & Cole
  Written by: Kate Anderson & Elyssa Samsel
  Additional Arrangements by: Emeen Zarookian
  Performed by: Leslie Odom Jr. & Tituss Burgess
• "Higher and Higher" - Molly, Hazel, Shauna, & Paige
  Written by: Emeen Zarookian
  Performed by: Emmy Raver–Lampman, Ester Dean, Amber Ruffin, & Kathryn Hahn
• "He Touched Us (With His Hot Dogs)" - Owen, Cole, Glorious Gary, & Park Goers
  Written by: Ned Brower & John E. Low
  Performed by: Leslie Odom Jr., Tituss Burgess, Christopher Jackson, David Herman, Samantha Shelton, Phil LaMarr, Adam Shapiro, Sarah Baker, Daveed Diggs, Amber Ruffin, & Patrick Dacey
• "Doin' It For Louie (End Credits)" - Christopher Jackson
  Written by: Kate Anderson & Elyssa Samsel
  Performed by: Christopher Jackson

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Tropes:

• Bland-Name Product: Mapsie is a fictional counterpart to Google Maps.
• Corpsing: In-universe, Birdie starts to lose his composure a bit when he explains Mapsie and the embarrassing photo they took of Bitsy.
• Didn't Think This Through: Worried that they won't be able to cook the hot dogs in time before Louie starts his shift, Cole suggest they boil the hot dogs while they move the cart. Unfortunately, the hot steam from the hot dogs made it difficult for them to see and breathe and it probably wasn't a good idea to boil them while they head up hill because they accidentally let the cart roll down the hill and it was about to go into the river before Glorious Gary stopped it in time.
• Hard-Work Montage: "Doin' It for Louie" has Owen and Cole getting Louie's hot dog cart ready for the day.
• Instant Humiliation: Just Add YouTube!: Last year, the Mapsie camera caught Bitsy in front of the Brandenham struggling with a spider web, making her look ridiculous. This year, she plans to replace that image with a more presentable one. Unfortunately, they forgot there's also a wedding in the hotel and the wedding reception exits at the same time, and as they throw rice at the newlyweds, some of it falls on Bitsy, and Mapsie captures an image of her being pecked at by pigeons.
• Irony: At the start of the episode, Cole asks if he could get a turtle, but Owen is reluctant as they require a lot of hard work everyday and worries Cole would be overwhelmed. At the end, Owen is impressed at the hard work Cole did to get the cart to the park, and offers to buy a turtle as a reward. Cole however, refuses, as he realized his dad was kind of right after all and never wants to go through that much hard work ever agian. Owen mutters under his breath that now he wants a turtle.
• Jerkass: Billy the boiled bologna vendor throws construction trash in the park trash and despite Owen telling him he's not allowed to do that, he still ignores Owen and he writes him a ticket. When they meet again, Billy rams his vendor cart into Louie's cart, resulting in the wheel being damaged, to spite Owen for the ticket.
• Just in Time: After Louie's food cart starts rolling down the hill and is about to go into the river, Glorious Gary is able to get ahead of the cart and stops it before it goes over the edge of the docks.
• Loved by All: Because Louie has been selling hot dogs for 30 years, his customers love him not just because his hot dogs are the best in the city, but because he's friendly to everyone and he helps them out. "He Touched Us (With His Hot Dogs)" is a testament to how beloved he is in New York City.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: While pushing Louie's cart, Owen's shoelaces are untie but he chooses to ignore fixing it to make up for lost time. This ends up backfiring on Owen because his shoelaces ends up getting tangled in the cart's wheel and he and Cole end up wasting more time trying to untangle his laces from the wheel.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Paige's editor wants her to change the ending of her book because she doesn't believe the main character could spot the killer from riding on a roller coaster and then have enough time to catch the killer after leaving the ride. Paige decides to prove her editor wrong by recreating the scenario, despite always vomiting whenever she rides on roller coasters. Paige does prove the scenario is possible, proving her editor wrong, but she decides to change the ending anyway because while brainstorming for her next book, she decides the main character is going to have a baby in the next book and she discovers she's pregnant in the first book, so she can't ride on roller coasters.
  Paige: Pearl was right. But for the wrong reason. So, I still kinda win.
• Sarcasm-Blind: When Paige decides to spend the day with Molly and her friends, Molly sarcastically mentions she's looking forward to her mom being a third wheel, and Paige is glad she's happy.
• Spanner in the Works: Bitsy's plan to get a successful photo from the Mapsie camera would have worked if it wasn't for a wedding reception exiting the hotel at the same time as Bitsy and the guests throwing rice at the newlyweds lands on Bitsy which attracts the pigeons onto Bitsy where she gets pecked by them.
• Special Guest: "Louie's Life" is written by Germaine Franco, best known for composing music for Coco and Encanto
• Tempting Fate: When Owen sees Billy about to ram Louie's cart:
  Cole: People don't ram food carts.
  Billy: I'm gonna ram you!
• That Came Out Wrong: When Cole said the titular song, "He Touched Us (With His Hot Dogs)", Owen thinks there should be a different way to say that, but Cole doesn't think so.
• Time-Passes Montage: The episode opens with Louie setting up his hot dog cart for the first time, then follows him over the years as he continues to sell hot dogs and touches the lives of several characters, including Owen.
• The Unsmile: Bitsy shows Abby and Helen the smile she plans to sport when the Mapsie camera passes by. It is not shown to the audience, but Abby and Helen's reactions suggests it's not pleasant to look at.
  Abby: Are your gums bleeding?
  Bitsy: That's what gums do!

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Louie
We're gonna open all the hot dogs
And Stack 'em just like you say
We're gonna follow the instructions
That you left on this note
We're gonna make you proud
♫ Turn it up, speed it up
Getting our prep on
We're heatin' up, steamin' up
Getting our list done
Doing it for Louie
Like he did for you and me
Louie ♫

—Christopher Jackson, "Doin' It For Louie (End Credits)"