Birdie briefly mentions in "Episode One" how Central Park "used to be a village, but no one talks about that part" — specifically, that its predominantly African-American inhabitants were forcibly displaced to make way for the park. Bitsy's plan to demolish the park for even more city expansion would cause the same thing to happen to the Tillermans!
Helen's desire to off Shampagne for his inheritance seems foolish — humans live a lot longer than dogs, so even if he does get the money, all she’ll have to do is be patient enough to wait him out, right? But don’t forget that Helen's elderly too — depending on how old she is and how old Shampagne is, playing the long game might not be ideal for her.
"Rival Busker" highlights the stark contrast between Birdie and Griffin's narrating styles. Birdie actively interacts with the Tillermans, forming a close bond with them and getting emotionally invested in the story. His attachment nearly jeopardizes the plot when he accidentally gives a spoiler to Paige. On the other hand, Griffin keeps a distance from the characters - even when narrating Owen and Cole's predicament, he stands on a bridge, observing the situation from afar and maintaining a detached demeanor. Why? Because Griffin believes that a narrator should be a completely objective and passive observer who lets the characters make their own decisions without any interference, even if said decisions lead to negative outcomes. By keeping his physical and emotional distance from the action and focusing solely on the audience, Griffin ensures he’ll never become excessively involved like Birdie did, preventing him from making a similar mistake!
Moreover, he believes he isn't at fault because he’s letting the characters “make their own decisions”- Owen and Cole chose to climb a tree to rescue an owl chick that they thought was in danger of falling out of its tree, instead of taking a moment to consider that it was still in the branches and that if it actually did fall out and get hurt, they should call someone more qualified then them (like a wildlife vet) to help, since neither of them is trained to do so. As a result of their rash decision, they end up trapped up the tree and harassed by the owl’s angry mother, with the threat of potentially injuring themselves (or worse) if they fall. Griffin’s letting them face the repercussions of their decision by doing nothing to save them!
And though Griffin doesn't explicitly state it, he wants the audience to see the Plot Parallel and learn two (at least in his eyes) lessons: “don't get emotionally attached to anything, because getting 'too close' only leads to heartbreak or embarassment” and "stay out of other people's business, because inserting yourself into a situation that doesn't involve you will just backfire and make things worse." However, Griffin's perspective is flawed, and the episode’s true moral is “before inserting yourself into a situation, take the time to see whether or not your help is actually necessary or a case of Unwanted Assistance, because there are instances where intervening is the right thing to do, and caring about others is better than being apathetic towards their suffering.”
Why does Birdie get his job back in "Rival Busker" despite jumping in to help Owen & Cole? In "Dog Spray Afternoon," we see the list of the Rules — and while there are rules against the narrator making the story about themselves or giving spoilers to characters in the story, none of them say that the narrator can't get involved or help the characters in the story!
Adding on to that, Birdie got in trouble because his emotional investment in the Tillermans led him to accidentally spoil a piece of the plot for Paige in a fit of frustration. While he only revealed Bitsy was the mayor's money launderer, it could've led to Paige connecting the dots and realizing the truth about Bitsy's plan to buy out the park too early instead of learning about it from Brendan, Bitsy's nephew, like she was supposed to. So because Birdie almost derailed the story, Griffin, another narrator, was called in to take his place.
Griffin, on the other hand, arrogantly believed he was a superior narrator to Birdie because he strictly followed the rules. However, his detachment led him to view the Tillermans as distant strangers to be observed from afar. In his own words, "[The characters] gotta make their own decisions, [narrators] just get to watch." Griffin believed it wasn't his responsibility to prevent their mistakes, refusing to intervene even when it could have caused more harm than Birdie’s slip, as Paige remained unaware of Bitsy's true intentions, maintaining the intended plot development. However, the potential severity of Owen and Cole’s potential injuries (ranging from broken limbs to outright death) would have caused a chain of events that would have both ruined the tone of the story and led to a Downer Ending. Recognizing the danger posed by Griffin's inaction, the story allowed Birdie to save Owen and Cole, disregarding the "no spoiler" rule, as there’s a distinct difference between allowing someone to face non-fatal consequences and risking their lives due to a poor choice, especially when one has the ability to intervene.
One of the other rules shown in the fast-scrolling text during "Spoiler Alert" is "see something, say something", which, in context, might mean "give information if you actually saw it instead of knowing through omniscient narration". It's possible the rules of Central Park, in particular, are set up to favor a more Interactive Narrator; messing with the plot (without spoiling anything) isn't just allowed but required, and Griffin was the one breaking the rules by not interfering!
In "Own It," the show's first and most comprehensive "I Want" Song, all the main characters, of course, sing about what they want... except, seemingly, for Birdie, who only sings "I can also sing!" and "I'm still here!" This seems to be humorous filler, but as the series goes on, particularly "Rival Busker," a potential second layer becomes clearer: For Birdie, this narrator job isn't just a job — he gets close, sometimes too close, to his subjects. So in a sense, his outbursts in "Own It" are him expressing his wants — to be noticed and involved in the story.
In "Squirrel, Interrupted", when Bitsy reveals her plan to buy Central Park to her brother's family, none of them take her seriously and blows her off, except for Brendan. He's the only one to take Bitsy's plan seriously because it personally affects him (he goes to the park regularly to fly his kite). The other relatives probably don't even live near the park or go to it enough to even care enough about what happens to it. And because of how universally disliked she is, they don't see it as being possible for her to buy the park.
In "Rival Busker" why do the Tillermans find Anya before any of the staff do, even though she was making her presence fairly obvious? If you look at the numbers on the doors, the Tillermans' room (and Anya's hiding spot) were on floor 7 - the same floor the staff thought was haunted in "Garbage Ballet". They were too scared to go to that floor to check for her!
It seems odd that Elwood is Owen's Number Two and Owen trusts him to do certain tasks for him despite sometimes messing up and making things worse for him. It isn't until "The Brandenpire Strikes Back" where during Elwood's song, "Small Stuff", that he casually admits that he lied on his resume, which explains why he was given a higher position compared to other park workers who are more competent than him.
Fridge Horror
In "Rival Busker", there's a pretty good reason why Griffin got “fired” for not saving Owen and Cole when they get stuck in the tree — if Birdie hadn't interfered, they would've fallen and been injured or killed, and the story's tone would have changed completely. If they'd simply gotten broken limbs, Owen wouldn't be able to do his job as the park manager properly. Paige would be so distracted tending to Owen and Cole's injuries that she wouldn't have time to focus on Bitsy, who (with Owen temporarily out of the picture during his recovery) would continue her scheme to ruin the park unopposed. By the time Owen recovered, it'd be too late for him to fix whatever damage Bitsy caused. And if Owen and Cole actually died, Paige and Molly would have to move out of the park since the Tillermans are only allowed to live there because Owen's job as the manager requires him to be nearby. Paige would be too devastated by the loss of her son and husband to even think of investigating Bitsy. With the Tillermans finally out of the picture for good, Bitsy's plot to buy the park would inevitably succeed, causing the series to have a Downer Ending.
