Recap / Central Park S2E13 "Celeste We Forget"

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

"I'm a Type A and I'm Type B."

Original release date: March 18, 2022

Written by: Janelle James
Directed by: Steven Theis

Molly & Cole:
♫ You're a big fan of havin' a plan
And I'm proud of my plannin' man
And you plan for you family
You're a type A and I'm a type B
You're a big fan of havin' a plan
And I'm proud of my plannin' man
I love my little plannin' man ♫
Owen: ♫ Good thing I'm a big fan of having a...plan ♫
All: ♫ Having a plan ♫

—"Havin' a Plan

Owen plans to take Molly and Cole to the New York Botanical Garden to see the corpse flower (more specifically the Amorphophallus titanum) bloom but Owen's mother, Celeste, makes a surprise visit and jeopardizes Owen's plan by getting distracted. Paige attends a gifting suite for beauty products and has to write an article about it but changes her story when she discovers Bitsy and Helen are also there and tries to convince Helen to help her.

Songs

• Big Stink - Owen, Molly, & Cole
  Written by: Taura Stinson
  Performed by: Leslie Odom Jr., Emmy Raver-Lampman, & Tituss Burgess
  Additional Voices: Angelica Cox, Emily Goldstein, & Moorea Masa
• A Few Minutes for Magic - Paige, Vance, & other Beauty Product Salespeople
  Written by: Don't Stop or We'll Die
  Performed by: Kathryn Hahn, Billy Porter, Rema Webb, Naomi Ekperigin, & Paul Rust
  Additional Voices: Angelica Cox, Emily Goldstein, & Moorea Masa
• Turtle Babies - Owen & Celeste
  Written by: Big Boi
  Performed by: Leslie Odom Jr. & Jenifer Lewis
• Havin' a Plan - Owen, Celeste, Molly, & Cole
  Written by: Kate Anderson & Elyssa Samsel
  Performed by: Leslie Odom Jr., Jenifer Lewis, Emmy Raver-Lampman, & Tituss Burgess
• Big Stink (Reprise) - Owen
  Written by: Taura Stinson
  Performed by: Leslie Odom Jr.

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Tropes:

• Added Alliterative Appeal: Vance calls his products "Vance's Vanatastic Vance-overs".
• Affectionate Nickname: Celeste calls Owen "Oweenie".
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Celeste usually gets distracted by other activities around her and Owen really hates this because her unfocused attitude costed him to buy a toy street sweeper when he was a kid and she caused him to miss the blooming of the corpse flower.
• Both Sides Have a Point: Owen and Celeste both have opinions on having a plan. Owen points out that Celeste deviating from his schedule is the reason why he missed his opportunity to buy a limited edition Micro Street Sweeper toy when he was a kid and why they missed their chance to see the corpse flower bloom. Celeste points out that he needs to be not so uptight and it's okay to deal with unexpected moments because that's how she met his father and she was trying to teach Owen this.
• Chekhov's Gun: Paige follows Bitsy and Helen to the jowl tightener booth and takes one jowl tightener just to blend in with the crowd. Later when Paige tries to convince Helen to help her, Helen notices that someone took Bitsy's bag full of jowl tightener and Paige offers her jowl tightener if she help her. When Helen still refuses, Paige gives her her bag of beauty products, including the jowl tightener, because of her friendship with Cole.
• Contrived Coincidence: Paige wants to continue her story on Bitsy and Mayor Whitebottom, but her boss wants her to attend a gifting suite at the Walford Hotel where they'll be giving out beauty products to rich and famous people and he wants Paige to write an article about it. At the hotel, she discovers that Bitsy and Helen are also attending the gifting suite and she plans to take advantage of this opportunity by trying to get access to Bitsy's phone to prove she's in contact with the mayor.
• Dark Reprise: Owen sings a sad reprise of "Big Stink" when he misses his chance to the corpse flower bloom and the line to go inside the botanical garden is full and has to wait seven more years to see it bloom again.
• The Dog Bites Back: Paige tries to invoke this on Helen because of the way Bitsy treats her, but Helen has sacrificed too much of her time and happiness to gain Bitsy's trust and a chance to get into Bitsy's will to betray her now.
• Duet of Differences: "Havin' a Plan" is about how Owen explains why he always needs to keep a plan and that's how he is, while Celeste explains it's fine to not have a plan and there's fun in never knowing and he should think differently.
• Establishing Character Moment: When we meet Celeste, we see her hugging her grandchildren and Paige, showing how she's beloved in the family. Celeste tells Owen that she was riding her bike to the flea market but saw a massage parlor and wanted to try this new massage they were having, but gets sidetracked when she meets an old friend, then she went on a bike ride with her friend in Central Park, and then decided to pay Owen and his family a visit and completely forgets about her massage, showing how unfocused she is.
• Food as Bribe: After Celeste made Owen loses his chance to buy the Micro Street Sweeper toy when he was a kid, she had to make sanitation truck-shaped pancakes for weeks before he forgave her.
• I Ate WHAT?!: A saleswoman offers Paige to try essential oils, but she drinks it down before the saleswoman could tell her she's not supposed to drink it and reveals it's essence of wombat urine. Paige ends up gagging after discovering what she drank.
• The Makeover: During "A Few Minutes for Magic", Vance and the beauty product salespeople applies their products on Paige, but after they finish their makeover on Paige she looks completely the same.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Celeste realizes she ruined Owen's chance to see the corpse flower by constantly deviating from his plan and she makes it up to him by convincing the security guard to let them in the botanical garden.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: Paige is willing to offer Helen her jowl tightener to give to Bitsy if she lets her look through Bitsy phone, but despite Bitsy's being awful to her and being more than happy to get back at her, Helen sacrificed too much happiness to risk losing Bitsy's trust in her and getting a chance to be in her will.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Owen, the kids, and Celeste were close to the botanical garden, but they lost their opportunity to get in line thanks to Celeste stopping to do double Dutch and Owen only joined in order to get her to resume his schedule.
• Once More, with Clarity: When Owen brings up the Manhattanhenge incident, Birdie explains when Owen was a kid, he and his mother almost missed it because Celeste started a sing-along on the bus. Birdie mentions there's more to the story but he's leaving it out for dramatic effect. When Owen brings up the incident to his mother, he reveals they were never supposed to see the Manhattanhenge and they were in Manhattan to buy himself the Micro Street Sweeper toy but lost the opportunity to buy it because Celeste wasted their time watching the Manhattanhenge.
• Persona Non Grata: When attending this year's gifting suite, Bitsy is shocked and confused to learn that she's Helen's plus one. Birdie explains that last year she went bonkers when they ran out of lash extensions made from Bolivian weasel whiskers and she got kicked off the list without her knowledge. Helen had to work overtime to get her back in but only as her plus one.
• Special Guest:
  • Celeste is voiced by Jenifer Lewis.
  • Vance is voiced by Billy Porter.
• Stalker without a Crush: Paige is supposed to attend the gift suite to write an article about it, but she spends of her time there stalking Bitsy and Helen to see if she can find proof of Bitsy's calls to the mayor from her phone.
• Stinky Flower: Owen plans on taking Molly and Cole see the corpse flower bloom and smell its horrible scent. When they get there, everyone is covering their noses, Cole seems to be into it, and while it looks like Owen isn't affected by the smell, he reveals he's been holding his breathe the entire time and he's about to pass out. When they get home, they still smell horrible from the flower even after they showered three times.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: When Paige sees Bitsy treating Helen poorly, she assumes that Helen will help her get dirt on Bitsy because she thinks she's the type of servant who wants to get back at her boss for treating her badly. When Paige tries to get Helen's help, Helen refuses because she's playing the Long Game to get into Bitsy's will and doesn't want to betray her trust now just to get payback on her.

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♫Turtle baby, turtle baby
Turtle, turtle, baby, baby
Sometimes it's great to be me
The double Dutch prodigy
Turtle baby
Turtle, turtle, baby, baby ♫

—"Turtle Baby (End Credits)"

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