Review: Camp Camp “Camp Cool Kidz”

Have we learned nothing from Huey Lewis?!

Okay, I know this series is supposed to be more episodic than other Rooster Teeth scripted shows, but I figured they would at least acknowledge that…you know, time exists?

I bring this up because, even though the last episode ended with Max still doing obstacle courses for unstable boy scout commandos, he’s back at Camp Campbell at the beginning of this one. We saw Neil and Nikki get back in the talons of an eagle, but what about Max? How did he get back? WHY would he go back when his whole motivation is that he wants to leave? Did David find out? If he did, did he do anything to make sure it didn’t happen again? Again, I’m aware this isn’t Twin Peaks, but there’s gotta be SOME continuity, right?

Anyway, this is another Nikki-centric episode. The kids are all forced to clean the main cabin (punishment for escaping camp? If it is, we never find out) because Cameron Cambpell, the shady founder of the camp, is returning. Last we saw of him in the first episode, he was on the run from the authorities for reasons unknown, so why they would let him return to his ambiguously legal business venture is beyond me. As is the fact that the camp is allowed to run at all, but at this point I guess I should be surprised they remembered which actor goes with which kid.

Max, being the proto-revolutionary he is, calls for an uprising by spouting millennial socialist buzzwords. Soon enough, David and Gwen are tied to a flagpole, and the kids are in control, but when Max tries to seize leadership, the majority, including Nikki, starts flocking to cool kid Ered (Jen Brown), leaving him, Neil, and the Space Kid (Lindsay Jones) out in the cold. A battle of factions wages for a few minutes before Cameron himself arrives and puts everyone back in their place…shortly before leaving again for Vegas.

While the last episode showed Nikki stubbornly “rebelling against establishment”, this one shows she is not entirely invulnerable from buying into a cult mentality when it suits her views. In this case, Erid relies solely on her charisma, but has no concept of structure. And since Nikki’s ideal world is one that goes back to the survival of the fittest, she views Erid’s free spirit and command of what is “cool” and “fun” to be very magnetic. However, once she realizes Erid is only using her as a lackey, that trust crumbles. So one can gather from this that even though Nikki is wise to not falling prey to some cult mentalities, she’s still learning to think for herself.

This episode does have an interesting bit of character development for Nikki, but I’m unsure if I can really call it that if things are just going to reset all the time. Even this time, when Cameron Campbell comes back to put everything back in order, we see he has an ankle bracelet. Does that mean the authorities caught him? In that case, how can he be off a minute later going to Vegas with it still on? There are a couple solutions to not make this seem so confusing: 1, just say that he lost the cops and that he’s back for something before leaving. 2, have him come back with the ankle bracelet on, finding a way to take it off, then leaving. But in the episode itself, he just…keeps it on knowingly. This and the last episode both have this feeling of being unfinished. Like one more run through of the script could have fixed things but instead we’re left with gaping holes in the story. So, to reiterate, I’m not asking for an intricate multi-layered subversive dramatic narrative, but just…maybe go through the story one more time before animating, alright?