Review: Camp Camp “Jermy Fartz”

The kid nobody likes.

Spoilers Below:

The Wood Scouts strike a deal with David: Camp Campbell has to all be nice to each other the entire day, or else the Wood Scouts will claim their best camper. Everyone recognizes it’s a challenge, but they could probably endure it with some effort– until a new camper arrives. Jermy Fartz is all around unlikeable and ends up causing trouble, but nobody in the camp can curse him out thanks to the deal. Neil, knowing what it’s like to be the bullied kid, tries to be nice to him, but is soon overwhelmed. Meanwhile, the campers argue amongst themselves about who deserves the title of best camper.

They somehow manage to go a day without complaining or being sarcastic, and the evening is about to end with a drama production. Jermy humiliates himself onstage, and Max reaches his limit. The other campers have to pile on top of him to prevent him from screaming. The one who finally breaks is David, who points out the inaccuracies in Jermy’s costume. The Wood Scouts arrive, ready to claim their newest camper, but Neil tricks them into taking Jermy instead. The rest of the camp shames David for breaking their streak, and David weakly tries to defend himself.

Overview:

Despite being the main catalyst for all the trouble that happens, Jermy himself is the weakest point in the episode. We’re not entirely sure what’s wrong with him, his medical conditions aside, and the show seems to try to put forward that he doesn’t have any mental illnesses. The episode seems to continuously insist that he’s a lost cause. No doubt, his character was annoying, but he also seemed to recognize at the end that he’s not a very good camper, lending to some self-awareness. No matter what, there are some people that you can’t stand, but Jermy ended up being more of a pathetic character than anything. The main point of contention shouldn’t have been Jermy, but rather that everyone in Camp Campbell is mean-spirited to begin with. Jermy’s addition made things more extreme, but the conflict had already existed.

All in all, it could have been funny, but the title character ended up detracting from the episode’s potential.