Review: Camp Camp “The Talk”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

David finds a dirty magazine and assume it belongs to one of the campers (it’s actually Gwen’s), which spurs an impromptu sex education lesson, with David taking the boys and Gwen taking the girls to the abandoned Flower Scouts camp. David very quickly loses control of his side, but Gwen does her best to give advice to Erid, while Nikki finds herself changed by the mud bath, and Nerris finds herself entranced by the abandoned diary of a former Flower Scout.

OUR TAKE

It’s surreal to say, but we’re at the second to last Camp Camp episode, so it’s lucky we were able to get one more written by the team of Leigh Lahav and Oren Mendez. The duo joined the writing team in Season 3, starting with the episode “Nikki’s Last Day on Earth”, where Nikki’s sudden odd mood shifts make her think she’s dying when actually, plot twist, she’s starting her period. So, the fact that the last episode they write is also about awkward adolescent puberty stuff is…fitting, I guess? Kind of a bookend in a way, even if it’s not a totally Nikki focused episode. Given the short episode count, even putting aside the fact the whole studio is shutting down, there isn’t really the room or time to have character focused episodes, aside from the first one that centered on Max. So, with that in mind, having a story that does its best to split the focus among Gwen, Erid, Nikki, and Nerris does the next best thing. Gwen is still an elder millennial who has no idea how she is somehow an adult (I know the feeling), Nikki and Nerris are both finding surprising new interests, but Erid’s main concern is that she isn’t growing up fast enough. Also interesting that they used the vacant Flower Scout camp, but a shame since it would’ve been nice to hear Samantha Ireland as Sasha, Tabii (with two i’s), and Erin one more time. Erin would’ve probably been recast, but yeah.

Early on, the show worked well enough at its start being a summer version of South Park, it was the more vulnerable and character focused moments that first started in the season finales that showed what Camp Camp could be. Max giving up his cynicism to cheer David up in “The Order of the Sparrow”, David and Gwen ditching the talent show to have pizza with Max in “Parents Day”, the campers working together to save the camp in “Camp Corp.”, and basically the entirety of “The Forest”. As the characters were given room to become more than their initial gimmicks, they in turn helped the show to grow its own creative and humorous identity. So naturally, since there has been an apparent timeskip for the campers between this and last season, this episode takes advantage of that to show that they (or at least a few of them) have changed more than just a slightly different character design. Nikki, who was previously against anything girly to the point it made her ill, is now finding out that there are some girly things she likes. Nerris still likes her RP, but is now sensing a real connection with someone she has never met through real shared experiences, and Erid’s usual cool-headed veneer is now basically a cover for her not really being sure of what’s going on or where she should go.

But at the end of the day, as Erid points out, no one knows anything. We’re all just kids who become bigger kids who have to try and guide the new little kids even when we’re flying blind too. It’s stuff like that which got me to really come around on this show over time, and what I wish we had more time to get into. We probably would have if this had been a better prepared and more intentional final season, maybe like Steven Universe: Future handled it. And sadly, that leaves us with only one episode of Camp Camp left to review. From the preview, it looks like it’ll CJ leaving the kids alone in the wilderness to fend for themselves. I’ve seen a lot of mixed feelings about CJ these past couple weeks, which is understandable considering he just kinda…showed up and has just kinda…been there in most of his appearances. I certainly don’t hate him or anything but I do wish we had more time to see him get some character growth like we’ve seen from just about everyone else. So, join us here next Friday for one last visit to Sleepy Peak Peak. It’s been a long road getting from there to here, but the summer had to end at some point, so what better time than in the latter part of Winter? Happy March 15th and Campe Diem, y’all.