Review: Camp Camp “Mascot” (Ep2)

Wait, is Max NOT the mascot?

Spoilers Below

We are now officially in the summer season, and Camp Camp is fittingly stepping up its game to meet the heat. It’s still hardly anything groundbreaking, but we’re clearly seeing the foundation building here for solid characters, interesting dynamics, genuine laughs from the comedy, and a visible heart emerging from the show overall. Although that last one may be coming from the several animal deaths this episode.

Like all of them will probably be, this week’s plot is pretty simple: During a Rube Goldberg-esque murder attempt by Max against David, their hamster mascot gets jettisoned, and so David and kids are on the hunt for a new one. Everyone has a differing take on what the ideal mascot should be, and Max heads off with the enigmatic, hook-handed Quartermaster in his attempt to get away from David. After multiple escapades and gags, they eventually settle on a platypus.

Probably the best move character-wise for this episode was separating David and Max. We had kind of already seen their regular back and forth last time and it wouldn’t do much good to keep repeating those jokes, at least until we can develop them more as people outside of this one relationship. Instead, we see how Max acts without constantly targeting someone, and how David is doing his job, IE; managing nearly a dozen weird kids and not losing his damn mind. Though interestingly, even before the separation, we do see that David can be pushed to distress and frustration when his ideal of Camp Campbell is in jeopardy. In this case, he believes “every good camp has a mascot”, and so is so desperate to find a replacement when their current mascot is seemingly killed that he puts the kids’ lives at risk in order rectify this. He very much needs this place to fit his expectations, and given the dubious legality of the camp we’ve already been witness to, it could be interesting to see how he changes as the curtain is pulled back and to reveal just how far from that ideal the camp is.

Likewise, most of the characters introduced as “blink and you miss it” cameos last time get a bit more personality breathed into them. The other kids at the camp each get a chance to develop by stating what they want in a mascot so that we know them a little better before they all inevitably get their own Day in the Limelight episodes to themselves, Nikki and Neil play off each other pretty well in finding the aforementioned platypus, and the Quartermaster gets to give some of his booze-drowned wisdom.

We’re 1/5 through this season and it’s starting to look like the trip ahead won’t be as mundane as I feared. There’s an even path that isn’t all that adventurous in its character and comedic choices, but it’s not too bad to look at either. Watching this feels like your usual nature walk in a regular camping ground. We’ve all probably scene this view before, but it doesn’t make the flora and fauna less to look at. And while I wouldn’t mind some off-road hiking in the future, this pace isn’t bad for now.