Camp: Capture the Flag, a Dance, and Valentine's in July

note: Recaps and Remarks are going up later than usual due to Comic-Con and TCA.

Although I've already expressed shock over the casting for Camp, that was before we had seen Jordan Rodrigues (Dance Academy's Christian, now playing Greg). He really makes the series seem like a different adaptation of the Australian boarding school for dance! But, back to the latest episodes... my biggest gripe is torn between the amount of money the camp spends for an organization that is just floating and the extreme amount of free time that everyone (campers and counselors alike) seems to have. Sure, there are ongoing competitions and social events to attend, but as far as daily activities other than eating? Where are the crafts, the swimming competitions, the nature hikes? Perhaps I'm just struggling to enjoy this series because the setting doesn't influence the drama as much as I think it should. Or maybe the writers just aren't consulting with folks who have actually spent time at resident camps...  

Photo by: Vince Valitutti/NBC

Camp "Capture the Flag" (S01E02): The camp prepares for a two-day game of Capture the Flag, with the resulting losing team serving the winning team dinner. [with 12-hour breaks??] Mack's husband shows up and winds up staying when Buzz invites him to captain a team. Mack as the other leader really demonstrates the differences between the two. Kip isn't very interested in playing, but he and Marina try to be positive anyway. Still, he struggles, admitting he's had cancer twice, and that there's a 50% chance it'll come back, and if it does, there's a 90% chance he'll die. [well that's nice and morbid...] Buzz tries to capture Grace, but she tricks him and takes two people prisoner instead. [loved that self-esteem line!] Kip tells Chloe where the flag is just so she'll stop trying to blackmail him, but it turns out that she likes him. . Later, she kisses him. [I can't believe that she snuck into the med files!] Cole spies on Steve, but when Mack hears Steve ask Buzz to live with him, she storms off that way. They wind up kissing, but Steve then makes up with his girlfriend, which also cancels the bedroom for Buzz. Mack tells Steve he has to tell Buzz, but she winds up doing it anyway. [that sucks. I always feel bad for children of divorced parents who don't equally "parent" the child.]

Robbie's mother is a gambler and spent all of her rent money on slots, so he's forced to ask Roger for a $700 loan. [that sucks. also, why doesn't Robbie have a shirt on in the dining hall?] Robbie's mother doesn't know if he's cut out for law school, but he's even more upset that she went back to the casino. She wins $7,000 and calls the camp to say there's an emergency so he'll come home. This was the final straw for him, though he does decide not to give up on his mother. [I can't believe how forgiving some people are!]

Camp "The Mixer" (S01E03): Mack is worried that attendance is down and that some of her former clients are now over at Roger's camp. [rowing a canoe with a kayak paddle?] She installs a cell tower for about a day, but realizes that's not the deciding factor. [that must have been costly to erect it and have it removed again!] Cole also has ideas for camp upgrades, and installs a jacuzzi, only to cause an electrical fire that ruins the decorations for the mixer because of the sprinklers. To make things more complicated, Roger sends over a list of dietary standards for his campers attending Mack's mixer. [they're waiting until the day of to come up with the theme??] Buzz is going to be the DJ and he tries to come up with a cool name. [OPP? really? also, using nitrogen for fog?] In the end, it works out, though... for the most part. [the girl barfed in the hot tub and kept drinking her beer? disgusting!]

The other girls take Marina's swimsuit so they can get the lifeguarding positions and she'll have to work in the kitchen. [another faux pas: many camps require one-piece swimsuits for counselors.] She gets one from the lost and found, but Sarah helps her out with a hipper one. [I honestly would have worn the design of the first one when I was a young teen.] Kip decides to try out to be a lifeguard as well, but he can hardly swim and nearly drowns taking the lifeguard test. [oh what you'll do to impress someone!] And, speaking of swimming, Sarah's coach calls but she won't talk to him. She's offered a spot back on the team if she submits to drug tests, but Mack has to talk her into it. [interesting role of Mack as the motherly figure to the counselors.] Sarah also admits the truth to Robbie about the whole situation. 

Camp "Valentine's Day in July" (S01E04): It's the annual Valentine's week, with a little kid delivering cards all over camp before a big carnival. [again with the money! look at how decked out this carnival is!!] Cole gets a bunch of Valentines sent to him but he refuses to read them, as he pines for Mack. [which I thought has been obvious since the pilot.] Love being in the air also affects Sarah, who pretends she's meeting Miguel for the first time when Robbie spots him in public. [maybe that's another issue I take with this show... the adults sure make their way off-campus an awful lot!]

Kip and Chloe make out, but when copies of a topless Marina are plastered all over the camp, he breaks it off with her, even though she claims it was Zoe's doing. Marina is so upset that she asks her mom to come get her, only the woman is busy for a few days. Zoe wakes up with a chunk of hair cut out of her head and starts a fight with Marina, resulting in both girls being sentenced to garbage detail. [blech!] Zoe admits that the bigger problem is that she does pageants and can't with short hair. [#firstworldproblems.] Chloe and Kip get back together after she says she'll be nice to Marina, but Kip still pines for Marina, and was going to send her a valentine before Buzz talks him out of it. [I couldn't believe that Greg turned the note into a song, though!]

Mack walks in on Buzz pleasuring himself. Later, however, after Roger wins a tour of the camp in a raffle, Buzz walks in on Mack and Roger, leading both mother and son to get locks for their doors. [haha. not only did we not have locks at camp, we didn't even have latches on the doors... the spring just kept them shut and that was that.]