Mark it: it took 30 days for Kid Nation to devolve into an autocracy.
This episode picked up where last week's left off: with the second town council election. Two elections in a week-and-a-half is not a good thing. The kids select DK (Guylan forfeited his seat), Blaine, Michael, and GREG for their leaders. UGH ALL BOYS GROSS. Sophia (whose last name is Wise--seriously) is particularly upset about Greg's rise to power, but then again she is the oldest person in town who is not on council (Alex also objects--so Emilie voted for Greg? UNGRATEFUL!). The original council was made up of a balanced cross-section of the town (the girl, the little girl, the ethnic, and the spaz), but now it's just all of the oldest, strongest boys. Well done, Kid Nation. You elect with all of the wisdom of a week-old former Soviet breakaway republic. Laurel does not take the loss of her council seat well. Anjay seems relieved. Guylan is thrilled. Zach misses his dad, who is Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.
The next day: Laurel is still not taking the loss of her council seat well. The new council convenes: DK thinks that the problem with Bonanza is "respect." Corollary: DK thinks that he is now everyone's mom. Greg and Blaine agree (with the respect thing), and suggest a "communication game" wherein you have to say something about yourself and if anyone says anything you have to start over. It smells like one of those neo-pedantic games they make you do in grade school that are much closer to child-torture than anything constructive. Michael thinks its a bad idea but keeps quiet. Greg declares himself the Last King of Scotland.
Surprisingly, the game works really well. Ha ha ha. No it doesn't. We get an obligatory (gotsta give the people what they want!) shot of Nathan (fave), who has buttoned-up his shirt all-the-way and is quietly seething. According to his profile, Nathan is a die-hard conservative, who surely does not appreciate this town council suffusing their power over Bonanza. Everyone else looks really bored and annoyed. Jared, in his only appearance this episode, says that this sucks.
Later, Green District has a bitch session with Michael. He tells them that he disagreed with the others, and he will not let them decide things in the future. Greg and Blaine plant themselves under their window and hear everything (how did they know? the producers must have lead them with a trail of Fun-Size Baby Ruths). At one point Green says that they would prefer Greg and Blaine sit in the middle of town all day and say nice things to people instead of working. "We shall do just that, then!," Greg and Blaine say. The next day they camp out in the center of town. For some reason DK is there (did Green say anything about him?). Instead of paying people compliments, they just catcall the girls and make fun of Sophia's shorts. Green converges before them, and it's on. The other three leaders think that Green is too close for the town's good, and Green thinks that the other three leaders are mean and stupid and being more divisive than Green ever has and acting like fascists for spying on them and generally leading poorly. Fair points, all. Michael nuts up and says that he is going to lead more boldly from now on. There is a reconciliation between leaders and then SSSSHHHOWDOWN!
This challenge has something to do with pies and communication. Part of it involves putting inventions in the right order and we all realize that this council is not exactly renowned for its "smarts." Zach carefully notes that Blaine is "'moderately' intelligent." Blaine then announces that the phonograph must have been invented recently because it is for playing CDs. He also says "fuck." If I was using that kind of salty talk on national television when I was 14, my Beastie Boys albums would have been taken off of me and I wouldn't be allowed to watch "Daria" for a long, long time. Blue is first, Green second, yellow third, and red fourth. DK is proving to be kind of a crappy leader (he refuses to listen to Mike, it seems, even though he's probably their best shot for getting the right order). They get the reward and it's between a group of ludicrously cute ponies or letters from home. The mere suggestion of the latter makes everyone burst into tears, but the town council still goes to deliberate. They pick the letters, but briefly withhold Taylor's unless she agrees to behave herself. She refuses, then leaves to take a nap. Jay slash kay. Of course she takes the letter, which most assuredly means that she will not capriciously decide to laze around some more and then go home early.
Everybody reads their letters and cries. Hunter misses his brother. AWW. Greg learns that his cousin has been shot in Iraq. Fuck. Greg looks to camera and tells him that he loves him. See, Brechtian!
Maybe some other stuff happens, but I don't remember it, so I'm moving on to Town Meeting. The town is mixed on how well the council has done. Greg is cited as the main problem by many, and he says that if more than 50% of the town wants him to leave, he will. Of course no one raises their hand, and he is emboldened. Gold Star goes to Laurel. I love her mom. She does what the moms are supposed to do (act super excited and nearly lose it) and then says that they are going shopping when Laurel gets home. Greg hugs Laurel and congratulates her. Hope springs eternal, even for these dumb, dumb kids.
Observations:
1. Ha ha ha Emilie was totally eatin nem pies.
2. Kid Nation had proved its thesis: kids can run themselves well with younger ones at the helm. Sadly, this wasn't clear until the oldest, loudest, and pushiest boys were elected and became the Bush administration of Bonanza.
3. Not enough Jared. Barely enough Nathan and Alex.
4. IMDB says that Greg's last name is Pheasant. IT FUCKING IS NOT! Ha ha ha!
5. Also according to IMDB, Markelle is the only one with credits other than Kid Nation (he played "Young Eugene" in 2006's Dirty Laundry).
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