Camp - Recap: Mixology 101
Credit: Vince Valitutti/NBC
Recap and review of Camp - Season 1 Episode 3 - The Mixer:
This really is such a fun little show, and while I don't expect Camp to survive after this season, I can't help but hope that NBC opts to keep it on the air in lieu of any other worthwhile, non-AGT summer-programming. Summer TV needs this kind of show, where you can just relax and sink into a series that isn't really going to ask too much of its viewership in the commitment department. These stories aren't particularly deep or dramatic, but there's still a certain resonance there, despite the low stakes, thanks to the inherent nostalgia of the setting. Even if you've never been to camp, and have never been in a situation like this, Camp is a series that does a great job evoking the general feeling of summer -- all the promise and possibility, the heartbreak and hopeless optimism, the excitement and the ennui. But beyond that, the show also feels more connected with the experience of summer than most summer series. In speaking with Rachel Griffiths in a conference call this week, I learned a lot about how the act of performing in a natural environment brings a different energy to each scene, and it frequently shows in episodes like "The Mixer", which deals with camp life in a more intimate setting. The episode makes great use of the close quarters, embodied by the ever-present, gate-like trees and the lake that serves as a sort of hub for the youth characters (while the Mess Hall feels more like the adult headquarters). It lends a fresh, summery vibe to the show that makes it fun to watch. But then, no one watches a show for its environment, really. For me, Camp works best when it simply lets its characters loose in a specific, yet still vaguely-defined situation. You know, like a mixer.
Credit: Vince Valitutti/NBC
The titular mixer is the set up, but much like last week's "Capture the Flag", the episode isn't really about the event after which it's titled. For example, Mack (Rachel Griffiths) is trying to win back a pair of former Little Otter loyalists who have defected to Camp Ridgefield due to its cell tower and technological accommodations. Mack tries to compete by installing a cell tower of her own, but Cole (Nikolai Nikolaeff) knows that Mack's heart isn't in it. As an analog camp, Little Otter is about connecting with the people who are here, and not those who are out there across the web, as Mack explains. The contrasting ideologies between the two camps are best exemplified in the love/hate relationship between Mack and Roger Shepard (Rodger Corser). Though they still share a physical attraction to one another, and nearly end up sleeping together for a third time this week, the two couldn't possibly be more different. Roger boasts about the surface amenities of his camp, like the on-site doctor, wi-fi connectivity and video arcade. Mack, meanwhile, offers Little Otter's intimacy as its main selling point, as the low-tech camp presents the chance for families and friends to reconnect. Though she chooses to let her old friends go at the end of the episode, Mack still reconnects with the couple by rehashing old times at the mixer, dancing with them to Naughty by Nature's "O.P.P.", the soundtrack to "the best summer" of her life (and one which, presumably, featured the married couple she spends the episode trying to win back). Roger, however, can't understand the concept of letting go. Everything is win/lose to him. So while Roger may have the better camp from a technical/comfort perspective, I have a hard time imagining people actually notice one another there.
Credit: Vince Valitutti/NBC
Of course, there's more going on in "The Mixer" than Mack's attempts to reconnect, as Kip (Thom Green) and Marina (Lily Sullivan) grow closer when he comforts her after the alpha girls at camp put a cruel sign on her back at the mixer. It's a sweet friendship developing here, and the friendly chemistry between Green and Sullivan is so strong that I almost wish this wasn't being built up as the show's big potential romance. But even if the coupling chemistry was off the charts, there would still be other obstacles to their romantic pairing, such as Marina's potential beau, Greg (Jordan Rodrigues) -- described by one of the ditzy girls as "the Asian John Mayer" -- and Kip's potential girlfriend, the unsettlingly unhinged Chloe (Natasha Bassett). Chloe proves herself to be quirky at best, and all-out crazy, at worst: she ambushes Kip in the shower with a poem about the last six seconds before death, and then goes on a rant about outcasts and the public masks people wear to conceal their private selves. The alpha girl act is just that, an act. She claims to be every bit the outcast Kip is, yet her actions don't really bear that out, as she and her friends steal Marina's only bathing suit and spend the majority of the episode harassing her for being an outcast in the first place. But then, Chloe's hypocrisy doesn't really stop her from kissing kip again, as her crush continues unabated. A confused Kip, hurt by his inability to win Marina (as evidenced by his complete failure at the Lifeguard test), reciprocates Chloe's stalker-ish advances. It's a weird romance that would be less weird if Chloe were more tolerable as a character, but she's right on the border for me right now.
Credit: Vince Valitutti/NBC
Speaking of characters on the border, I imagine Buzz (Charles Grounds) is probably that character for a lot of people. But not for me. I love the guy. His quirkiness keeps the show from getting too swamped in the romance subplots, and his role as DJ for the mixer is fittingly humorous. Granted, he still doesn't have much of an arc beyond his desire to get laid, but I'm not sure a character like this really needs all that much depth. He's pretty much the opposite of Sarah (Dena Kaplan), a lighthearted character on the surface who is concealing some deeply-buried skeletons. Turns out she lied to Robbie (Tim Pocock) about her scholarship: she lost it after getting kicked off the swimming team for calling her coach a Nazi, getting drunk, smoking weed and crashing her car. However, she receives a phone call from her coach in which the university would be willing to reinstate her scholarship, provided she could pass a drug test. Most of Sarah's arc for the episode involves her deciding between risking it all to maybe one day achieve her Olympic dream, or simply leaving things as they are now. There are also the beginnings of a love triangle as the flirtations with the handsome author who lives across the lake continue here. It's a slow burn, but I enjoyed the deliberate pacing of Sarah's storylines here.
Credit: Vince Valitutti/NBC
"The Mixer" continues in the generally fun spirit of Camp, providing stories that are easy to get interested in, even if they don't require much in the way of emotional investment. The Australian cast continues to be uniformly solid, to boot. Ultimately, this show might be too light for some, but I think there's a good balance here between fun fluff and slightly more direct subject matter.