Camp - Recap: Hookups in the Heat
Recap and review of Camp - Season 1 Episode 5 - Heat Wave:
It's kind of surprising how fully-formed the characters in Camp feel, just five episodes in. I feel like I'm always saying one aspect or another is excellent "for a show this light-hearted," but it's to the point where the character conflicts and dynamics are good not just for a show this light-hearted, but for any show, period.
An episode like "Heat Wave" doesn't need much of a spark to get going, all it really needs is a game of truth-or-dare, and a smidge of bitterness between two best friends. It's a pretty well-focused episode, even if the story tends to veer from one point of interest to another without much rhythm. Each story is tightly connected to the others in a far more substantive fashion than you get with many summer series (I'm looking at you, True Blood). Here, Mack (Rachel Griffiths) going into town with Cole (Nikolai Nikolaeff) prompts an entire story in which Buzz (Charles Grounds) takes advantage of his mother's absence and throws himself a birthday party, which is made all the more complicated once things fall apart around the camp with Cole also gone, as the generator blows out in the midst of a heat wave, prompting Sarah (Dena Kaplan) to go to Ridgefield to get a backup. The loss of power also leads Grace's (Charlotte Nicdao) dads to go searching for battery-powered fans in town, meaning she now has to watch her little brother -- a development that ends badly when she loses him after briefly stepping in to Buzz's party to drop off a present. Every story is connected in some form or fashion, making "Heat Wave" one of the more effective episodes of the season when it comes to telling a story about the various, complicated ways in which the lives of the campers intersect.
Credit: Vince Valitutti/NBC
Most of the episode revolves around Buzz's sixteenth birthday party, as he's singularly focused on "getting some," and has acquired an entire cache of alcohol to make sure it's a party to remember. But Buzz is quickly deflated when he discovers the secret relationship between Kip (Thom Greene) and Chloe (Natasha Bassett). And Kip is similarly deflated by the continued relationship between Greg (Jordan Rodrigues) and Marina (Lily Sullivan), which is consummated in Greg's cabin (resulting in an awkward post-coitous moment where Greg thanks Marina and says "that was fun"). Once the party starts, the liquor flows and tensions reach an all-time high, particularly once Buzz comes up with the questionable idea of playing Truth or Dare. Not only does Buzz have to pour hot sauce down his pants, put on a bikini top and make out with a tree, but secrets come out in rapid succession. Greg blurts to the cabin that he and Marina had sex, while Buzz continually challenges Kip's assertion that he hasn't kissed anyone in the camp. To put him on the spot, Buzz dares Marina to make out with Kip, which she doesn't seem to have any problems with doing. However, right as she's about to kiss him, Chloe's jealousy towards Marina (having earlier suspected that Kip has a crush on her) boils to the surfaces, and she announces in front of everyone that she and Kip have been secretly dating. Marina is furious with Kip for his hypocrisy, having called Greg out for being phony while secretly dating one of the phoniest girls in the camp. "Well I guess we both like a-holes," Kip says.
Credit: Vince Valitutti/NBC
Having heard enough, Marina tells Kip she thinks it's best if they don't hang out for a while. Furious with Buzz's passive-aggressiveness, Kip confronts the birthday boy and they proceed to get into one of the most hilarious realistic fights I've seen on TV in ages. Neither man really gets a hit in, it's just a tussle between two boys who have no idea what they're doing. It's just a tangle of arms and legs, headlocks and shoving. They come to a standstill, and Kip confesses that he kept Chloe a secret because she threatened to tell the entire camp he had cancer. Kip feels awful for what he's done, getting him on Marina's s*** list, but it's too late to do anything about it. The boys simply do what they can to make amends, with Greg giving them one last dare, to steal an ATV. The joy ride bonds the boys again, even if it ends somewhat disastrously, with both Kip and Buzz landing in a muddy pond, where they're discovered by the entire camp, including a returning Cole and Mack, who decides to punish Buzz by forcing him to return the SUV she bought him for his birthday. The entire story is a bit over-the-top, but it's a pretty good time all around, buoyed by the work of Thom Green and Charles Grounds as Kip and Buzz, a pairing that is one of the best in the series. Of course, while Kip and Chloe are now open with their relationship, he's unable to bridge the gap with Marina, who reconciles with Greg after the guitar-playing crooner showers her in phony-sounding apologies.
Credit: NBC
But Buzz's party has other consequences, as Grace loses her little brother. Despite promising to watch him, Grace briefly ducks in to Buzz's party to drop off her birthday present, but is talked into taking a shot. By the time she exits the cabin, her brother is gone, and panic sets in. Thankfully, Robbie (Tim Pocock) is there to help out, vowing that no camper has ever been lost at Little Otter. They search high and low, but turn up nothing. Grace's father, Todd (Adam Garcia), joins the search upon returning from town, and things quickly escalate. Todd, who is allergic to bee stings, is stung while searching the woods. His throat begins to close up, and he starts hyperventilating as Grace panics and apologizes for getting them all into this mess. But, naturally, Robbie saves the day with an EpiPen. As Todd recovers, Robbie then uses bird calls to get Grace's brother to come out of hiding. Grace is so overwhelmed with thanks for all that Robbie has done that she kisses him full-on, before pulling away and chastising herself for doing so. But Robbie is completely understanding, and agrees to pretend that nothing ever happened. However, he does joke later on with Sarah about having cheated on her, saying that Grace has a little crush on him, and kissed him in the woods. Sarah is understanding, but also a bit flustered, since she's done some cheating of her own...
Credit: NBC
While getting a back up generator from Ridgefield, Sarah runs into Miguel Santos (Juan Pablo Di Pace), who's been waiting for a follow-up to their kiss from last week. However, Sarah pleads temporary insanity and rebuffs all of Miguel's playful advances. Yet things change once several Ridgefield boys let the air out of Sarah's tires and she has to go to Miguel for help. Within moments, they're making out and heading upstairs for more. After they've had sex, Sarah admits that it was something that pretty much had to happen sooner or later. For his part, Miguel is simply charmed to have Sarah in his bed, feeding her gelato before they saddle up for round two. The transgression on Sarah's part is contrasted with what a great guy Robbie is shown to be, giving me the impression that we're meant to side with Robbie in this, even if we understand, and perhaps even empathize, with Sarah's reasons for cheating, caught as she is between two separate life trajectories, as represented by the men in her life. It's an interesting love triangle that's mostly just filler this week, though it's gradually building to become something far more substantial down the line, and I'll be interested to see how the show pulls off the big revelation of the affair.
Credit: NBC
As for other surprising hook-ups, Cole finally makes his move on Mack, laying a big one on her back at the camp after they share a day filled with arcade racing, weed, munchies and personal backstories. Mack is on a mission to get Buzz a better birthday gift than the pair of night vision goggles his father bought him, and so she heads into town, with Cole volunteering to go with in order to avoid an old recruitment scout for a university that tried to lure him nearly a decade earlier. This is mostly just a fun storyline, with Cole and Mack displaying a genuine rapport that goes well beyond simply being colleagues -- hell, it appears to go beyond even just friendship, as Cole confesses his entire backstory about his shot at the major leagues, before washing out due to injury. Mack and Cole eventually turn to Roger (Rodger Corser), of all people, to get a decent gift for Buzz. Using Cole's strategy of luring Roger into a game of one-upmanship, Mack is able to lure the price of his old SUV down into her price range, knocking nearly $2000 off of the initial $5000 price tag. It's little surprise that once they get back to the camp and reflect on how much they've gotten to know one another over the past day, that they would then end up making out. Mack doesn't seem entirely sure what it means, or where she wants to go with the potential relationship, but she doesn't seem entirely averse to the idea of being with Cole. For him, that's got to be a win.
Credit: NBC
"Heat Wave" is yet another solid entry into the Camp canon, as the characters continue to feel more well-worn and lived-in, though we're only five episodes in. The show isn't exactly uproarious as a comedy, but it's engaging as a coming-of-age story. The show wears its heart on its sleeve, in many respects, and that makes it one of the more alluring shows on TV this summer, where salacious, high-stakes series tend to win the day.