In Charles Schulz’s immortal Peanuts, Linus van Pelt once stated, “There are three things I’ve learned never to discuss in public: religion, politics, and ‘the Great Pumpkin.’” Having tackled one of these things last week, Bonanza City proceeds to tackle another- with similar results. As election time rolls around, Anjay is pelted with food before he can even explain what’s going on, and Taylor loses whatever support she still had with her controversial “Toothpaste for Meat” program in yet another tricky challenge decision. Taylor’s “Vote for Taylor- She’s Not A Failure!” campaign (classic political BS if ever I’ve seen it) is no match for the opposing “Pogo Stick” campaign, causing Layla, who made the poster to cry, and Greg to comfort her. The rebellious suck-up Greg we once knew is now a kinder, gentler Greg, and the Town Council rewards him for this with the Gold Star. Lauren (Incumbent-Green) runs unopposed in the election, and Anjay (I-Blue) ends up keeping his seat 7-3 against Olivia (Opposing-Blue). Guylan (O-Red) ends up winning one of the two new seats 9-1, in a decision that leaves Mike’s (I-Red) ego “eaten, digested, and crapped out by a coyote, torn apart by vultures, and tossed off a cliff.” And in a showing that democracy sometimes works, Zach (O-Yellow) takes over Taylor’s (I-Yellow) seat 5-4. Wasn’t they way you expected us to “deal with it,” eh, Taylor?
Next week: “Bonanza is Disgusting!” Not only that, but Taylor gets even bitchier. Really.
Greg finally gets his star. Can’t wait to see if he’s still a hero now that he has his $20,000. However, I was touched by the idea that he’s going to have a better chance at college now. I’m a softie that way.
Mike getting voted out was kind of foreseeable. He’s not the most charismatic boy I’ve ever seen, though the landslide was kind of huge and embarrassing for him. Guylan seems like a good kid and has the right attitude. Should be an interesting change.
The Anjay/Olivia problem seems recent, or contrived. I wonder if it has anything to do with Olivia’s openly expressed disgust and intolerance for anyone not sharing her religion. That wasn’t stated outright, but I can’t see what she thinks makes Anjay the worst leader of all time, or whatever she said. She pretty much got her ass handed to her, though, so no one is on board with her but her sister and probably another girl.
The gender bullshit in Yellow was ridiculous. It was just like an elementary school election. That one girl who defected to Zach’s side has a conscience. Good for her. Loved Markelle and his pogo stick. I thought for sure that would lose the election for Zach, what with the backlash, but maybe it made that little girl realize that people in the town not profitting from her laziness hate Taylor for a reason.
Zach’s little Che Guevara moment was great. He’s got quite a job of work ahead of him, making those spoiled little girls work after their girl Taylor coddled them.
The Laurel lovefest was not surprising but it was sweet. Though that team is inept as hell, they are the nicest bunch of kids in the town. Sophia, Morgan, or Michael would have made good leaders, too.
Next week looks good:
Seems like Zach is going to institute a policy where you only get paid… if you actually WORK. Taylor is NOT going to deal with it. Not well, anyway. I love Zach. His parents should be proud.
mobo85, you should write for EW. Seriously, I like that magazine but they can’t do funny.
I thought Zach took the low road, attacking Taylor when he should have been proposing some positive changes. But heck, he’s just a kid.
Which little girl was it who said that Bush “might not be very smart but he got elected president twice”?
I feel for Mike. He never did anything wrong but the kids just didn’t like him. They’d probably have a hard time explaining why, but some people give off a vibe, and it starts early in life. Isn’t there a rhyme, “I do not like thee, Mr. Fell, I know not why etc etc”?
I wonder what Olivia’s been doing, that she couldn’t defeat Anjay. Anjay’s getting the ineffective and weirdo edit, that’s for sure.
Aw, thanks. (Frankly, I think EW’s writing jumped the shark after they gave Dalton Ross his own column and put somebody else on the top ten stories list.)
I thought he talked a lot about doing work, improving the town, etc. And when your oppponent is that obviously incompetent, and bitchy, how do you not use that against her?
Kelsey, offering the very same hilarious rationalization that I’ve heard from adults about Bush. My own father said to me once, “How dumb could he be if he got elected twice?!?” Wow. Taylor is the Dubya of Bonanza City. I noticed in her bio that she said that Bill Clinton was America’s worst president because “he lowered America’s morals,” but she didn’t know that he was the president who preceded Bush. Huh.
He did, but it was one on one --in his speech to the whole group he focused on Taylor. The other two kids didn’t make personal comments about Mike and Anjay.
Taylor’s a little bitch, no doubt, but like other little bitches, if she didn’t have friends enabling her and fawning over her, she might shape up. If any of the girls on the Yellow team ever challenged her, I didn’t see it.
The little blond girl Zach personally talked to voted for him. Yes, the enabling is going on, but it goes both ways. She never forced them to do any work and let them sleep late, so they love her. Part of that is because they are all really young, 11 and under. It’s hard to expect them to openly challenge the Queen Bee, esp. when she’s allowing you to run wild and be lazy. I was happily surprised that even one of them opposed her, if covertly. I wonder if she knows who did it and if there will be reprisals.
Ha! I don’t watch the show but saw that part flipping channels, and came into this thread to see if anyone caught the “Viva la Revolucion!” proclamation.
That’s a really funny thing for a kid to say, especially after being democratically elected. I don’t think I would have known that exspresion when I was a lad, but I guess Che is all cool with the kids these days.
We can only wait until next week and see what is the new flavour of the week for Gregg, I guess. I am getting a feeling that he will continue to do right. Might even do better, now that he is not stressed about the star.
I was very surprised at Sophia. I would have thought she would run for sure. At any rate, it is good to see Laurel validated. She is the only one who has shown a real work ethic. They always get the crappy jobs and they have always done it. Green not getting Ruling Class was a bit of a heartbreak, but still, good to see them higher than usual.
The whole Taylor thing came as a real shocker to me. I thought the pogo event had tightened the yellow girls around her. A million gold stars to the girl who did the right thing against peer pressure. As already said, I wonder if the yellow girls will figure out who it was and turn their backs on her.
I feel for Mike. He was goofy and likeable in its own very wrong way. Where did this Guylar kid come out of? Had he ever been on screen before this episode?
Anjay really had to go, I think. He doesn’t contribute anything to Council. Still, anything but Olivia is fine with me. If she got more screen time, I am sure we would all hate her as badly as we did Taylor.
Will there be other elections? I somehow got that impression from the host. It would be awesome if there were. It would show their political thinking evolve.
I think Mike got sunk because he didn’t push harder for the BBQ. A simple argument of “we don’t have many days left in Bonanza city before we leave and have toothbrushes anyways, let’s take a reward for once and boost town morale” might have swayed the council. An argument of “red district really wants BBQ” didn’t cut it.
But it’s actually a good thing that Mike got ousted. Now he has a shot at a gold star, and the tears and his pre-existing relationships on the council give him an excellent advantage for monetary gain. Also, he’s not a lazy beeyotch like the other council ouster, Taylor.
Mike lost for the simple reason that he treated his team like his kingdom, or better yet he treated them like he was their boss. THe whole Guylan being a follower nonsense kind of shows his lack of comprehension of how a good leader operates.
Good to see the transformation of Jack (oops…I mean Greg) although I fear his parents will spend the $20,000 on booze & sports cars.
I felt bad for Ralph (oops…I mean Mike) – he wasn’t much of a leader, but to lose by such a landslide?? Ouch! Hope he gets a gold star to pay for his future therapy bills.
Taylor’s a little bitch-in-training, but at least she got her comeuppance. IMHO, Olivia’s much worse. I wish I were a 12-year-old girl so I could smack her face, pull her hair, and make fun of her cheap clothes. :mad:
Props to Anjay for his surprise re-election, plus the show’s best line so far: “Don’t mention Taylor’s name to me while I’m holding a knife!!”
