Kid Nation 11/28 "I Just Like The Recess Part"

What may possibly be the best episode yet started with chickens. Taylor loves the brown chickens, and so does Kelsey. The furryhead chickens are ugly. Taylor belives all ugly animals should die- ugly humans can put makeup on themselves, but animals can’t. Sophia decides to have a chicken feast- ten chickens! Taylor is horrified that her beloved brown chickens are to be killed, and she rebels. Taylor claims Greg is acting like “president of the world” (isn’t that what her idol thinks of himself, too?) But Sophia averts a crisis by having Taylor choose what chickens to kill.

The Bonanzagonquin Round Table discusses the finer points of pi and alien life. Does Bonanza need education? That weird book thinks so, and gives a history book as well. The council and some of the kids figure that these facts will probably be part of the challenge, so everyone is ready to study Bonanzan history (inclduing Jared, who knows that if you don’t get an education, you’ll end up flipping burgers at the supermarket, or something)- except Taylor, of course. While everyone studies, she and Laila decide to talk with the chickens. Laila is eventually convinced to join the study group, but Taylor cannot be convinced. Since Taylor was warned she must work in order to get the reward, she is informed she cannot partake in the reward if it is won.

Indeed, the challenge involves the facts, ma’am. They must pop the two wrong answers and leave the correct one standing. Green- who acted out facts to help- is also quick on the draw and gets Upper Class for only the second time in a row. In the end, the four districts have enough ammo to get a prize- a library of reference material (and a few comic books) or a free arcade with gambling, DDR, racing games, table hockey, an old-school Gauntlet and Joust (what, no Pac-Man?) and some guy with an annoying “101 Generic Video Game Sound Effects” CD. The kids decide to pick the arcade and have a ton o’ fun™. Only the Upper Class and Town Council are allowed to enter the arcade- the Council decrees the others must work before being allowed in. Taylor, of course, is barred entry. Sophia chooses not to enter the arcade and founds her own library. Jared and Mike, hauling water, decide to blow off work and enter the arcade. Hunter works rather than play, and Taylor plays with chickens rather than works. Eventually, Taylor finds dirty dishes all over the place, and cleans them all. This un-Taylorish move so pleases the Council that Greg escorts her personally to the arcade by carrying her there. Taylor has learned her lesson…or has she?

No, nobody has. The next morning, the city is pratically abandoned. Only Sophia is out there trying to work- everybody else is in the arcade. She is not happy. At the town meeting, DK isn’t happy either. He and the Council decide to shut the arcade’s doors and prevent anyone from playing- until work is done. Sophia is the gestapo leader…er, sheriff who makes sure work is being done. And hard-working Hunter wins the gold star. But though the lock has been put on the door, it hasn’t been locked, allowing the mysterious “Danceman” (Jared) to sneak in and do his thing.

Next week: “Where’s Bonanza, Dude?” This is a Nazi regime- Sophia becomes de facto leader when the Council leaves. Will our new Fueher help or harm Bonanza? And will the mysterious Danceman be caught?

And all week long, your Bonanza City youth’ll be fritterin’ away
I say, your young men’ll be fritterin’
Fritterin’ away their noontime, suppertime, choretime, too
Hit the ball in the pocket…

Yes, there’s trouble
Right here in Bonanza City,
That’s trouble with a capital “T”
That rhymes with “P”
That stands for POOL!

I liked Sophia: “I’m 14 going on 30.” If I didn’t know better/trust that the outside world hasn’t intruded, I’d think she was reading some boards.

Do you think the kids have been coached? More than usual? The council members said that past showdowns have been tied to the “Journal”, but this is the first entry I can recall that had anything to do with the showdown. I half expected the older council to be more skeptical about the damn book.

Who was it said that a pinto is a bean? My first thought was horse, then car.

Crazy episode. How many are left? Enough for Taylor to redeem herself? I know she’s just 9, and spoiled, but it irked that she was cheered for doing her job – for once.

Two.

Hold on…how was Jared playing Gauntlet using TWO joysticks at once? Was he seriously playing The Elf and The Valkyrie at the same time? That doesn’t make any sense! I’ll assume there’s a rational explanation – far be it to suggest that scene was, you know, staged or anything.

On the other hand, Jared is proof of extraterrestrial life…

Jared needs food badly. (Remember, don’t shoot food.)

Additional advice for Danceman: save keys to open doors.

Stop me if you have already heard this one: This was a great episode.

Taylor just keeps making herself a target with pearls such as “ugly chickens must die”. Comedy gold. Except that she probably meant it.

The pimp is back in full regalia. I just love that nutty weirdo.

For me it was super obvious that they had to study those little history books. I would have spent the rest of the show screaming at the TV if they hadn’t studied them. Good thing they did.

The council finally gets one right choosing fun over values. Only a week left, guys, forget edification, eat dessert first.

Sophia should have cooked for herself and left the town to play and have fun until someone got hungry enough to worry about it. I can’t wait to see her getting hung on the town square when she goes over the top with her new duties. Not that she cares about popularity as she already has a gold star.

Yet another green kid gets the gold star. The only greens left without a gold star are completely anonymous, and not likely to get it. Still, green is going to end as the biggest gold star hog of Bonanza.

Yellow in the kitchen again? If I were on the team headed for Merchant, I would sit on my hands and wait for yellow to finish just so they stay out of the kitchen.

ETA: And cheers to Zach, who managed to do what nobody had. Get Taylor to work. It is clear that Taylor just reacts to authority. All it took was some soft words from Zach to get her in the kitchen. Well played, kid.