Previously on Kid Nation: the teams were mildly shaken up as Emilie and Nathan swapped places on the red and blue teams while BFFs Greg and Blaine were split up when Blaine moved to yellow. The Town Council floundered, but Blaine flourished out of the shadow of Greg and won a Gold Star. At the end, no one was happy and re-elections were called. Blaine, Greg, DK and Michael all raised their hands to run.
Last week BuddyTV had four polls to see how viewers would vote, and all the incumbents lost by sizable margins. The biggest blowout was DK over Guylan with 92 percent, while the closest was Michael, who still got more than two-thirds of fans’ votes. Will the kids of Kid Nation mimic the feelings of viewers?
The election begins immediately as the candidates all get to give speeches. Zach thinks he’s doing fine. Blaine doesn’t feel the Town Council motivates the kids enough. Guylan just asks to be voted out, and there’s not even an election as DK is declared the default winner. Laurel loves her job and feels she’s doing good. Michael loves everyone, and he ees this as just a test for himself. Anjay wants a second chance, while Greg plays the self-deprecating card, saying he’s not the nicest person, but he deserves a chance. Then, it’s time to vote!
First, DK takes his place on the Town Council. It’s a blowout, just like we predicted. In the green district, Michael wins 6-3, almost exactly as our poll revealed. For yellow, Blaine wins 5-4. On the blue district, Greg wins 7-2. A total blowout, and the entire Town Council is replaced! Also interesting: all four Town Council members are former Gold Star recipients. Former leader Laurel predicts Bonanza City will crash and burn. Sophia is also unhappy with Greg and Blaine, and she commiserates with Laurel.
The new Town Council gathers and DK thinks rudeness is the biggest problem, so Blaine wants to get everyone to gather and talk about their feelings. Without power, Laurel is furious. Her ugly side is coming out. Anjay and Guylan are just smiling that they don’t need to worry about the constant complaints any more. The Town Council meet in the saloon to play the Communication Game. It’s a lame ice breaker, and if anyone laughs or giggles or talks, they start all over again.
Greg and Blaine start. As Kelsey talks, Natasha gets bored and talks, so they start over again. The next two times, Pharaoh accidentally talks. The kids get upset, and Blaine tells them to “Deal with it.” Taylor does a little laugh as she sips her root beer, staring at him like he’s her older brother’s hot friend. Eventually this lesson in futility is over, and at night Laurel is complaining that Greg, the most disrespectful person in town, was trying to teach them about respect. Greg and Blaine are walking by and overhear the green team slagging on them.
Eric said he’d be OK if Greg, Blaine and DK all stopped working and just sat in the middle of town and complimented people. So that’s what they do. The green team get bothered, and Eric comes by to say, literally, that he wishes those three would get up and work instead of sitting in the middle of the town complimenting people. HA! Greg and Michael get into a disagreement, and Michael screams “LET ME TALK!” The entire thing is Greg, Blaine and DK vs. the green team, because the green people are more interested in protecting their district than the town. Greg, Blaine and DK don’t want to give the Gold Star to anyone.
Much as you may disagree with Greg, Blaine and DK, they have a point. The green district thinks it’s so cool and better than everyone else, and even if it’s being done the wrong way, they seriously needed to learn a lesson about how much they’ve isolated themselves from the rest of the town in their ivory tower.
Michael goes back to talk to the other Town Council members. Greg apologizes for eavesdropping and shakes Michael’s hand. Michael doesn’t appear to apologize for the green district being a bunch of egotistical losers. Greg asks Taylor to haul water, and she says no. Playing hard to get, eh? Taylor lets them know she’s going home, because she had a deal with Randi.
Kid Nation Showdown Time! Kids must hoist six pies to a loading tower where they’re set on pie holders carried by two kids on balance beams. After all six pies are done, they must look through the photos at the bottom of the pie tins of communications devices that must be put in chronological order. They have 30 minutes to win the reward. Jared simply wants to forget about the competition and eat the pies.
Teams struggle with the balance. Blue and green take the lead. Blaine has no idea what a “ponograph” is. Emilie takes time out to eat the pie, and bad as I feel, I hope I’m not the only viewer who found this amusing since she’s one of the bigger-boned kids. Green gets the pies first, and Hunter helps Michael get the order, but it’s wrong at first. Greg finishes second, but thanks to an assist my egghead Anjay, they win! Green finishes second. Blaine put the television first, which…wow. That boy better pray he’s a legacy. With Taylor and and Zach looking on, yellow finally wins. DK is struggling to get the order as time ticks down. He gets it at the end, and they win the reward!
The first choice is ponies! The girls squeal, as it’s just what they always wanted. Choice two will be a letter from home for every kid. At deliberation, DK brings up an interesting point, that reading letters may make kids more likely to become homesick. Greg tells the town they’re taking the ponies…and throwing them out the window, because they choose the letters! Nice twist, Greg, he may be the next Ryan Seacrest. Despite saying they’d withhold the reward from Taylor, they give it to her, after making her promise to continue working hard. The letter soothes Taylor, who now promises to stay.
However, mostly it’s just what DK predicted. Laurel’s letter says that her brother misses her. Greg’s cousin got shipped out to Iraq since he’s been on the show, and he looks to the camera and tells his cousin Neil that he loves him. Aww, once again, Greg proves he’s sweet underneath it all.
Kid Nation Town Hall Meeting! Hunter is upset that Greg and Blaine eavesdropped, but he comes back that the green district shouldn’t have been insulting him anyway. The kids pile up on Greg for being mean and bossy. Michael tells Greg to stop defending himself. I get most people will hate Greg, but he makes complete sense to me, because everyone else is being just as terrible, but in a less obvious manner. The green district are a group of obnoxious elitists who are so much worse because they think they’re so much better.
No one goes home, and the Gold Star goes to…Laurel. Oh heck no. She was good on the council, but she became a spiteful, resentful, ungrateful shrew after she was voted off. Laurel calls her mom, and when she tells her about the Gold Star, her mom screams, “You won $20,000 dollahs?” Then she says they’ll have to go to the mall, and I don’t like Laurel, but I LOVE her mom. That is a Boston lady.
On the next Kid Nation: the kids start school, and Taylor hates it. Alex and Jared look to be in nerd heaven.
-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image courtesy of CBS)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
