Kid Nation - Episode 10

When last we saw our intrepid band of pioneers, a revolt against the town council had erupted at the end-of-show town meeting, due primarily to the council’s decision to shift members from one district to another at the start of last week’s episode. This was aggravated by Laurel’s refusal to switch any of her Green team members and resentment against the council as a whole for allowing Laurel to get away with her divisive unfairness. You’ve been such a pillar of integrity, Laurel. What possessed you?

We open with the snap election that was called at the end of episode 8. DK runs against Guylan for leadership of the Red District, Michael versus Laurel for the Greens (much to Laurel’s chagrin and surprise), Greg versus Anjay for the Blues and Blaine versus Zack for the Yellows.

Speeches are made; Yellow goes first. Taylor heckles Zach; Blaine says he will be a motivator. Then its Red’s turn; Guylan, with the energy and grin of a kid getting out of school for the summer, tells the town, “Please don’t vote for me.”

It has been painful to watch 11 year old Guylan as councilor. So full of hope and can-do enthusiasm when he was elected; it only lasted until he failed miserably at handling a shovel on a group task, early the next day. Like Mike before him (and Laurel, Anjay and Zach, still), these kids have been beaten up hard by their premature introduction to the humiliations of maturity. When he concedes to DK (3 years older) I’m happy for him.

For the Greens, Laurel stands on her record, Michael says he wants to be a councilor to challenge himself. Finally, the most anticipated contest – 12 year old Anjay against 15 year old Greg, the biggest, most confrontational and, in a lot of respects, one of the least mature kids in town.

The thought of Greg as town councilor has some of the kids frightened, and he knows it. He says, “I know there are some of you who are saying, ‘Not Greg. Not Greg.’ I may have a bad past, but maybe this is my chance to show you I’m not such a bad guy. Vote for me.” Now there’s a platform to rally behind.

Cut to Sophia addressing the camera later on: “Greg is not my favorite guy in the world and I was scared for the future of Bonanza City, quite frankly.”

Back at the meeting, votes are cast and counted. The winners are:
Yellow: Blaine, 14 – by a vote of 5 to 4
Red: DK, 14 – acclaimed
Green: Michael, 14 – by a vote of 6 to 3.
Blue: Greg, 15 – by a vote of 7 to 2

The town council now consists of the 4 oldest males in Kid Nation.

Greg’s acceptance speech: “I know half of you guys are thinking, Oh, my god; now Bonanza City’s going to burn. I’m going to be the best council leader there ever was.”
Mike’s reaction: “Now Greg and Blaine are both council leaders. That is a scary thought.” Laurel’s reaction: “Bonanza City is going to crash and burn.” Sophia (my vote for town council) gives her reaction to the election results as she prepares supper: “This is, for me, one of the worst-case scenarios for Bonanza City, I think. It’s hard to be positive when we have Greg and Blaine on the council because… What do you want me to say?” Words fail her, but only until she realizes she has already said what needs to be said about why it’s hard to be positive. She repeats and expands on the reason for her pessimism: “Greg and Blaine are on the council. I feel like someone just won the presidential election with no background check.”

That night the new council has an informal meeting in one of the bunkhouses. DK believes the town’s number one problem is a lack of respect (for their elders, DK?). “It’s apparent even when someone’s talking. They’re rude enough to kind of just cut people off before they’ve even finished their thought.”

Blaine has a spectacularly hair-brained cure. To teach the town respect they will hold a meeting and everyone will get up on stage “and have to talk about stuff,” and if anybody interrupts they have to start all over again. “We did it in school.” Yeah, a military academy. Greg, as tired as Blaine and DK of little kids talking back to him and not being able to do more than threaten to smack ‘em one, thinks it’s a great idea. Michael hangs his head. They take his silence for consent, and it is.

Day 29.

Laurel, who has been a councilor since the start, whines about her new-found powerlessness. Anjay finds it weird to be able to sleep in. Guylan feels “like a train just got lifted off my chest.” He also thinks the new council “is in for some serious problems. They have no idea what they’re getting into.”

The town is called to a meeting. The new councilors tell them about the “Communication Game” and how it will teach them to respect one another (i.e., the council). Cut to Nathan telling the camera, “It is so strange for Greg and Blaine to be running a meeting about respect. Maybe they should work on themselves for a little bit of a while before they try to teach us about respect.”

The game is a disaster; with the resentment growing as Greg ridicules anyone who does something he deems an interruption. That night Michael confesses to the Green district that he thought the game was a bad idea from the start but he went along with it for the sake of council unity. As the Greens do some trash talking at the expense of the council, little do they know that Blaine and Greg are listening at the window. Eric memorably says he would be okay with Greg not doing any work if he would “just sit in the middle of the street, complimenting people and saying nice things about them.”

Next morning Blaine tells DK what Eric said about Greg, only Greg becomes “Greg and Blaine and DK.” The three get chairs and sit in the middle of the street. If they take Eric’s advice and spend time complimenting people and saying nice things about them, it will do wonders for the town. But alas, their idea of compliments and being nice amounts to catcalls aimed at the older girls. Laurel, showing a spark of the leadership she used to display, leads a group of Green into confronting the three. The confrontation turns ugly when Greg reveals he and Blaine spied on the Greens the night before. The rhetoric heats up and eventually Sophia gets the Greens to walk away.

Michael is in a tough spot. The other councilors consider the Greens a threat to town unity and, with some justification, feel the Greens look out for themselves first. During the confrontation he faced up to Greg and let him know that he – Michael – would be an independent voice on the council. As he tells the Greens, “I have to make a sincere attempt to work with them.” But, surprise, the others beat him to it. Greg bellows for Michael to come meet as the council. All 4 have a sit down, and it’s Greg who proffers the olive branch. He apologizes for eavesdropping on the Greens’ conversation, handshakes are exchanged. The council sets out on walking tour of the town and come upon Taylor and Emily mucking about in the kitchen. They ask them to help haul water and Taylor, of course, refuses. DK tells her that whatever the community award is at the challenge, if they win it, Taylor gets nothing. She cries and says she’s leaving.

The challenge involves pies, platforms, poles and arranging pictures of communication devices in the chronological order of their invention. The team councilors are the ones who arrange the pictures, the final phase of the challenge. The Blues win Upper Class, Greens are the Merchants. Yellow gets held up when Blaine does his in reverse order, but DK and the Reds can’t take advantage of the opportunity. Yellow gets Cooks. When time runs out on the community prize, DK has arranged Red’s communications devices in the right order.

The prize choice is 4 Shetland ponies or letters from home. The councilors wisely choose the letters. When Taylor’s turn comes to receive her letter the matter of her not being allowed to share in the reward comes up. The boys get her promise to work when asked to and relent on DK’s threat. Greg says, “That would be too hard a reward to keep from a little girl – a letter from her parents.”

A long sequence follows of the kids and their letters. Greg learns his cousin has been shipped to Iraq.

Laurel is considering leaving. Bright, smart, perceptive Laurel, undone by her one mistake, feels individuated from everybody who’s not a Green.

At the town meeting hands are raised in a vote on the new council’s performance so far. The town is not happy. Greg is the target of their anger. Arguing ensues and finally Greg demands a vote. “If 50% don’t want me to stay, I’ll go.” Silence. Then Colton says, “We want you to change.” Blaine steps up on Colton’s side and Greg starts to relax. The host confronts him. “Your whole town is asking you to change, are you going to change?”

Surprising me yet again, Greg shows an underlying willingness to listen reason. Like just about every councilor before him, he admits to mistakes and asks for a second chance to do better. Then, in an even more surprising development, the council awards the $20,000 dollar gold star to Laurel. Brilliant move, guys.