Kid Nation 12/12 Spoilers

[MarkBarrett]

Marley: I've enjoyed your posts plus the give and take with PSM each week. I've got your back this week as my avatar shows.

I'll miss the show and have my fingers crossed for a second season. A gold star to the casting department for a crew of memorable youngsters.

Spoiler

Sophia and Morgan earned their $50,000 gold stars on top of their previously won $20,000 ones. Migle was a surprise for the last 50K one.

I was hopeful for mini gold stars for all the participants, but it wasn't to be.

No gold stars for Miss "Deal with it"/"I'm a beauty queen, I don't do dishes" Taylor, but if anyone should get another TV gig it's her.

I'm sorry the ratings weren't better as it lessens the chance for a DVD set with commentary or a reunion special.

How many days until the winter version of Big Brother?

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

I waste too much time watching Big Brother. I hope that there isn't a winter version.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

Marley: I've enjoyed your posts plus the give and take with PSM each week. I've got your back this week as my avatar shows.

I'll miss the show and have my fingers crossed for a second season. A gold star to the casting department for a crew of memorable youngsters.

Spoiler

Sophia and Morgan earned their $50,000 gold stars on top of their previously won $20,000 ones. Migle was a surprise for the last 50K one.

I was hopeful for mini gold stars for all the participants, but it wasn't to be.

No gold stars for Miss "Deal with it"/"I'm a beauty queen, I don't do dishes" Taylor, but if anyone should get another TV gig it's her.

I'm sorry the ratings weren't better as it lessens the chance for a DVD set with commentary or a reunion special.

How many days until the winter version of Big Brother?

So, how did the series end? Was it all just a dream?

[MarleysGh0st]

Marley: I've enjoyed your posts plus the give and take with PSM each week. I've got your back this week as my avatar shows.

Awesome, Mark!

Even though you've posted a spoiler, I'll go ahead and write my traditional ShallowMarley report for the episode, in just a bit...

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

Marley: I've enjoyed your posts plus the give and take with PSM each week. I've got your back this week as my avatar shows.

Awesome, Mark!

Even though you've posted a spoiler, I'll go ahead and write my traditional ShallowMarley report for the episode, in just a bit...

Thank you.

I can't wait to read it and mock the show.

By the way, at the USC tournament, there was a question about the show.
Maddie didn't know the answer.

She was fine with that.

[MarleysGh0st]

By the way, at the USC tournament, there was a question about the show.
Maddie didn't know the answer.

She was fine with that.

Awwww! You should have let her read my reports!

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

By the way, at the USC tournament, there was a question about the show.
Maddie didn't know the answer.

She was fine with that.

Awwww! You should have let her read my reports!

I know. But usually when I am reading your report, she is grooming. Very few things will get that child away from the mirror in the morning.

Her team still won that particular game, so it was ok.

[MarleysGh0st]

So, it's time for the finale of ShallowMarley's Kid Nation reports.

Spoiler

We begin with a restrospective montage of all their accomplishments. What were those, again?

Then Mike is thinking too much about their last days to sleep, so he goes for a walk in the pre-dawn light. And by a remarkable coincidence, he finds that the Job Board is on fire! Totally engulfed in flames! An odd thing to happen, for a big sign post that's not near any possible source of combustion...

But Mike wakes all the others, who mount a half-hearted bucket brigade to try to extinguish the flames, but it's hopeless--the Job Board is consumed. And with that, there's fear and panic: without the Job Board, there are no jobs (What? They haven't memorized those in the first 38 days?) which means that there are no classes, which means that there's no point to the Pointless Challenge, which means...we go to a commerical break.

And then our forgetable host appears to explain that the fire was no accident! (Duh.) TKNPTB have manipulated the scene just like they've manipulated the entire series. He holds up The Book and then complies with some shouts to burn it. There really will be no more classes and no showdown this week. The domination of TKNPTB is over!

YES! That's what the council should have done after the first revolution, back in episode 5.

Some of the more thoughful kids ponder what the elimination of the externally-imposed order will mean.

To be continued...

[MarleysGh0st]

Spoiler

But for the masses--including all those kids who are still in the ranks of the unknown extras--the elimination of the rules means one simple thing.

It's time for anarchy!

Rioting!

Looting the general store of all the candy and soda they can carry! And then dumping all the rest of the candy on the floor, just for the general destructiveness of it all!

The responsible kids look on the devastation with embarrassment and try to organize some clean up efforts.

But our host, ummm, Jonathan, is back to gather the kids together for their non-Showdown. Which means, he tells them, that it's time for the council to award the final $20K gold star right away, without the usual town meeting. But there are bigger surprises to come, he hints!

The council is sad to be making this final decision, but they give the gold star to Zach. WTG, Zach, I knew you'd get one!

And now it's time for the surprises. Remember how TKNPTB had ended their dictatorship just a few minutes ago? Well, never mind...

The kids have one hour to prepare for a big picnic. Signs are posted listing the three tasks they have to accomplish. (Notice how instructions from the signposts are totally different from instructions from The Book? )

1. Prepare a feast by squirting some dough through some cannon-sized pasta makers and squashing a big vat of tomatoes into sauce. (All of these ingredients/tools have magically appeared out of nowhere.) The council's reward choice of the "frontier microwave" back in episode 3 suddenly becomes very handy, they realize.

2. Assemble some picnic tables--the parts and tools also having magically appeared.

3. Cart away and bury the rest of the garbage in town, the landfill holes having magically been dug. (Hey, wait! I thought they solved the town garbage issue back in episode 6. You mean they kept using that vacant lot as their digusting garbage heap after that?)

If they succeed, the reward will be three more, super-sized gold stars worth $50K! All to be awarded, once again, by the council, two to previous gold star winners and one wildcard star that can go to anyone!

To be continued...

[MarleysGh0st]

Spoiler

So, the kids complete their tasks and it's time for their final surprise. Here come all their parents running down the trail to join them for the picnic! Great, we weren't overwhelmed enough with 40 kids on the cast, let's add 80 parents to keep track of!

And then it's time for the final town meeting. While the council debates who to give the $50K stars to, we hear some final speeches from some of the kids and some of the parents. While the class system has supposedly been abolished, the fundamental class system remains: there are the stars and then there are the extras. And just as the extras never get to say anything on camera, neither do their parents.

But, why oh why didn't we get a chance to hear Taylor's mom give her opinion of things?

So, as Mark has already mentioned, Sophia gets a star (one of my choices) as does Morgan (uh, whatever) and...for consistent improvement all the way up from the ranks of the Paris and Nicole of Bonanza City...Migle gets the last one.

And then everyone walks outside and says their goodbyes. The end.

(Except that they had shown reaction shots of the kids talking about winning those gold stars, so they obviously had to stay at least one more day to film those.)



The Survivor finale, it was not. In particular, a reunion/recap show, such as follows the Survivor finale, might have been quite entertaining and informative. Which is why, I suppose, TKNPTB would have none of that!

[MarleysGh0st]

Spoiler

I left out one detail in the above reports. They had time for one more scene with Taylor's clique. Emilie--who earlier had been traded from the Red district to the Blue district, apparently to her own satisfaction--wanted to spend the last night with Taylor's crew in the Yellow district. Much shouting ensued, regarding that, while they were fine with Emilie hanging with them during the day, they had their own special plans for their last night together. Plans, apparently, that included having the cute chickens spending the night in their bunk.

Nothing came of it, except that Migle has a few seconds of airtime as peacemaker, laying more of a foundation for her upcoming gold star.



Now for a few personal observations.

I was right that TKNPTB would give away more gold stars, but wrong that they would go to current/past council members. Maybe that was because the final council had all already won theirs, leaving the others technically eligible for their own before the end. Too bad for Mike, Anjay, Taylor and Guylan, for whom leadership turned out to be unprofitable.

I would have liked to see the final stars given out some other way, like by a binding vote of the entire town. One the one hand, the council had far too much power here. On the other, the council got screwed, since they couldn't very well award those final stars to themselves and escape alive.

And I still would love to hear some stories about what really happened in town. If only those contracts didn't bind them to secrecy so tightly.

[MarleysGh0st]

Significant of nothing except what you can find with Google Maps, here is Bonanza City.

Doesn't look like much, does it?

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

So, it's time for the finale of ShallowMarley's Kid Nation reports.

Spoiler

We begin with a restrospective montage of all their accomplishments. What were those, again?

Then Mike is thinking too much about their last days to sleep, so he goes for a walk in the pre-dawn light. And by a remarkable coincidence, he finds that the Job Board is on fire! Totally engulfed in flames! An odd thing to happen, for a big sign post that's not near any possible source of combustion...

But Mike wakes all the others, who mount a half-hearted bucket brigade to try to extinguish the flames, but it's hopeless--the Job Board is consumed. And with that, there's fear and panic: without the Job Board, there are no jobs (What? They haven't memorized those in the first 38 days?) which means that there are no classes, which means that there's no point to the Pointless Challenge, which means...we go to a commerical break.

And then our forgetable host appears to explain that the fire was no accident! (Duh.) TKNPTB have manipulated the scene just like they've manipulated the entire series. He holds up The Book and then complies with some shouts to burn it. There really will be no more classes and no showdown this week. The domination of TKNPTB is over!

YES! That's what the council should have done after the first revolution, back in episode 5.

Some of the more thoughful kids ponder what the elimination of the externally-imposed order will mean.

To be continued...

Oh no, please don't tell me the show was contrived, I would never believe it.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

Spoiler

So, the kids complete their tasks and it's time for their final surprise. Here come all their parents running down the trail to join them for the picnic! Great, we weren't overwhelmed enough with 40 kids on the cast, let's add 80 parents to keep track of!

And then it's time for the final town meeting. While the council debates who to give the $50K stars to, we hear some final speeches from some of the kids and some of the parents. While the class system has supposedly been abolished, the fundamental class system remains: there are the stars and then there are the extras. And just as the extras never get to say anything on camera, neither do their parents.

But, why oh why didn't we get a chance to hear Taylor's mom give her opinion of things?

So, as Mark has already mentioned, Sophia gets a star (one of my choices) as does Morgan (uh, whatever) and...for consistent improvement all the way up from the ranks of the Paris and Nicole of Bonanza City...Migle gets the last one.

And then everyone walks outside and says their goodbyes. The end.

(Except that they had shown reaction shots of the kids talking about winning those gold stars, so they obviously had to stay at least one more day to film those.)



The Survivor finale, it was not. In particular, a reunion/recap show, such as follows the Survivor finale, might have been quite entertaining and informative. Which is why, I suppose, TKNPTB would have none of that!

Spoiler

So Taylor never got a star, so she received no money, but she got trashed on reality telelvision. That almost seems fair. I wonder if she was on the payroll of the show to begin with.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

My suggestion for your next show:

Crowned, starring Carson Kressley, Shannon Moakler and a bunch of catty women fighting to be pageant queens.

[MarleysGh0st]

Oh no, please don't tell me the show was contrived, I would never believe it.

It's shocking, I know, but someone had to tell you the truth.

[MarleysGh0st]

My suggestion for your next show:

Crowned, starring Carson Kressley, Shannon Moakler and a bunch of catty women fighting to be pageant queens.

Pageant queens? Will Taylor star in this one, too?

One more unanswered question about KN:

Spoiler

With Paris/Migle deciding to become a responsible citizen, we never hear a thing about what happened to Nicole/Natasha!

[MarleysGh0st]

Spoiler

So Taylor never got a star, so she received no money, but she got trashed on reality telelvision. That almost seems fair. I wonder if she was on the payroll of the show to begin with.

Spoiler

One of the early newspaper articles said that each kid got $5K from the show, but there was never a word of that mentioned on air.

But, yeah, contrary to what you'd expect from every TV movie, Taylor never earned a gold star. Imagine!

[tanstaafl2]

Spoiler

If they succeed, the reward will be three more, super-sized gold stars worth $50K! All to be awarded, once again, by the council, two to previous gold star winners and one wildcard star that can go to anyone!

To be continued...

Were two of the two gold stars required to go to previous winners? That sure narrowed the field. I musta slept thru that part...

I too would have liked to see some new mechanism used to reward the final three stars. Otherwise it was all pretty ho hum.

Kinda like the whole show!

[MarleysGh0st]

Were two of the two gold stars required to go to previous winners? That sure narrowed the field. I musta slept thru that part...

Yeah, Jonathan went through that rule kind of quickly.

Kids in the next series (if there is one) will have to remember this bit of strategy--get on the council early but get out of it before the final round of gold star votes!

[kayak]

Thanks for all the comments, MarleysGh0st.

Spoiler

I was hoping those who picked up a 2nd star would have to pass their lesser star to another, or have something similar to a town vote. A couple of kids deserved better! WTG Sophia!

I was amused by the parent's reactions to the bunkhouse conditions. The kids had to clean up the "town" - I guess that doesn't include their own rooms!

[MarleysGh0st]

Thanks for all the comments, MarleysGh0st.

Spoiler

I was hoping those who picked up a 2nd star would have to pass their lesser star to another, or have something similar to a town vote. A couple of kids deserved better! WTG Sophia!

I was amused by the parent's reactions to the bunkhouse conditions. The kids had to clean up the "town" - I guess that doesn't include their own rooms!

I'm glad you enjoyed them, kayak.

We had a discussion a couple days ago about how long it was necessary to keep using spoiler boxes. Given that almost nobody was interested in this show in the first place, I really don't think they're necessary a week and a half after the finale!

But, yeah, maybe the parents had a few second thoughts about having signed those contracts after witnessing the kids' living conditions in that "summer camp". And after having tasted some of the cuisine.