'This is Sex Camp!'

NBC's 'Camp' explores its own shortcomings

It’s Parents’ Weekend in Episode in Episode Six of “Camp”, and all of the rambunctious Counselors in Training have to deal with their parents coming to visit. As one fed-up visiting mother puts it: “this is a sex camp!” It seems like maybe ABC has come to recognize that’s all they have to go off of, but they’re not doing much to rectify it. Kip’s dad automatically assumes he’s having sex with his “girlfriend” after meeting her, and Sara is still sleeping with the writer from Camp Ridgeway. It seems like the only rectifying ABC does is clarifying that Sara is 21 and is a consensual adult, and that it is illegal to give wine to 11 year olds. It is interesting to note that there are still no functional heterosexual families presented in the series – just single parents and a gay couple.

Towards the end of the episode, ABC reverts to an actual serious plot line when Kip has a possible relapse of his leukemia while at a bar (as a minor!) for a darts contest. Suddenly everyone comes together at the hospital and personal drama is laid aside as the group awaits the test results. Too bad this didn’t happen back in the pilot. Maybe then this series wouldn’t be just a summer fling.