Adult Animated Comedy Web Series Episode Review: Camp Camp - Cult Camp

In the second season premiere of Camp Camp, "Cult Camp", Gwen placed an advertisement in the local newspaper searching for a new counselor. To her dismay, the first and only applicant is Daniel, a man who looks, acts, and talks exactly like her co-counselor, David.

It turns out that Daniel is a cult leader, who is a combination of a Scientologist and the infamous cult leader

Jim Jones. David is completely oblivious to the fact and won't listen to the kids when they try to tell him the truth. This leads to an entertaining series of events where Max is confronted by more kids as they've been effectively hypnotized into loving Daniel.

The straw that broke the camel's back is funny, although Daniel is ever-naive. This leads to a showdown between Daniel and David in a musical battle that is memorable not only in its music but also in the fun animation in the scene. The finale is really funny and is probably my favorite resolution to any episode in the entire series. 

"Cult Camp" is well worth watching. The storyline is funny and Max's actions and David's reactions are great. It also has a fantastic musical battle with lively and entertaining animation. The resolution is hilarious and stands at the top of the conflict resolutions in the series. Most importantly, Daniel is the villain the series deserves. Pikeman was a funny adversary, but. like the Joker to Batman, Daniel is the perfect dark mirror image of David. "Cult Camp" is, without a doubt, the best episode in the entire Camp Camp run.

Final Verdict:

5 out of 5

Adult Animated Comedy Web Series Episode Review: Camp Camp - The Order of the Sparrow

In the first season finale of Camp Camp, David examines his love of Camp Campbell and tries to bring back a ritual from his days at the camp as a kid in the 1990s. However, no matter how hard David tries, he can’t manage to please the camp kids and his co-counselor Gwen.

David tells the children that whoever proves to be a good person and respect nature the most will win a prize. This leads to a funny sequence of events where the children try their hardest to be good and respect nature, but inevitably fail as they are just as dysfunctional as they always have been.

Things go haywire when the prize is revealed, leaving Max to decide what he is going to do to David. The entire first season was the season of Max, as he made friends and navigated camp life. His arch was leading up to this episode, and it was concluded in the most satisfying way possible while still being true to Max's character.

The thing I appreciate the most about "The Order of the Sparrow" is that it takes racism head-on. It tackles a practice that was common in camps and even showed up in many beloved films that took place in an American summer camp in the 20th century. David has Gwen and the quartermaster dress up as “Indians” with faux-indigenous feather-adorned bands on their heads. David wears a band with many feathers and claims he is the chief, going so far as to make the inauthentic battle cry sound that was common in many forms of entertainment but was not authentic in the slightest.

I love how the children immediately view it as racist and point it out. Neil immediately points out that calling indigenous people Indians isn’t correct and notes that Max is the true Indian as his parents came from India, then points out the overt racism of David’s offensive attempt at a battle cry.

The children act as the viewer surrogate here, as looking back at camp rituals where white Americans wore inauthentic headgear and made sounds that were never uttered by indigenous people is no longer viewed as harmless fun. It makes the children rightfully cringe at David’s antics.

This is something I’m glad the show dealt with. Like its adult animated comedy predecessor, South Park, Camp Camp is never afraid of tackling tough subjects. Also like South Park, it occasionally misses the mark but gets it right more often than not. This episode is definitely one of the latter.

The season was originally slated for ten episodes, but it was extended to twelve. The extra two definitely weren't squandered. It allowed episode nine and ten to flesh out the personality of some of the background characters while leaving episodes eleven and twelve as the conclusion. The way it was written and executed even feels like it could have worked as a series finale, but thankfully Rooster Teeth opted to create more episodes. It also works great as a season finale, as "The Order of the Sparrow" is executed beautifully. It deals with the evolution of Max in a satisfying, and heartwarming, way.

Final Verdict:

5 out of 5

Adult Animated Comedy Web Series Episode Review: Camp Camp - Camporee

In the Camp Camp episode "Camporee", the three main camps around Lake Lilac, Camp Campbell, the Wood Scouts camp, and the Flower Scouts camp, compete in fifteen events to determine which camp is the best. This is a traditional summer camp story, but it is satisfyingly twisted in the way that only Camp Camp can.

Cameron Campbell is back in America after his attempts to try to avoid prosecution by federal agents. In typical Wood Scouts behavior, they want the Camp Campbell grounds and campers to be part of the Wood Scouts. Then, in typical Cameron Campbell behavior, he agrees to the terms if the Wood Scouts will give him their profits from popcorn sales.

The events are divided into three parts. The first five events are chosen by the Flower Scouts, the second five are chosen by the Wood Scouts, and the final five are chosen by Camp Campbell. The events range from normal, such as rowing across Like Lilac to Spooky Island, to the absurd, such as walking across a narrow board over bubbling green liquid while avoiding giant swinging metal balls with spikes. The Camp Campbell campers struggle throughout the events until Gwen has an idea. 

This episode was great as a pastiche of camp competition stories as well as fun in the whole absurdity of the events. It's always great to see the other camps, as every story needs a good adversary. Pikeman always fits well in this role, and he's just as annoying as usual, and more than a little bit creepy. It's only natural that the Camp Campbell campers wouldn't want to be under his command, which offers up a believable reason that the socializing-adverse Max and Neil would compete. It's also the first episode where the ending leads right into the next episode, although both can be viewed independently.

Final Verdict:

4 out of 5

Adult Animated Comedy Web Series Episode Review: Camp Camp - Mind Freakers

In the Camp Camp episode "Mind Freakers", Camp Campbell's resident illusionist performs a trick so mindbending that the camp's lover of science, Neil, struggles to explain it.

Harrison gives a performance on stage, and Neil complains about each trick. He says that each illusion can be explained by science and then proceeds to explain each one. Frustrated, Harrison performs a trick that he calls the greatest illusion of all. He means to cast it on Neil but accidentally casts it on Max, who is standing next to Neil.

Regardless of its target, the trick confuses Neil, who struggles to explain how it could have been performed. Meanwhile, Max is traumatized by the effects that the trick had on him. Meanwhile, Nikki, enthralled by Harrison's magic, becomes his apprentice.

Neil tries to convince Nikki to get Harrison to teach her the trick, however, he claims that it can only be performed by a level four magician. He also rubs it in by telling Nikki to tell Neil that the trick is easy to figure out if you are smart enough. This leads to Neil freaking out and trying to perform the trick on Nikki with science, even though he had never figured out how it was done. 

"Mind Freakers" is an important Camp Camp episode as it is the first episode that Neil comes to realize that he can't explain everything that happens at the camp. With all the weird and wacky things that occur at Camp Campbell over to course of four seasons, that is a lesson that truly needed to be learned.

Final Verdict:

4½ out of 5

Adult Animated Comedy Web Series Episode Review: Camp Camp - David Gets Hard

In the Camp Camp episode, "David Gets Hard", the camp counselors discover that they need to hold a day of lessons for the camp for which the camp's bully, Nurf, was enlisted. When it's discovered that Nurf's mother signed him up for boot camp, Max and Gwen convince David to try to get tough.

Gwen and David argue about how to handle it, while Max claims he's the nastiest camper at Camp Campbell and offers to teach David how to get tough. Of course, David, being who he is, can't overcome his need to be nice. After a few instances of a funny running joke regarding weapons, Max gets a reality check when he realizes that he isn't as tough as he thought.

Gwen reveals that, alongside her liberal arts degree, she dual-majored in psychology. David tries the therapy angle, and, unsurprisingly, this doesn't work either. David then tries to handle things in his own way, but things don't go as he planned. The surprising breakthrough is funny, and it actually makes sense.

It's nice to see more background characters get fleshed out. Nurf personifies the bully archetype turned up to eleven. With the breakthrough at the end, it's interesting to see just how different his actions are in future episodes. This episode is great, as not only does Nurf receive a breakthrough, but so does the series protagonist, Max. The latter's realization will continue to build up in the few remaining episodes until the end of the first season.

Final Verdict:

4 out of 5

Adult Animated Comedy Web Series Episode Review: Camp Camp - Into Town

In the Camp Camp episode, Into Town, Max has pushed David so far that he plans to leave Camp Campbell. Max, Nikki, and Neil sneak into the camp's station wagon so that they can see what David plans to do now that his cheerful exterior has begun to crack.

The kids are disappointed when the town has few shops and resembles a 19th-century Old West town more than one from the 21st century. Neil discovers an electronics store, and Max tells him to go inside but to watch out for David so that they don't become stranded there. Despite being older than he is, Neil becomes enamored with the cathode-ray tube television sets on the display shelves.

Meanwhile, Max and Nikki check out three other shops for any sign of David. These include a bar, a shop named Muffin Tops, and a hardware store. Each stop includes funny interactions and gags. There is also a funny visual gag going on throughout the episode involving Nikki. I didn't catch it until Neil pointed it out and I rewatched the episode with it in mind. It's a series of really subtle changes that really encapsulates Nikki as a person.

This episode was fun, as it cranks the Max and David feud up to eleven. This is also the first indication that David even ever wants to leave Camp Campbell, let alone does it. It doesn't really propel the series forward, however, the sheer amount of jokes make up for it.

Final Verdict:

4 out of 5

Adult Animated Comedy Web Series Episode Review: Camp Camp - Romeo & Juliet II: Love Resurrected

Romeo & Juliet II: Love Resurrected is an episode of Camp Camp primarily focused on Preston Goodplay, the sole Camp Campbell camper in the theater camp. There are also side stories with Max continuing to mess with David, as well as an on-brand love triangle.

Preston wrote a science fiction sequel to Romeo & Juliet and the camp is putting on the play on the stage. Even the series protagonists, Max, Nikki, and Neil, are roped into helping with the play. Neil and Nikki try their best, but Max hilariously does as little emotion as he can with his lines. The reason for this becomes clear when Max steals David's cell phone.

Max's pranks are more memorable than the play, but the threads are woven together well when two unexpected females come to Camp Campbell searching for a boyfriend. The season's background story involving Cameron Campbell pops up, and the way it is resolved is hilarious.

Romeo & Juliet II: Love Resurrected finally formally introduces the magic camp camper shown in the premiere episode. He is best taken in small doses, a fact of which the writing staff was obviously aware. There are several background stories going on behind the play which are pleasingly welded together in a way that is very funny and is executed well. 

Love Resurrected is neither the best episode of the season nor the funniest. However, it is an important episode as it introduces a character that will shown be quite a bit later on. It also has a lot of funny scenes that should please fans.

Final Verdict:

3½ out of 5

Camp Camp Season 1, Episode 6 Review

Camp Camp Season 1, Episode 8 Review Coming Soon

Adult Animated Comedy Web Series Episode Review: Camp Camp - Reigny Day

Camp Camp: "Reigny Day" probably pushes the boundaries more than any other episode in the series. It gives the camp's Adolf Hitler doppelganger an entire episode dedicated to him, throws in a lot of Hitler jokes in the process, and somehow ends up oddly charming.

David is excited about the visit of the camp critic council as he expects to be named camp counselor of the year. He has prepared a surprisingly professional-looking obstacle course as that day's activities to impress the council, but his plans are disrupted when it begins raining. The raining joke about a common idiom had me chuckling each time it came up in the episode.

David, of course, has no idea how to improvise a new activity for the children. As the kids are drawing and Dolph is there for the art camp, he hastily decides to make Dolph camp counselor for the day. This is where the show's allegory of Hitler's actions in World War II comes in. The Rooster Teeth team manages to walk the tightrope and keep it from becoming too offensive as Dolph is presented as friendly and naive. His actions are a weirdly wholesome parallel to the infamous dictator as Dolph is completely oblivious to his actions and just wants to be a good junior camp counselor.

Luckily, the episode doesn't drag, as that would give it more of a chance of being offensive. As it is, the jokes come hard and fast, but the Hitler parallels are depicted as the unknowing actions of a friendly child. Rooster Teeth managed to do the almost unthinkable by making a Hitler parody that is very watchable without becoming too offensive or cringy.

Final Verdict:

4 out of 5

Camp Camp Season 1, Episode 5 Review

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Adult Animated Comedy Web Series Episode Review: Camp Camp - Journey to Spooky Island

The Camp Camp episode "Journey to Spooky Island" opens up Lake Lilac further as the intrepid Camp Campbell campers head to Spooky Island after the Quartermaster warned them to keep away.

Throughout the episode, even with all of the spooky elements happening around him, Max never gets scared. They meet a boy named Jasper who joins them in investigating Cameron Campbell's old summer home in search of the moaning monsters that can be heard inside. 

The other kids jump in fright throughout the episode as they uncover more and more unnatural things, but Max doesn't get scared. Nikki isn't afraid of searching the mansion and teases Max about this throughout the episode as they search the island for ghosts and monsters. Nikki eventually gets scared alongside the others, but Max continues to assert that he can't be scared.

"Journey to Spooky Island" is a lot of fun. It has a lot of creepiness, including a laboratory that might explain how the platypus has retractable teeth as well as how the wildlife around Lake Lilac became sentient. The episode is well written as it actually has two endings. The first is an extremely humorous ending and the second is a twist ending. The twist is well done as elements foreshadowing it had been sprinkled throughout the episode. This episode actually foreshadows events that occur later in the series, which makes it essential viewing for Camp Camp fans.

Final verdict:

5 out of 5

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Camp Camp Season 1, Episode 6 Review

Adult Animated Web Series Comedy Short Review: Camp Campbell Wants YOU!

Camp Campbell Wants YOU! was a short created to promote the Rooster Teeth adult animated comedy web series, Camp Camp. It is presented as a 1990s promotional video for the camp.

The short cartoon introduces the head counselor, David, as a child in the 1990s at Camp Campbell. The end includes the modern-day counselors Gwen and the adult David. The three main children characters, Max, Nikki, and Neil are also included in the short at the end.

The 90s setting as well as the fact that it is designed like a bad recruitment and explanation video about Camp Campbell could mean that this is the video on the Laserdisc seen in the first episode or at least part of it. The most humorous aspect of this is the poor editing job done by adding additional camp activities over Cameron Campbell's speech as well as the "who cares" attitude of Max when he filmed David's portion of the camp counselor's portion that is set in the modern day. It's made even funnier by the fact that Campbell loves David's editing and wants to add yet another activity to the camp. It's worth reading all of the camp activities, as some of them are laugh-out-loud funny.

As a promotional short, this sets up the world of Camp Camp well. The portion in the beginning that is set in the 1990s also foreshadows events that take place in the camp in the show itself. Making it an advertisement on public access that was watched by the main cast and part of the supporting cast of the show was a great idea. It gives people an idea of the style of humor in the main show as well as shows the attitude of the main character of the show, Max. It also gives people a glimpse of his friends Nikki and Neil, who, along with Max, comprise the core trio of the show. 

Final Verdict:

4 out of 5  

Camp Camp Season 1, Episode 1 Review