Camp – Pilot

This series was completely new to me until I read about it on this website. With an open mind I started with the first episode. So what is this series called ‘Camp’ all about? The series takes place at a summer camp called Little Otter Family Camp. Families go there for a couple of weeks of fun. Little kids enjoy themselves while teenagers are bored to death. That’s the first impression I got about the show after watching the first couple of minutes.

There are a couple of main characters in ‘Camp’. For starters, owner Mackenzie “Mack” Granger (Rachel Griffiths, ‘Brothers & Sisters’), who’s had a hard year after her husband left her for a younger Russian woman. The future of her camp is also at risk now that her husband will be selling his share of the camp. You can definitely say she’s under a lot of stress. Besides all that, she has a love/hate relationship with the owner of the rival camp Ridgefield, Roger Shepherd (Rodger Corser, ‘Underbelly’), who’s actually interested in buying Little Otter Family Camp.

Buzz Granger (Charles Grounds) is Mackenzie’s son and has been visiting the camp for as long as he can remember. He wants ‘it’ to happen this summer and quickly becomes friends with newcomer Kip Wampler (Thom Green) in which he sees a ‘wingman’. Kip has been send to the camp by his father for some ‘distraction’. He has battled leukaemia and even though he isn’t too thrilled about the camp at first he decides to stay eventually. Marina Barker (Lily Sullivan) is one of the reasons why… She’s also new and has had a pretty troubling school year. She ends up spending a lot of time with Buzz and Kip while Grace (Charlotte Nicdao), an old friend of Buzz, tries to get a bit closer to him. Something which doesn’t really go according to plan at first.

There wasn’t that much background information about the previously named characters during this first episode. Yes, you got to know them but not good enough to really feel for them while they go through all of their drama and problems. The humour was fun, I really laughed at some points but it’s definitely not a comedy series.

And then there’s the young crew that has been working in the camp for many years now. David "Cole" Coleman (Nikolai Nikolaeff, 'Sea Patrol'), for example. His role didn’t really become that clear to me during the first episode, but he seems to care a lot for Mack and tries to help her and the camp as well as he can. Sarah Brennen (Dena Kaplan) and Robbie Matthews (Tim Pocock) have been dating for years now but only during their summers at camp, the rest of the year they don’t have any contact with each other. This year Robbie has a surprise for Sarah which could change their relationship in a big way. In the meanwhile, Sarah meets writer Miguel Santos (Juan Pablo Di Pace) and there seems to be a lot of chemistry between them. A love triangle in the making? I believe so after watching the promo for the rest of the season!

Quickly it becomes clear that there are a lot of stereotypes in this show. Rivals that are drawn to each other, the quiet boy with a secret and the pretty girl who’s interested in him, the couple in love that are heading for some trouble… A bit too predictable. Therefore my first impression of ‘Camp’ is a bit mixed. I liked the first episode, it has potential and made me curious about what’s to come. But it lacked a bit of depth overall and didn’t give me enough storylines and drama to make me enthusiastic about the rest of the series. A typical summer show, but I have my doubts about whether or not they’ll have a second season after this one.