On tonight’s episode of Kid Nation, titled “Where’s Bonanza, Dude?” we saw what happens when the council leaves the town in the hands of their new sheriff, Sophia. So what happened? A whole lot of nothing special. While the kids were nervous about Sophia running the show, she managed to keep things running smoothly without giving anyone too much flack.
The four council members head out of Bonanza City to visit some Native Americans and learn a little bit about what it means to be a leader. Meanwhile, Sophia is left in charge of the kids. Earlier in the episode, we saw her blocking off a small square of dirt in the middle of town and attempting to keep the kids from infiltrating it. Emilie thinks this little demonstration is just another example of how power crazy Sophia is.
Surprisingly enough though, when Sophia is in charge of babysitting the troups, the only time she really exercises her power is in enforcing the “no arcade before chores” rule. Once the kids get their work done, she lets them in to play. I need to take a minute to point out the ridiculous sound effects that the producers are using whenever the kids are in the arcade. They’re playing games like Dance, Dance Revolution, yet the sounds coming from the arcade sound like they fell out of an arcade from 1986. Little bleeps and bloops can be heard as the kids play air hockey and DDR. Was there a Ms. Pacman game somewhere in there that we haven’t seen on camera yet?
Back to the show. For the showdown, the teams have to deconstruct and reconstruct a small barn-like dwelling and escort some animals into it within a certain time frame. Despite Greg’s absence, the Blue district does well but it’s the Green team that takes the Upper class. The Yellow district comes in last but still manages to finish their barn within the timeframe to win the big prize.
As the council is still off on their retreat, Sophia has to decide whether to choose between a large stone monument honoring the first Bonanza City community in Kid Nation history (assuming the show goes on to do other seasons, which it probably will) or hot-air balloon rides for everyone. She gives it a lot of thought and eventually decides to go with the balloon rides. The monument looked nice but perhaps it would’ve been more enticing if it had everyone’s names on it or something.
The council returns as the kids are all taking rides in huge balloons flying above the city. Once everyone’s back on the ground, they line up to do the nominations for the gold star. This is the last week the council will appoint a gold star (though the previews for the season finale promise even bigger gold stars but I think those will be awarded based on challenges) so some of the kids are anxious to get their hands on the big reward.
Jared nominates himself, realizing that the money could help him go to college and maybe someday invent a teleporting device. While that might sound like some ridiculous kid-dream, he actually does seem to know a bit about the progress in teleportation technology (and as I know almost nothing about it, I’m going to assume the kid’s information is at least partially correct). Also in the running for the star is Alex, the adorable wise-beyond-his-years kid with the big front tooth. He nominates Migle, one of the random Kid Nation kids whom we’ve never seen before until tonight’s episode. Some of the other kids, including Taylor, think Migle should win it because she’s come a long way in terms of getting along with people, while others push for Alex or Jared.
Former Yellow District leader Zach nominates himself but when Greg laughs at him, he gets so upset that he leaves and cries over their lack of respect. Zach storms back in and tells them off for not respecting them. Like always, Greg pulls his Jekyll/Hyde act and tells Zach he respects him. It’s a whole load of BS and after Zach leaves, DK calls him out for it. He tells Greg that it’s not right to laugh at Zach one minute and then claim to respect him the next. It doesn’t matter anyway because Zach doesn’t win the gold star.
The council decides to give it to Alex. I guess they decided that they’d rather fund Alex’s potential cure for cancer than invest in Jared’s teleportation device. Alex accepts the award and makes a brief speech about how 9-year-olds can beat 14-15 year-olds if they really try. He then goes on to say his kids and grandkids can use the money because he doesn’t really have any use for $20,000. After defining the word “paradox” he heads off to make his phone call to home.
And finally, the council decides that the arcade is causing too many problems in the town. Kids don’t want to do their chores and aren’t spending enough time with each other. So they’re closing down the arcade permanently. By the response from the town, it seems like there were a good number of kids who were happy about this decision.
Considering we knew that Sophia was going to be left in charge this week, I was expecting there to be a lot more drama. Things ran surprisingly well under Sophia’s brief reign. She might be a bit of a bossy know-it-all but the girl definitely knows how to handle things when left in charge.
Next week is the grand finale of the first season of Kid Nation. There will be some structure changes with regards for the job responsibilities and it looks like there are a few more gold stars to be won before the series ends and the kids head back to their families.
