S02.E08: End Summer Night's Dream

[OnceSane]

Quote

With the clock ticking and their options are running out Camp Firewood family braces for disaster. But there are more surprises in store.

 

[PotterOtherP]

I was hoping the show would be more about the characters growing up (or not) instead of another silly conspiracy plot. Might as well have taken place ten days later instead of ten years.

[Eriu]

On 8/5/2017 at 5:55 AM, PotterOtherP said:

I was hoping the show would be more about the characters growing up (or not) instead of another silly conspiracy plot. Might as well have taken place ten days later instead of ten years.

I agree. Not only did it feel like a rehash from, last time, but it took over pretty much every other plot line as well. And those that it didn't felt really brief and kinda pushed to the side. There was definitely some funny stuff this time around,  but no where near as good as First Day of Camp.

[Enigma X]

I felt as if this one has lost the essence of what made the movie and First Day of Camp great. I know it is supposed to be campy, but this was way too campy for me. There were funny parts, but it was outweighed by the eyerolling I had to do.  Many of the scenes that bugged had Showalter in them. 

[starri]

It was definitely weaker, but it had its moments.

Mostly the ones involving Chris Pine, who ended up appearing a lot more than I expected.

[absnow54]

There was so much joy in First Day at Camp, like the entire cast was really excited to be there. This one felt a lot more like a phoned in pay check. I was hoping that when they cut in the reunion footage from the original movie that they would put in a shot of very obviously Bradley Cooper before cutting back to Adam Scott as Ben.

[giovannif7]

I think my favorite thing this season was the last moments of the David Hyde Pierce online cameo in this epsiode, which looks like it was recorded in David's den at home. After he makes up that obviously off-the-cuff voice password to save the day, he's so done with it that he rips off his fake moustache, grabs one of his Emmy trophies off a shelf, and walks out the door. A perfect example of the 21st Century version of phoning it in...

[CofCinci]

I was hoping that in the finale Ben's nose would break again and we'd see Bradley Cooper for a few moments.

[questionfear]

On 8/7/2017 at 9:58 PM, CofCinci said:

I was hoping that in the finale Ben's nose would break again and we'd see Bradley Cooper for a few moments.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who expected that!

[Miles]

This morning I woke up sad and was still thinking about the finale I had seen yesterday. But I thought I can't be this sad about this, it's just a TV show, I must just be having a bad day. But then I got angry. So I guess it must have been this ending afterall. I guess it makes some kind of sense. I loved the movie and really liked first day at camp. This seems to destroy all that and by now I had significants amounts of time invested in this universe. I might now know a fraction of what Star Wars fans felt like.

I know this is an absurdist piece, but at least character motivations did (and imo should) stay somewhat consistant. In the end there was no reason for President Reagan and Bush to do all that crap. They didn't have any special connection to the camp or any reason to teach anybody there a lesson. Then at the very end it even turned out to be a double fakeout, where non of it, not even the movie, happened because Coop made it all up and that one seems to be canon since Mitch isn't a can of vegetables in the last scene. That just seems insulting to any fan.

On 7.8.2017 at 1:39 AM, absnow54 said:

There was so much joy in First Day at Camp, like the entire cast was really excited to be there. This one felt a lot more like a phoned in pay check. I was hoping that when they cut in the reunion footage from the original movie that they would put in a shot of very obviously Bradley Cooper before cutting back to Adam Scott as Ben.

It was also even more apparent that they had to shoot around actors not having any time for this, this time around. Which is probably part of the reason why they didn't seem to have much fun, because they never actually saw each other. It felt a lot like Arrested Development season 4 where there was barely any interaction between the old characters, in a show that lives from it's ensemble cast interacting with each other. They covered it up better than Arrested Development, but not by much.

Edited August 11, 2017 by Miles

[thuganomics85]

Ah, in typical camp fashion, it all ends up being wrapped up in a bow, with neither Reagan or Bush actually planning on nuking the camp, but did all of this just to "bring everyone together."  And not bother to explain any of the plot holes!  Also, I'm guessing the final sequence with Beth and Mitch in human form reading Coop's book means that a lot of this might not have actually happened, but was Coop's fictionalized version?

I thought for sure they were going to have a brief surprise appearance from Bradley Cooper as Ben again.  Also thought Jon Hamm would pop up, but no dice.

Overall, I still laughed a good bit, but I agree that it didn't quite hit the mark this go around.  I do wonder if a lot of it was availability, because it felt like a decent portion of the actors/characters didn't get to interact, like waiting till the end for Lindsay to make it to Firewood, and barely any Ben/Susie, which was really strange since I had assumed part of the reason to get Adam Scott to take the role was to have him play off Amy Poehler, Parks & Rec-style.  Either way, this episode felt a lot like a series finale, so I wouldn't mind if they go ahead and end it now.  Still, I had some fun so I can't complain too much.

[OnceSane]

I enjoyed this final episode and the series, but it was missing something (& not just Bradley Cooper).  I think making the whole series Coop's fictional book was a mistake.  We've seen that trope too often for outlandish stories & it would have been better if it'd all been real, IMO.  A bit of a cop-out; but the series felt like they hadn't put as much effort in as the previous season & movie.  It didn't feel like it was done for the paycheck, more like it was done because people wanted/expected another go-round but most of the writers (or at least the main writer) gave few shits.

Somehow, they were still able to make a decent comedy, despite not putting their best foot forward.  I just wonder how much better it could have been if they put in the time & care it deserved.

[ganesh]

On 8/11/2017 at 3:53 AM, Miles said:

It was also even more apparent that they had to shoot around actors not having any time for this, this time around. Which is probably part of the reason why they didn't seem to have much fun, because they never actually saw each other. It felt a lot like Arrested Development season 4 where there was barely any interaction between the old characters, in a show that lives from it's ensemble cast interacting with each other. 

Paul Rudd basically did nothing, although he did grow up a little. I didn't have a problem with AD4 because it unfolded in a clear manner. I got thrown at the end when Mitch showed up in human form, and this just ended up erasing much of the lore. 

I like all these actors and I would watch another series though. I mean, there's always a 'save the camp' story that could be hatched. I think it would be funny if the next series took place in the "present time" and they all look the same and talk about how well they aged. 

[methodwriter85]

On 8/19/2017 at 8:09 PM, ganesh said:

Paul Rudd basically did nothing, although he did grow up a little. I didn't have a problem with AD4 because it unfolded in a clear manner. I got thrown at the end when Mitch showed up in human form, and this just ended up erasing much of the lore. 

I like all these actors and I would watch another series though. I mean, there's always a 'save the camp' story that could be hatched. I think it would be funny if the next series took place in the "present time" and they all look the same and talk about how well they aged. 

I thought about having them go to "10 MORE Years Later", but then I realized it would put them in August 2001 and that would just be depressing as hell to think about what happens the next month, especially since it seems like these characters live in New York City.

This was all and all batshit crazy and I kind of just rolled with it. If this were something I had to invest years in to watch, it'd be one thing, but I tend to be more forgiving of small, limited series stuff.

Chris Pine looked damn good as Adam Duritz. He should think about playing a grunge-era musician in a movie.

I took Mitch showing up in human form as her wealth being able to give to find scientists that could give Mitch back a human body.

[RedMal]

I watched First day of camp before I saw the film. Weirdly enough, I didn't like the movie at all, but I really enjoyed the series. So I had somewhat high expectations for this and for the most part it didn't disappoint me.

The finale was weak, Paul Rudd didn't have enough screentime and Adam Scott, even though I like him, didn't fit in.

Other than that, the show provided me big laughs and surprisingly emotional, dramatic moments too. I didn't expect that.