jonnyquest

Kid Nation -- "The Root Of All Evil" -- 10/31/07
First Aired: Wednesday October 31, 2007

the big train

Damn, Sophia annoys the heck out of me. Funny how she whored herself out in the first episode so she could buy a bike, but now she wants to illustrate how greed has corrupted everyone else in town.

It's nice to finally see people in the town trying to be real entrepreneurs. I like how it's not exactly everyone just going through the motions and relenting to the show-implemented economy anymore.

Cellar Door

Divad seems pretty full of herself--I'm glad she wasn't considered for the gold star.

I was surprised but happy that they gave the star to Nathan (and that Greg apologized for being a jerk to him).

The other kid that they considered giving the star to (can't remember his name) may have a good chance of getting it in the future, but I was glad that he didn't get it this time because it kind of irked me that he was campaigning to Zach about it and saying he needed it more than anyone. That seemed awfully manipulative.

It was nice having an episode with very little Taylor in it.

Jared's vandalism kind of surprised me--it seemed out of character.

The prizes from the challenge were pretty weak this time. Seems like the choice was pretty much guaranteed by the high cost of using the machines.

mrpayroll

Jared was the man this week and he looked like a pimp with all his new clothes.

And I missed not having Taylor except for a couple of her comments. She brings drama and conflict to the town, which makes it very interesting.

Though, we have only really seen and heard about 15 kids or so. There are still another 20 kids that we need to get to know. I saw a couple of kids today that I didn't even recognize, kinda like Guylan from a couple of weeks ago.

Tonights episode was not as good as the last 2 weeks. The previews built up this 'haunted' mine shaft they were going to go into and it ended up only being the 4 town council leaders going. I was hoping that all the kids would be able to go in there and discover some 'treasure'.

Chris

jonnyquest

So-so episode. The gold star competiton was lame this time around. Divad nominates herself and expects the gold star for just doing her job. The other boy gets considered because his family could really use the money. The ultimate winner gets the gold star because he has taken crap for few days. It was a good thing they did, buying some fun stuff with the goldmine money; it is doubtful the council will ever choose a fun prize as any of the showdown bonuses. This was episode 7 and began day 20; so each episode is 3 days. Seems longer than that, the way it is edited and broadcast.

mrpayroll

I'm sure parts of each episode are not in chronological order. If it was, then the whole series would be scripted.

At times, I wonder if the kids are prodded to do and say the things that they do?

Chris

JP5683

Watched online about 2 hours ago.

Agree, not as strong of an episode as the earlier ones.

I think that if the washers/dryers were 5 or 10 cents instead of 20, there would have been more debating.

I hope that the Green district can get upper class soon, they've never been there. And before I did want Yellow to get laborers so Taylor would be forced to work a little harder, but now I'm not so sure.

I think they need some kind of law other than the council, at least a punishment system, maybe a jail of some sort...

When Divad took the food and started selling it, the council should have stepped in and made some kind of regulation on it, maybe she should have to pay a tax on it to put in a kitty for everyone, kind of like what they did with the 'treasure'...

It would be interesting to see how many hours of tape they shot for this.

According to Wikipedia, and a few articles online, Divad's mother sued CBS over the grease burns she suffered in this episode.

mike7162

I've popped myself a couple of times on the forearm frying bacon, but those looked like some serious burns!

I would like to see some sort of legal system among the kids as well; frankly, I'm surprised that incidents like Jared/Divad aren't more frequent.

mdc3000

That was the best part...this kid who has been a bit of an outsider and a huge nerd gets a little bit of money and turns into a pimp...him strutting with the pimp hat, coat and cane had me laughing my ass off.

magiccmom

I was too lazy to rewind, but did Jared "burn" those letters into the wood for the necklaces?

the big train

Yeah, he had some sort of glass lens and glass bottle setup that he used to burn the wood. It looked like it would have taken him forever to do if he didn't end up fashioning himself some sort of hot poker.

mrpayroll

Did he have a hot poker? I didn't notice that. I just thought that his merchandise was the result of weeks of work and they finally showed him selling them. Regardless, it was impressive for an 11 year old to have the patience to do that.

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.a...=20071101cbs01

So, it only lost a million viewers due to Halloween. Hopefully the #'s will be up around 8 million next week.

Chris

the big train

He didn't have a poker as far as I could tell. I was just inferring how long it would have taken him if he didn't have such a tool.

fernsita

haha this show is so random, but i still watch it. what happened last night?

mrpayroll

Well, Taylor's rantings didn't happen last night!

Chris

kakihara1

Did anyone else notice when they interviewed Nathan early on in the episode that he was wearing the clothes from the challenge? I thought it stuck out like a sore thumb, and I was thinking to myself "how the hell did this kid get such a nice ironed shirt?" anyhow when they showed the rewards it all made sense.

Yet another episode where they show a kid for basically the first time and it just happens to be the week he gets the gold star. Obviously the the people behind the show know who's going to win the gold star weeks in advance so why the hell wouldn't they at least show them once or twice in the week or two leading up to winning the gold star? At least then it wouldn't be so obvious.

Divad is hilarious, she is so blatent about wanting the gold star that she makes posters for it When they were in the town counsel meeting and she was like "I do work I was helping xxxx do the dishes" then they flash to the girl and she's like WTF??! I can't remember her name because I don't think they've ever interviewed her but they show her quite a bit in the town counsel meetings, at least this week and last week when DK was thinking about leaving.

It's only a matter of a week or two before Taylor gets a gold star. They'll do this whole thing about how much better she's been and how hard she's working now and she'll win it. I'm accepting bets

mrpayroll

I'll take that bet. As much as I like her character on the show, you can't teach a 'young' dog new tricks. She is a spoiled brat and will marry a rich guy, so she doesn't have to work.

Chris

the big train

No way Taylor wins a star unless she wins the way Michael won it. I think Mike is the ex-council member most likely to win it.

kakihara1

She'll win just the same way Greg won. He was an asshole the first couple episodes and now he's still a bit of a prick, but when he decided he wanted that gold star he was a hell of a guy. She'll win one, not this week because it looks like the talent show winner will get the gold star (so she actually could still get it) but within a couple more eps she'll be calling her parents on the only working phone in town.

jeffkjoe

I'll take that bet.

It's already, like, Day 22 out of 40 - Taylor only has less than half the time to redeem herself?

Her track record is more soured than Greg's (at least he didn't have the whole town against him).

jonnyquest

It seems that the gold star is based on short-term recent events rather than long-term performance. So 18 days are like an eternity; that's 5 or 6 short-term chances. Plenty of opportunities for Taylor to perform 2 or 3 "attagirl" acts within a 2-3 day timespan. That said, I still don't think she will get a gold star.

jeffkjoe

I agree with you that she won't get a gold star.

I don't see Taylor having it in her nature to even try to redeem herself.

kakihara1

Okay so far.........

Taylor will not win a gold star: 4
Taylor will Win a gold star: 1 (me)

Like jonnyquest says all she has to do is a couple "attagirl" acts and otherwise not be a little bitch to people and she's a lock for a gold star, especially with her high profile in the town. Zach will be her only naysayer.

SexualPudding

Taylor will not win one because I seriously don't think she gives a shit.

the big train

Another strike against her is that she doesn't have a sob story to fall back on like Pharoah (or even Greg). I could be wrong, but I imagine her family is reasonably affluent and I'm sure she has some money for college from her pageants.