Hey gang, awwwwwww yaaaaas! We’re into season three, where Ready or Not reaches its pinnacle of greatness.
Maybe it’s because it partly takes place over the summer, which was my favourite season as a child and it brings back nostalgic memories. Maybe it’s because Amanda begins her transformative shift from awkward, shy girl to superficial, bitchy teen and she becomes a lot more entertaining/unbearable. Or maybe it’s because Danny’s final episode is within this season (I’ll disappoint you all right now and let you know his leaving is not a result of the character’s death… sadly, this isn’t Degrassi). It could be for a multitude of reasons, but either way, I’m stoked to start reviewing these episodes.
So let’s kick this shit into gear and begin.
The episode opens on a bus winding down a road near a lake. The children within are chanting some weird ass song about Camp Wanahowee (probably spelt wrong), the camp grounds where these next couple of episodes will take place.
Amanda and Busy disembark, with Amanda being super keen about the whole situation and Busy being a buzzkill. I’m really surprised at this, because Amanda does not seem outdoorsy at all, and Busy totally seems like she should be the one excited about being at camp. Anyway, this sort of sets up the ironic scenario of this episode, in that Busy ends up having a great time at summer camp, while Amanda doesn’t.
A counsellor named Cherry comes up to them and already shit has been fucked up by the camp’s administration, as Amanda and Busy are *gasp* not in the same cabin together, despite requesting it months ago.
Cherry tells them to calm the fuck down, disattach themselves from one another and go meet some new people. She then see’s some dude with a mullet and excitedly screams her head off, while running into his arms. So I’m going to assume at some point he probably popped Cherry’s cherry. Gawd I’m terrible.
Amanda goes off to her cabin, which is empty, so she wanders off to Busy’s cabin. Busy is now having the time of her life, participating in a pillow fight with the rest of the chicks in the room. Amanda asks Busy if she wants to go walk around, but Busy’s counsellor aka Cherry organized a scavenger hunt for them. Amanda’s clearly disappointed that Busy’s having a blast while she’s stuck in a questionable cabin situation. Amanda decides to go to the office to fix shit, and as usual Busy doesn’t care.
Amanda calls her mom at the office, but turns out Phyllis is already on her way to Barbados. A little girl overhears Amanda’s phone call occurring and asks her about name labels or some shit. Turns out this girl is named Jessica Niblet and she’s also in Amanda’s cabin. I just need to question…did they give this character the last name Niblet because she looks like a hamster? Also apparently this actress, Stacey Wheal, was in Billy Madison, so that’s random/slightly interesting.
Anyway, Jessica is a sweet, but dorky and awkward kid. It’s very easy to see later on why she’s not that popular with the other campers.
They hang out looking at bugs for a bit, and Amanda learns that Jessica is pretty smart and asks if she wants to study insects when she’s older. Jessica says no, she wants to be an entertainer, because “you get to be someone you’re not.” That’s pretty tragic commentary coming from a ten year old.
Amanda and Jessica return to the cabin and see a bunch of random bitches running around causing a ruckus. One of them throws a water balloon onto Amanda’s bed and soaks all her stuff.
Turns out the head of this group is a girl with a gap tooth named Heather. Her and the rest of the girls seem to have a real hate on for Niblet. I honestly have no clue why they hate this kid other than she’s always getting stuck in their cabin and she’s sorta nerdy, but that’s pretty easy enough to ignore.
So yeah, they’re totally the “Mean Girls” and Amanda wants in. Heather invites Amanda to go with them to the boys camp to see the male specimens, but Jessica cockblocks Amanda by reminding her that they were suppose to go watch some butterflies together. The other girls thus conclude Amanda must also be a mega nerd if she’s hanging out with Jessica, and take off.
Later on a three legged race is happening between what looks like Busy and Amanda’s cabins, as no other competitors are shown. Amanda’s paired with Jessica and Busy with her new bff Lola. Amanda and Jessica take the lead, and then promptly blow it by falling into the mud. Busy and Lola beat them, and the incident just validates the Mean Girls opinions that Amanda is just as lame as Niblet.
In a new scene, in what I am assuming must be the next day (because I think this is like a one week summer camp), the counsellor in Amanda’s cabin is handing out mail. How the hell did they get mail already? Anyway, NOT GONNA WORRY ABOUT IT.
Turns out Jessica’s uncle thought it would be the best course of action to send his niece a ventriloquist doll. Because something like that is definitely going to earn an outcast points with people who already think she’s a loser. The girls all think the doll, who happens to be named Buddy, is just as weird as Jessica. Amanda tries to be nice and compliments Buddy, which just makes Heather and the others continue to believe she’s a truly lame.
Amanda gripes to Busy about the Mean Girls thinking she’s a nerd as a result of Jessica. Busy barely sympathizes and runs off with Lola to the beach laughing at Amanda’s misfortune.
That night at a campfire, some half ass talent show is happening, and Jessica is showcasing her awful talents with Buddy to the whole camp. Busy gets a glimpse of Jessica in action, and tells Amanda that clearly the other bitches were right about Jessica because she’s extremely lame. Amanda of course feels bad for her and sticks up for Jessica. Finally the camp group starts singing a song, and Amanda get’s pushed out of the circle by the Mean Girls, officially making Amanda a social pariah.
I can’t help but feel a bit bad for Amanda, it is a sucky situation. At the same time though, I really dislike the fact that she is always seeking approval from the worst kinds of people, aka first Chrissy, and now these broads.
Once the campfire is done, everyone starts heading back to their cabins. The Mean Girls are walking along trying to decide how to deal with Jessica and Buddy and how fucking annoying she is. Once again, they act like Jessica constantly follows them around, and other than sharing a cabin with them, it doesn’t seem like she has anything to do with them. Fucking catty teenage girls. So anyway, Amanda uses this opportunity to butt into their conversation and suggesting kidnapping Buddy. The girls are impressed, as they believe Niblet will spend the whole time looking for Buddy and be out of their hair. So finally Amanda’s happy, because she’s gotten on the good side of a bunch of girls who treated her like shit up until this moment. Good to see Amanda’s keeping consistent in her relationship priorities.
The next day, while Jessica is off somewhere, the girls decide to put their master plan into action and get rid of Buddy. They each take turns fooling around, saying dramatic goodbyes. Heather than for some reasons starts shaking the shit out of Buddy, which results in his head flying off and smashing everywhere.
The girls are all pretty shocked, but you can tell none of them feel especially bad, except for Amanda.
They decide to throw Buddy’s head down an outhouse. I really don’t understand why they didn’t just leave the pieces on the floor and let Jessica find them. They could’ve easily pretended that Buddy fell off her top bunk somehow. But again, stupid tweens have to come up with elaborate, non-believable explanations.
The girls are all back hanging out in the cabin when Jessica comes back. She discovers Buddy’s headless body…actually no, now he has some sewn on head, which makes them look even more suspicious. Heather comes up with some bullshit story about some cabin raiding them and conveniently nothing is destroyed except for Buddy. Jessica is not buying the bullshit, and runs off. I feel really bad for this character, you know this girl must have such a hard life with her peer groups. After she runs out, the bitches all laugh their asses off, except Amanda who knows she did a horrible thing and looks sick to her stomach. P.S. Does it not look like Jessica is holding a dead child here? This is such a creepy screenshot.
Amanda for some reason continues hanging out with these bad seeds, and even smokes with them! Talk about a hypocrite. Season 1, Episode 2 Amanda would not approve. Of course she hacks up a lung, because people can never just smoke for the first time on TV without developing emphysema.
Later on, Amanda tells Busy she’s thinking of confessing, which Busy says she shouldn’t because everyone, including Jessica, will be pissed off. Amanda obviously feels terrible though, and it’s pretty obvious she’s gonna ‘fess up.
The next day Amanda tells Jessica the truth, and all the bitches get mad at her and storm out. Jessica of course knew the truth, and is basically like “k, whatever.”
Amanda leaves the cabin, where Cherry comes up to her and lets her know that two girls in Busy’s cabin have conveniently come down with chicken pox and had to be sent home, so Amanda can move in. Busy comes by and tells Amanda that she’ll help her move. Amanda then says that there are two empty bunks, and thus Jessica will be joining them. Busy kinda side eyes Amanda, but is cool with it. They all walk off happily to eat supper.
This episode was alright. I liked the camp setting a lot. Jessica, while weird, was a sympathetic character, and I’m glad she escaped from those cunts. I’m not sure Amanda even cared all that much about her, other than she was the first person to be nice to her, and she had a guilty conscious about the whole Buddy incident. I want Amanda to quit sucking up to assholes though. Anyway, as I said at the beginning, the next episode also takes place at the camp, and it’s a much better episode than this one.
I probably won’t be updating again til after Christmas, so hope everyone who reads this has a great holiday, whatever you are celebrating. Eat, drink and be merry y’all.
Ready or Not Reviewed! 