Summer Camp Island Review: Meeting of the Minds / Ava's Yard Sale

"Call me spaghetti, 'cuz I'm noodling!"

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I don't think there's a lot of other shows I'm ashamed to have slept on as much as Summer Camp Island. A truly bright spot on CN's current line-up (...at least until it ceased to be a part of the line-up), SCI brought about a strange but immediately inviting change of tone from a lot of other cartoons that I've seen: a sense of serenity and ease bordering on slice-of-life and powered exclusively by the pursuit of a good, happy time. By the end of the first episode, I was entranced, and that excitement persisted long enough that I decided it was time to take the show on for regular review coverage. Hooray!

That's not to say the show is without its bumps and bruises, and indeed, those are evident from these first two episodes; Season 2 bears the same lovable idiosyncrasies and confidence in its brand of adorable weirdness, but also the same road blocks. Neither "Meeting of the Minds" or "Ava's Yard Sale" are the grandest statements of the return of such a quirky show, emanating a "business as usual" vibe, but at least that business is of Summer Camp Island's variety... and it's difficult to do wrong with that.

"Meeting of the Minds," unsurprisingly, picks up where where last season left off, with Hedgehog's wand being discovered, and subsequently confiscated by Susie, the lead camp counselor.

While it's a strangely slow-paced episode to kick the season off with, that's not necessarily the worst foot to put forward, especially for a show like SCI which thrives on its low-key nature. Perhaps most importantly, it reacquaints us with some of the more significant characters of the past season and frames them as having a closer connection than we may have previously thought: as a Meeting of the Minds supergroup consisting of the likes of Susie, Betsy, Barb, Mortimer, Saxophone, and the Werewolf Queen. Considering how some of those characters haven't been super etched into the framework of the show (some of them were dancing with one-off status), it's nice to have them back, and contributing to the show's subtle world-building.

They've been assembled in Heartforde by Susie to deliberate upon whether or not Hedgehog has the responsibility that should come with magical powers, with Susie intent on locking the wand in a vault that necessitates the group's joint agreement. It's an interesting topic to raise, but not one that gets explored to its greatest potential, in my opinion; part of the appeal of seeing this diverse panel of characters in the room is being able to see how they bounce off of each other and how their values conflict. This crystallizes to great effect in Barb, actually, who at a certain point is the only one defending Hedgehog, and it's a nice to see considering the rapport the two characters developed during the back-half of the first season... but it's unfortunate that nobody else's history with Hedgehog is particularly acknowledged, with them instead being mobilized by a fear-mongering account of a witch gone bad into relinquishing their keys to Susie.

There's a similar lack of involvement with how the episode resolves. For however methodical of an approach "Meeting of the Minds" takes to build to a general resolution, with the realization that Hedgehog may not actually be mature and level-headed enough to handle being a witch... the progress towards that outcome gets thrown out the window by the sudden appearance of Ramona at the end. She's always a welcome, mysterious presence in the show, but the revelations that come about through her—that she put Betsy up to the task of teaching Hedgehog magic, and she now expects Susie to take over that responsibility—override whatever character work the episode was interested in exploring. 

What's the point of all of this deliberation if the debate is settled by a strictly external factor, and on the flipside of the coin, what was the point of watching Hedgehog's increased anger and scheming throughout her and Oscar's half of the episode if what it demonstrates in her personality is also taken with no narrative consideration? It's unclear, and while it makes for pleasant enough character work, it would be nice if that actually fed into the ending.

There's a greater sense of balance to "Ava's Yard Sale," though at the consequence of distinction. SCI is reliably able to twist its ideas into something both novel and unique, and it's able to use those charms to elevate any premise, but there's still something of a bland feel when it's applied to a fairly pedestrian narrative.

There's still a lot that works. For one, it's always a treat to see the monsters get a larger role, and considering we haven't seen much from Ava on her own, it was nice to see an episode centered around her that offers a closer look at her life and violin-playing history. SCI has as wonderful of a supporting cast as a show could have, but also one that feels thoroughly untapped, so I appreciate the show giving a relatively unobserved character like Ava a shot at the spotlight even if she doesn't ultimately steal the show metaphorically. (She does, however, do this literally within the episode.)

The episode also continues to feed into the case file that Oscar is the secret spice towards a lot of the show's success. Between his appearance here, working out a scheme opposite of Hedgehog's involving creating underpants for all of the monsters to wear to Ava-turned-Hedgehog's violin recital, and his French chef character work from "Meeting of the Minds," he's proven to be a reliable powerhouse of sweetly naive comedy that almost always lands. That might be something of a controversial position to take, especially with how much SCI has loosened up and downplayed his intelligence level across the later episodes of the first season, but as a means of adding further contrast to his fairly straitlaced partner-in-crime Hedgehog, it's pretty appreciable. (You can't not like the line, "Hedgehog, I have so many underpants in motion right now!")

The rest of the gears turning in "Ava's Yard Sale," though, aren't particularly unique. It's another of SCI's lesson-learning episodes, and while I respect what it aims for—it certainly comes across, as always, as completely sincere—there's not much of a lasting impression by design. A few solid twists in the narrative keep you on your toes, like the revelation that Hedgehog instructed the audience to boo at her in hopes of reigniting Ava's passion, but again: business as usual.

While I can't say either episode really blew me away, there's still a coziness that comes with being able to see the little universe of the show again. Even when it's not in tip-top shape, there's almost always something joyful about how it conducts itself. While I'm hoping to see the series truly apply itself to zanier, more creative ideas further down the line, it's a nice reintroduction to the show bearing a lot of promise for the season that'll follow along.

FINAL GRADES:

"Meeting of the Minds": B.

"Ava's Yard Sale": B.

On Tuesday: Hedgehog and Oscar fight through the underground legal system, and become unsuccessful towel entrepreneurs. 

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