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Things have been going too well in Bonanza City, so the Pioneer Journal tells the Council to change up the Districts. Because they do everything the Journal tells them to, Zach takes Blaine into Yellow, Anjay takes Emilie for Blue, Guylan takes Nathan for Red, and Laurel takes -- no one. Everyone promptly freaks out, no one more so than Greg at the loss of his boyfriend. The Showdown is a race to haul a sled full of rocks through an obstacle course. The catch is that the teams have to haul a total of a ton of rocks in order to get the reward, so they each have to find a balance between pulling their weight (an average of 500 pounds per team), and getting there first. Blue comes in first, having pulled 480 pounds. Yellow finishes second, with 460. Green is third, and came through with 420. And Red only has 485, which means no reward. And Guylan pisses everyone off afterward by accusing them of worrying about their own status, and ends up regretting even being on the Council after Sophia humiliates him in front of the whole town. The Gold Star is looking like a tossup between hardworking Hunter and Yellow's new MVP, Blaine. There's a lot of bitching at the Town Hall meeting. Twelve-year-old Randi from the Yellow team decides to bail out despite a portentous rainstorm, and Blaine's emergence from Greg's shadow is made official when he wins the Gold Star. But the town is pissed off enough at the Council that Jonathan calls an election on the spot. The challengers? Blaine for Yellow, DK for Red, and Greg for Blue. And on the Green team, Laurel is challenged by...Michael. I know! But we'll have to wait until week to see who wins, because this is to be continued. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Ain't no party like a Gold Star party. Last week's Gold Star winner, Kennedy, is hanging out in the street with a few other winners, all of whom just happen to also be on the Green team (Sophia, Michael, and Morgan). Laurel gloat-erviews about how many of her teammates are Gold Star winners, and we see them continuing to get more and more obnoxious (now along with fellow winner DK from the Red team). Non-winners Jared and Emilie (both from Red) watch from afar and give interviews about how unfair it all is that the older kids keep winning. Oh, and there's nine-year-old Mallory joining in, totally undercutting Emilie's point. Laurel says something about the "Gold District," and then the party breaks up before they get lynched.
Pioneer Journal time. It tells the Council that by now they've been living there long enough to know "who's strong" -- Blaine leads a water hauling mission -- "who's not" -- Taylor bails on carrying a water bucket, leaving younger and smaller Leila to do it alone -- "who works" -- Nathan compulsively cleans each candy jar in the store while Olivia mocks him -- "and who doesn't" -- Emilie snots at Sophia, "Not my job." So the Journal claims that the reason so many people left the original Bonanza was that some districts worked better than others. Whatever. I would think the Council must get tired of reading new reasons people left every time they come in here. Yet they don't even blink when they hear this newest reason: "Our four arbitrarily selected teams, who wore different colored bandanas and who switched jobs and salaries every three days, were kind of uneven." The Journal underlines the point -- literally, the words in the Journal are underlined: "Mix up your Districts." Zach is all for it, because it could make the town better, and besides, he's got a team full of losers. Guylan agrees. But Laurel is completely closed off to the idea, saying her District is too awesome to be split up. Anjay adds, "This is dynamite waiting to happen." Interesting that the two more experienced members of the Council are the ones not in favor.
Back from commercial, Emilie is strolling through the town when her teammate Markelle asks her for help getting water for laundry. Emilie doesn't even slow down as she refuses. "Not gonna," she snots. Markelle interviews that Emilie is lazy, and Emilie interviews that she hates the Red district. Whoa, where did that come from? Well, not from today, probably, because the Red team is the Cooks at the beginning of this episode.
The Council looks like it's decided to go ahead with the stupid, stupid swapping plan, and they go into the Saloon to work it out. Anjay has decided this represents a chance for him to prove himself to the town by picking the laziest person there and turning them around. Namely Emilie, who demonstrates her relevant quality in a clip in which someone (maybe DK) tells her to just drop some plates on the kitchen's dirt floor. She does, then flounces off saying, "You said to." Guylan decides that his team needs a bit more "brain power," so he wants Nathan. Clip of Nathan doing laundry while lecturing a bored Pharaoh on Bach and Beethoven. Ah, Bach. Zach trash-talks his own team as "a bunch of girls. Including Colton, Brett, and Pharaoh." He says he doesn't have any hard workers like Greg or Blaine. Greg interviews that he and Blaine are indeed the "heart of the Blue District." But Anjay is saying that when Greg and Blaine are together, "bad things happen." Laurel, who has been completely shut down throughout this discussion, says that she's not changing anyone. The other leaders object. "We don't want to have one perfect District and three lousy ones," Guylan protests. Presumably "perfect" is Bonanzan for "has lost more Showdowns than anyone."
So let's see how things ended up. In the mess hall, the Council takes its Journal-announcement position. Laurel informs them that they've "decided to mix you guys all up." There is general protest, and Greg is, like, physically shielding Blaine from the Council, like they're going to scoop him up and spirit him away. Guylan starts out smooth, saying to his district, "No offense to any of you, but I think we need some intellectual people." "Heeeey," Jared snarls, speaking what everyone on his team is thinking. Mike points out in an interview that everyone is smart, or they wouldn't be there. I don't know; it seems to me like the actual smart thing for most of these kids to do would have been to stay home. In any case, Guylan drafts Nathan. Markelle complains that Nathan isn't a team player, and is weird. He doesn't point out that his team already has a Jared. Anjay says he's taking on Emilie, since she doesn't get along with her District. Red seems happier about losing her than Blue does about gaining her. Emilie goes and hugs all the girls on her new District, who are all like, "Get off me, girly, I'm not a chicken." Zach is , and he lies that while he loves everyone on the Yellow District, they need a little manpower, so he's taking Blaine. General consternation, especially from Greg, who practically sits on Blaine to try to prevent him from leaving. Blaine is much more sanguine about the change, interviewing that while he didn't really want to leave, he knew Yellow needed help and so decided to go quietly. "You're comin' back," Greg seethes. Greg is heartbroken, completely in denial. Now it's Laurel's turn. She says this is the hardest decision she's had to make, but she's taking...no one. Most of the Green team is thrilled (with the apparent exception of Michael), but Greg starts yelling that it's not fair that Laurel gets to keep all of her people. Taylor agrees with Greg. Greg wants Blaine back, and calls Anjay a traitor. He interviews that if he'd been on the Council, he wouldn't have let Laurel get away with it. And indeed, Anjay basically traded the town's number-two workhorse and no-sleep OCD boy for lazy, snotty PETA girl. Nice trade, Anjay. You've proved yourself, all right. As the meeting breaks up, Greg tells Blaine to throw the Showdown. Blaine pretty much blows him off. Oh, and Greg hates Laurel too.
Afterward, Greg goes and bitches at Anjay for getting rid of Blaine when Laurel has the strongest team. Anjay doesn't really have an answer, except to back away when he sees that Greg's tossing an empty bottle up and down. Blaine packs up and moves down to the Yellow bunkhouse, bright-siding in an interview that he's going to get a lot more credit for the things he does now that he'll be out of Greg's shadow. But Greg's like, "My shadow's coming with you, dude." Seriously, Greg packs up all his shit and tries to move into Yellow along with Blaine. Zach kicks him out, and Colton tells Zach he's glad they didn't get Greg. Heh. Greg stomps back, yelling over his shoulder at the Yellow bunkhouse, in front of which Blaine sits and watches him, saying, "I think he's crazy." And not good at handling breakups.
In the Blue girls' bunkhouse, they're making room for a new tenant. Mallory interviews that they plan to whip Emilie into shape. We see Emilie telling her new teammates how happy she is to be there. Olivia starts to lecture Emilie on how hard the Blue girls work, and Emilie is way ahead of her: "Trust me, I'll pick up my game," she says. Olivia seems a little disappointed that she didn't get to deliver her whole speech. I'm sure she'll blame Anjay for that.
So how is Nathan assimilating? He interviews that he'll miss Alex from the Blue team, and was just starting to get used to Greg and Blaine, and the dust in the Red bunkhouse will play hell with his allergies. Unfortunately, the Red District is even less happy to have him than he is to be joining. Markelle is haranguing Guylan about how he thinks Nathan is better off in the Blue District. "Because you guys hate him!" Guylan says. "We don't hate him!" Markelle protests. Nathan? Standing right there. Suddenly I've gone from refusing to speculate on whether Nathan has Asperger's, to kind of hoping that he does. Because, ouch. Jared waves his pimp-stick lollipop in Guylan's face, vowing, "You're off the Council ASAP!" There's a lot more yelling, from everyone, and Jared says to Guylan, "Lock your cell door tonight." Jared's allowed to watch Oz? Huh.
Almost everyone else in the room cackles at that, although the editors try to make it look like that didn't totally just break the tension. As Jared ducks into a cell himself -- yes, for the first time, I've noticed that the Red boys' bunkhouse is actually a two- or three-cell jailhouse -- he interviews that Guylan is "the suckiest Council leader yet," and it's time for a change. Alex is there now, loudly voicing his own complaints and taking Nathan outside for a talk. Which consists of Nathan saying that Red doesn't want him and Alex describing Guylan as "totally un-smart." Back in the bunkhouse, Guylan continues to make his case, saying they traded someone who doesn't work for someone who does more than his share. "All he does is haul water every day," Mike snarks from his bed. "OH MY GOD, MIKE!" Guylan screams at him. "Just stating the facts," Mike responds mildly, marking the first time in his life that he's the more laid-back person in any given exchange. Chase that feeling, Mike. Jared kicks open the cell door he's behind and rushes dramatically out to the street. He's taking this harder than anyone. He tells us that his district won't miss Emilie, but he doesn't want Nathan on the team. Because he feels threatened in his position as district oddball? No: "He sings in his sleep!" Obligingly, the sun goes down that very minute, and as the lights in the Red boys' bunkhouse goes out, high-pitched singing commences. "Shut! Up!" someone snaps. Heh.
It's Day 26, and Hunter (12, Green, from Georgia) is running a small religious service. The congregation includes Morgan, Pharaoh, Laurel, Divad, Mallory, Kennedy, Alex, Markelle, and another girl we haven't been introduced to. Mike is assisting Hunter at the front of the room. Hunter interviews that he hopes the town can put its differences aside, and he talks to his prayer group about how God is there even in times of war and hatred. And this seems to affect Mike as he realizes how poorly he treated Nathan, and how he hasn't appreciated the (what I'm sure are many) times he's been treated that way himself. He's moved to tears. Not that that takes a lot of moving with Mike.
Afterwards, Mike goes and takes Nathan aside and apologizes for the behavior of himself and his whole team. Nathan interviews that Mike's gesture made him feel good, as we see Mike tying Nathan's red bandanna over the sleeve of Nathan's bomber jacket, in a gesture that is totally organic and spontaneous and not at all for the cameras.
And now it's time to pump up the teams for the Showdown. Anjay is trying to motivate his Blue team with a story about the Titanic, which may not be the best analogy to use here. Greg starts mocking Anjay mercilessly, but as soon as Anjay asks Greg if he knows what a metaphor is, Greg tells Anjay that he'll hit him in the face if he insults him one more time. Greg can dish it out but he can't take it. Greg dares Anjay to do it. I wait for Anjay to take off his glasses and call Greg a prick. But instead I get commercials. That's probably wise, because as one forum poster put it, Anjay's bones are still forming.
Anjay's still standing when we get back from the break, so presumably he didn't take Greg up on his dare. Anjay tells his team that he tried to do what was best for the whole town, and he begs them to come together as a team. Emilie looks back and forth between Anjay and Greg, like, "What have I gotten into?" Greg's expression looks like it might be softening, like he's ready to agree to a truce. But Olivia is too invested in Anjay's failure as a leader to allow that. So she blares, "Blaine was his best friend and you allowed him to be traded." Anjay flounders some more, and Olivia orders him to make them feel better. "Or sit there and scratch your head," she mocks, when Anjay sits there scratching his head. He tries to get back to the task of motivating the team, but only gets mocked some more for how sad he looks. I don't think Olivia's alone any more on that. Mallory thinks it's time for Anjay to "move out of the Council." Somehow he gets them through a power circle, and afterward he cries outside the bunkhouse, saying, "Today I lost what amount of support I had…I can't do anything more." Anjay needs to play to his strengths more. Spell "prestidigitation" and watch them be won over!
So from that downer moment, we're supposed to transition to the excitement of a Showdown. As the kids gather on the field, Jonathan starts out by remarking to Blaine that he's separated from Greg. JUST RIP OUT GREG'S STILL-BEATING HEART FROM HIS CHEST AND SHOW IT TO HIM, WHY DON'T YOU? So insensitive. Blaine, for his part, says something noncommittal. Jonathan notices that Green's lineup hasn't changed, and Laurel goes into a whole speech that strikes me as a little rehearsed, and not a little defensive: "I thought my District was perfectly fine the way it was. I stood up for my District. Maybe if no one else likes it, too bad, the other Councilors should have stood up too." She's not wrong, but she needs to dial it back. Three teams -- and their leaders -- boo. Jonathan hauls out this week's theme club for a mighty swing: equality and fairness, which is, of course, what this Showdown is about. He explains that each District needs to fill up a big mining sled -- think of those roller-coaster buckets from Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom, only these suckers don't have tracks or even wheels -- with color-coded rocks, and then drag the laden sled through the obstacle course laid out before them. Whoever finishes first gets to be Upper Class and so on.
So where does the equality come in? Well, the teams have to drag a total of a ton -- a ton -- of rocks in order to win the reward for the town. "Five hundred pounds each," says resident math whiz Sophia. Jonathan adds that you can't go back for more rocks once you cross the starting line. "So," Jonathan asks, "are you going to be the District that carries their weight to help Bonanza City win the reward? Or are you going to carry as little as possible to race to become the Upper Class? It's totally up to you. How fair are you guys?" Well, when you put it that way. I should also point out that at the loading stage of the course, each team is separated from the others by a high partition, so that there's no way of knowing how much the team to you has loaded into their sled. There's also no way of knowing how much you loaded into your sled, because there's no scale at the starting line and the rocks aren't labeled by weight. And keep in mind that the sleds themselves aren't exactly Tupperware. Looks like the producers' thumbs are on the scale here. Yes, I know that metaphor is a bit heavy-handed. Yes, I know I just did it again.
Go! Laurel starts by reminding her team that they can't add rocks, but they can take them out, so they should start by overloading and then jettisoning whatever they can't shift. Good plan. The other teams are loading up as well. The bottom of Yellow's sled is barely covered, but some of them want to get going already. Blaine reminds them that they're also trying to win the reward for the town. "Don't worry about the town!" Taylor yells back at him. That's our girl. Always finding new and innovative ways to be lazy. She's like the secret love child of Lindsay Bluth Fünke and Beetle Bailey. As Yellow's leader, Zach agrees with Blaine, and Taylor throws down the tow rope, screaming that she can't pull that much. Oh, go home then. Christ. Blue finishes loading and heads out first. They've got good momentum going, and Jonathan asks everyone if Blue is just trying to get Upper Class. Mike interviews, "How many rocks did they take? Like...two?" Mike's certainly getting a lot of interview time this episode. Yellow heads out onto the course, Jonathan commenting that Blaine seems to be in charge. Green starts pulling, but their sled is too heavy, so they have to ditch some of the load. They may be ditching too much too fast. Guylan interviews that his team wanted to get as many rocks as possible to try to win the reward. Green is now light enough to get going. Maybe too light. Finally, Red starts moving, slowly. Blue has reached the first obstacle, a half-buried log that they heave the sled over. "Greg's got something to prove!" Jonathan remarks as Greg anchors the haul through a field of barrels. Yellow hits the log , as Zach interviews that having a big new member like Blaine came in pretty handy. Green and Red are still behind, as Nathan and Mike both interview that Nathan tried his hardest.
Blue gets to a high wall of hay bales, and they start dismantling them to make a gap. I was wondering how they were going to get over that. Greg interviews that their lead made him worry about whether his team was pulling its weight. So to speak. Jonathan asks everyone the same question. Blaine again interviews that he's out of Greg's shadow. "How would Yellow have done this without a Blaine?" Jonathan wonders. Good question. Another good question is how they would have done it if Taylor were still the district's leader, but nobody asks that one. Blue crosses the finish line, first by a huge margin, and Anjay already feels bad about how much more weight they could have pulled. Someone yells at him not to be so negative. I think it's Olivia, but she says "freakin'" and I can't picture her using such language. Yellow comes through the gap in the hay bales that Blue made, and they're the new Merchant class. Blaine says he's proud of his young teammates. In case you're not yet up to speed on Blaine's arc this episode, I think we're supposed to be gleaning that he is (a) a nice guy, (b) a nicer guy when he's away from Greg, and (c) much happier than Greg is that the surgery to separate them was successful. DK says his team (Red) didn't care about being Laborers; they just wanted to win the reward. Green comes across the line third, and they're the new cooks. As Red approaches, Jonathan scolds the teams who have already finished, "Red took a lot of rocks, you guys. They deserve your support." So the other teams dutifully cheer Red across the finish line. How they find the stamina to keep it up that long is beyond me.
Time for the weigh-in. Jonathan makes the kids schlep the rocks from their sleds into the bins hanging from each team's scale. Mallory interviews that since she weighs forty pounds, "It'd be fifty me's to equal a ton." Don't be getting any ideas for Season Two now, Kid Nation. I'm not recapping a ton of identical, spunky, pretending-not-to-be-embarrassed-by their-fifty-identical-older-sisters Mallorys. Blue's total weight in rocks? 480 pounds. As Jonathan remarks, "One of the strongest Districts pulled less than a quarter of what the town needs to win the reward." Not a good sign. Yellow's rocks total 460 pounds. Not looking good. And then Green turns out to have hauled a pathetic 420 pounds. "That's...pretty sad," Mike interviews. So let's see how the Red team did, and whether dragging enough to make them come in last paid off. As Jonathan says, that's going to take 640 pounds. Yikes. Well, they do end up having gotten more than anyone, but they still only got 485 pounds. No reward! In other words, not a single team moved a quarter-ton. Now, you could probably make a case that if you prorated the age and size of each team, there's no way they could all be expected to have pulled the same weight. Yellow couldn't match Blue's pulling power, Blaine or no Blaine. But on the other hand, the district that carried the most, Red, is probably the third-strongest team.
This may be what causes Guylan to unwisely shoot off his mouth: "I know that every person here, no matter what they say, was concerned about their status." Oh, no he didn't. Nobody wants to hear that, and they start yelling back at him. I hear someone calling him "Gaylan," which, given the way some kids behave sometimes, may not have been an accidental mispronunciation. Sophia interviews after the fact that Guylan's remark kind of offended her, and we see her turning to tee off on him after the Showdown. Other kids not only back off to get out of her way, but start encouraging her to take him down. Which she does, with a couple of well-chosen words. I don't know exactly which words they are, because her mouth is blurred and her voice is bleeped. But it looked like two or maybe three syllables. "Thank you?"
After the commercials, everyone is celebrating the way Sophia put Guylan in his place. Even some people on Guylan's team are laughing. But Greg can't let it go, asking for a show of hands for who would say the same thing to Guylan. He does hate to miss out on a putdown, doesn't he? It's nearly unanimous, although the Red team looks more embarrassed now on behalf of their leader. Guylan stands there defeated, looking like he just got smacked in the face with a wet toilet brush. He interviews that being a leader isn't worth all the negativity. Wow, he sure got beaten down in two weeks, didn't he?
So now it's time for Jonathan to rub the kids' faces in the rewards they won't be getting. The first one? Beds. Actual beds, with mattresses and pillows and sheets and everything, for everyone, instead of sleeping on the floor. I don't see a crate containing choice number two, so Jonathan waves in a pickup truck hauling a long Airstream trailer. Apparently the trailer contains a "kid lounge," with games and a TV, but not enough room for everyone at once. Greg interviews that if he were on the Council, he would have chosen the beds, for the sake of equality. What, he wouldn't have relished the job of bouncer? Oh well, it's not like it matters.
That night, in the Yellow girls' bunkhouse, Randi (12, from Nevada) is crying to Taylor about how she misses her bed and her family and her animals. "Everything that I had I don't have any more," she weeps. Okay, I understand it's hard for kids to be away from their families this long, but it's a forty-day camping trip, not a refugee crisis. You get to go back to everything after this is over. Taylor is nearly crying herself as she tries to convince Randi to stay. But since Taylor's case is that Randi will always have her family but will lose all her friends if she leaves, it's not as optimistic an argument as one might hope for.
Outside, Zach is being...not very nice. To an audience of boys from the Green team (Michael, Campbell, and Eric), he cries and moans mockingly. He interviews that this happens with someone every night, and he thinks it's ridiculous. Although Michael is encouraging Zach's antics in the darkened street, he gives a daytime interview in which he says he's "concerned for the mental state of the Yellow District. They can't seem to get it together." With the combined sensitivity of Zach and Taylor? How is that possible?
The eastern sky is just getting light on Day 27 when Hunter gets up, leaves his bunkhouse, and starts cleaning. Laurel interviews about how Hunter's such an early bird as Hunter complains about the mess outside his bunkhouse. Is that dirty underwear on the porch? Ew. I'm with Hunter. Meaning I'm with him in his disapproval, not with him in his willingness to scoop up other kids' grundies. He's on his own there. Laurel says that the reason Hunter doesn't have a Gold Star is that it's so hard to stand out on a team as awesome as hers. And the little "Gold District" celebration is only going to make it harder for anyone to want to reward her district any further. Meanwhile, Hunter has been joined in his pre-dawn domestics by (who else?) Nathan, who agrees that people are slobs. Hunter interviews that his dad's been unemployed for a year, but has remained positive and has continued to work hard while teaching Hunter a good work ethic. Can't ask for more than that. Hunter tells Nathan that people will appreciate the way they got up early to clean up the town. Okay, so maybe Hunter's dad isn't finished teaching him stuff after all.
Later, Sophia comes and finds Guylan doing laundry. She apologizes, quite sincerely, it seems, for what she said to Guylan the day before. She looks pretty upset. Guylan accepts the apology, and they share a hug. I don't mean to say that I don't appreciate the impulse to apologize, because I do; it doesn't come easy, especially when you're this young. But if you're going to take a jab at someone in front of people like Sophia did, and like Mike did with Nathan earlier, then a more public apology would seem to be called for. Guylan interviews that if he had it to do over again, he wouldn't run for Town Council. Congratulations to Kid Nation for turning an enthusiastic, confident kid into a jaded, worn-down laundry boy who will never aspire to another leadership position of any kind for as long as he lives. They're building a world!
Blaine is trying to wake up his new teammates, including his Council leader, whom he calls "Zachariah." He says that there's no one awake to run the stores. Sitting up blearily in his bunk, Zach promises to be there in five minutes. "That's why you guys are known as the lazy district," Blaine says unsympathetically. "I don't think we're known as the lazy district," Zack says lazily. Blaine doesn't just wake people; once they're up and at their posts, he assumes a leadership role. He instructs Kelsey on getting the candy store organized, and the amazing thing is that she pleasantly chirps her agreement. Zach, on the other hand, "not my job"s at Colton about something. Kelsey interviews that Blaine would make a better Council leader than Zach. Kelsey is not usually a subtle communicator, and her foreshadowing is no exception.
In the Blue district, Emilie is working out quite well. She's even washing dishes in the kitchen, even though she's Upper Class. Damn, what did the Red district do to her, anyway?
And then it's night again, and Randi is again weeping to Taylor about how she wants to go home. Taylor tells her they only have twelve more days to go, presumably because the world will be all built then. Greg happens along and steps up, because crying girls are his Kryptonite. He tells Randi that she's never going to have an experience like this again and not to let herself down. And then the fifteen-year-old boy picks up the twelve-year-old girl and carries her to her bed, tucking her in in her clothes and her coat. He interviews that when he was little, his parents used to do that for him when he was sad. I bet they stopped before he was twelve, though. Randi interviews that she can go to Greg time she's homesick. "He can sometimes be a big jerk, but he can be a good guy sometimes," she says. Yes, and it all depends on who's crying in his presence.
Day 28 already. The Council is taking nominations for the Gold Star. Morgan nominates Blaine, saying he's nicer when he's away from Greg (Blaine arc (b)). Sophia nominates Hunter. We get a rare shot of two contenders actually talking to each other, as Hunter and Blaine carry water together and speculate on who's going to win tomorrow. Hunter says a lot of people have a good chance, including Blaine. Blaine returns the compliment. Back in the nomination meeting, they seem to be running neck and neck, at least based on the five or so votes we get to see. The Council agrees that Hunter does his jobs and other peoples', but the new Greg-free Blaine is less, to use Zach's word, "beastly" (there's (b) again). We'll have to wait until after the commercial to see which way it goes.
Town Hall meeting. Jonathan starts by asking if things are more fair with the changes. Blaine stands up and says he thinks it's a lot more fair, and having him and Greg on the same team was totally unfair (Blaine arc (c)). Blaine gets a round of applause. Anjay interviews, "Why didn't I give Greg away and keep Blaine? Because obviously, as we see, Blaine is a whole lot nicer than Greg." In other words, Blaine arc (a). A demonstration: Greg stands up and yells at Anjay that he doesn't approve, and he now respects Laurel for not trading. Laurel applauds the sentiment but, realizing she's almost alone, she orders her team, "Clap!" Hmm, what is it that goeth before a fall again? "Mallory is more of a man than you are," Greg tells Anjay. Anjay buries his head in his hands. Maybe he wouldn't get attacked so much if he would stop making it so rewarding. Sophia raises her hand to say something to Laurel: "It might have been a tad selfish not to open our arms and accept anybody under the wing of the Green district." I like how she phrased that -- telling the rest of the town that she doesn't necessarily agree with Laurel, but framing it in a way Laurel will take as a compliment. Unfortunately, Laurel takes it and just digs herself deeper, saying. "Hello, we're awesome?" Michael agrees with Sophia, less diplomatically, that Laurel's move was "shallow." And then suddenly Laurel is yelling at Anjay for some reason. I think we missed some footage there, like maybe of Anjay having the temerity to suggest that maybe his District got a little bit boned and perhaps Laurel could have made a teeny sacrifice of her own. This is only conjecture, of course, but otherwise I don't see why Laurel is all up in Anjay's grill and wagging her finger at him. "Anjay doesn't deserve to be up there," Greg yells, wounding Anjay all over again. Anjay, hurry up and form your damn bones. Being 100% soft underbelly is getting you nowhere.
Jonathan puts a stop to it all, obviousing that there a lot of strong opinions and unhappy people. Which raises the question, does anybody want to go home? Randi raises her hand. Just then, there's a roll of thunder, and it starts raining. And considering how much daylight is visible through the slats of this old barn, the kids notice immediately. Someone says it's a sign, and Kelsey yells at Randi that it means God doesn't want her to go. God's like, "Do you mind not drowning out My thunder, Kelsey? Me!" Jonathan asks her why she wants to leave, and she says she misses her family and her animals and feels like she's lost it all. "We're so close!" Zach exhorts her. Randi says she can't do it any more. There's lots of hugging and crying, and Randi's gone. Too bad Randi wasn't up for a Gold Star, and thus eligible for a one-on-one pitch from her Council leader. Taylor might well be thinking the same thing. "Zach, you let Randi go!" she accuses, and weeps that Randi was like a sister to her. A sister who voted for Zach, but never mind.
Jonathan notices that the rain has stopped, which makes me think about how long these Town Hall meetings probably really are. Time to give out the Gold Star. The Council confers, and then designated Gold Star winner announcer Zach stands up. He talks about what a tough decision it was, but the Council decided that Blaine deserved it. The whole barn erupts in cheers. Well, except for Hunter. Before heading up to accept the star from Jonathan, Blaine gets a hug from Greg, in the seat behind him. Or maybe Greg's just trying to prevent Blaine from leaving him again. Up front, a shaking Blaine thanks the Council, saying he loves them. Laurel interviews that Blaine is a hard worker. "I like his hair and I love his personality," she says. Blaine thanks the town, and accepts the key to the phone barn from Jonathan. But there's something else they have to do before Blaine can go call home.
So Jonathan asks how many people approve of the job the Council is doing, which is not usually the last order of business. Only one hand goes up. That hand does not have a Gold Star in it, but it belongs to someone whose other hand does. So who disapproves? Aside from Blaine, it's unanimous. 32 hands are in the air. "That hurt," Laurel says. Jonathan tells the Council, "That is the cost of doing business. You made tough choices, and that's the result." Because it's not like he can say, "Boy, we sure pulled the rug out from under you smug little fuckers, didn't we, heh heh heh?" So Jonathan asks the town if they think it's time for another election. Everyone but the Council members seems to think that's a great idea, judging by all the cheering and clapping. So Jonathan holds up a stack of ballot cards and says, "It's reelection time!" Already? Right now? No campaigning or anything? Everyone's amazed, myself included. This is such brazen tampering -- manipulate the Council into doing something unpopular, and then drop an election into their lap with no warning. Jonathan asks who wants to run against the Council. The first hand to go up is DK's, for Red. DK interviews that he could be a pretty good District leader. No argument there. Blaine's hand shoots up for Yellow. "I get things done," he interviews. Of course, Greg wants to challenge Anjay for Blue. Greg smiles evilly up at the Council table, so we can all get a good look at the braces he'll be picking bits of Anjay out of as of this time week. Anjay already knows he's screwed. Sophia is sitting there with her mouth hanging open, and she interviews that "I was shocked and dismayed. 'Oh my God, we're all going to die,' basically?" So is Laurel running unchallenged again? Nope. Up goes Michael's hand. Laurel looks at him, shocked and betrayed. Someone does not like to be challenged. Michael just sort of smiles naughtily at her. "What's there to say?" Laurel asks Jonathan.
To be continued, that's what.
And then Blaine calls home to tell his family about the Gold Star. Like Greg's was, his call home is behind the end credits, so -- oh, never mind, it's over already.