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Sophia's suggestion of a ten-chicken feast leads to a chicken-coop riot, as Taylor and her little cabal step in to protect the "cute ones" from Greg's axe. Sophia defuses the conflict by letting Taylor pick the uglies. With that out of the way, the Pioneer Journal suggests starting a school. Recognizing that the Journal typically gives clues to the Showdown, most people agree that school's in. But not Taylor and Leila. So the Council decrees that Taylor is really totally not getting the reward this week, and they absolutely completely mean it this time. The brain-crammed kids show up for the Showdown, which not only tests their knowledge of Bonanza City history, but also their aim with slingshots. I'll explain in the recap. Green wins Upper Class thanks to Hunter's slingshot prowess and Sophia's studying technique. Blue is Merchants, Yellow is Cooks, and Red are the Laborers again. After winning the reward, the Council has to choose between a library and a free video arcade, and semi-literate Taylor isn't pleased at being shut out of the latter. While most of the Green team heads into the arcade, Sophia builds a library while DK struggles to get his team to fill the water tower and ends up facing a minor rebellion. With the twin inducements of the arcade and Zach's experimenting with catching flies with honey, Taylor turns into a dish washing machine and earns entry into the arcade. The whole town ends up spending all their time in there, much to the frustration of Sophia and DK. At the Town Hall meeting, the Council decides to limit arcade access for after work is done, and nominates Sophia to enforce compliance. Hunter gets his Gold Star at long last, and Jared steals an illicit DDR session before the arcade gets locked up. If that sounds like an anticlimactic ending, that's because it kind of is. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
In the previouslies, Jonathan warns us that there are only a few Gold Stars left, and plenty of deserving pioneers. We see brief glimpses of some these pioneers, and also of Olivia.
It's Day 31, and Taylor is living up to her reward-earning promise to work hard by…hanging out in the chicken coop with Kelsey and Leila. She tells us which ones are pretty, and decrees, "I think all the ugly animals should die and all the pretty ones should stay." Dude, what kind of pageants have her parents been signing her up for, anyway? Lest you think she's completely cold-hearted, she says that it's different for people. Because of their inner beauty? No, because they can put on makeup. How I wish I were making that up.
While hauling a wagon full of stuff through the town, Greg and Blaine are accosted by Sophia, who suggests having a chicken feast that evening. The guys are open to it, and an agreement is made that ten chickens are going down.
Taylor has moved on to petting the goats, so no one's there to protest when Greg steps into the chicken coop and starts grabbing birds. That won't last long, because he quickly draws a crowd. Which he plays to. "Ten chickens. One axe. Ten heads," Greg movie-trailers. One of the spectators is chicken-lover Emilie, who runs to tattle to Taylor that it's looking like her favorite birds are for the block. This bodes well for Emilie's future as an animal-rights activist: her ability to enlist incredibly shrill allies. Sure enough, the Taylorites come rushing to join the crowd, Kelsey yelling that the brown chickens are off-limits since they lay eggs. Greg points out that this ability really doesn't set them apart from the rest of the birds, and says he's picking the most edible ones. Which by now are in crates to carry to the chopping block. Taylor complain-terviews about Greg's bossiness, and Greg tells Taylor and her friends to relax. Taylor warns Greg through the chicken wire, "Don't make me go off, because I don't like it when I go off." Yeah, we could tell. thing you know, the girls are in the coop, physically fighting to release the chickens from the crates. There is a lot of yelling and pushing in the confined space, enough so that even the chickens are like, "These people are like us with our heads cut off."
After credits and ads, Sophia appears in the coop to mediate a solution to this crisis: let Taylor and her little friends pick which chickens will die. Taylor latches onto this idea like she came up with it, and? Problem solved. The town will be feasting on ugly chicken tonight. While Greg gets busy with his hatchet across town, the younger girls hang back in the coop. Taylor snuggles a Rhode Island Red (at least that's what it's called according to Greg, who certainly knows more about pre-stove chicken than I do) and assures her, "I'm not gonna eat you, but I'm gonna eat your brothers and sisters. They're better to eat. They're uglier." Not satisfied with having saved her cute favorites, Taylor now leads her little friends on a march through the town hollering, "Ugly chickens deserve to die!" "That's a ridiculous, dumb, idiotic thing to say," Sophia comments from the kitchen. Word. Taylor's so shallow, she's an island.
We don't even get to see the ugly chicken feast, because the thing you know it's the morning of Day 32 (Michael's fifteenth birthday, if my math holds up, and since no one mentions it that's about all we have to go on), Alex is hanging out in the Saloon, quizzing Anjay and Jared on the numbers of pi. "No rounding," he specifies, which makes it kind of a trick question since they're only going to be there for another week or so. "3.," rattles off Anjay as though he's in a race. "3.," Alex corrects. From beneath his pimp hat, Jared weighs in on this meeting of the minds by posing a true-or-false question about extraterrestrial life in our solar system. Anjay guesses "false," so Jared has to school him about the fossilized bacteria found on Mars. As if the evidence of alien life in the chair right to Anjay's weren't sufficient.
The Pioneer Journal is back. The Council (now 100% more boy-band-ish!) reads about how the original citizens of Bonanza only worked and played, but never studied. Apropos of the subject, we see Colton and Natasha talking about school. Colton hates it, Natasha loves it. "Can we get off the subject? I came here to get away from school," Colton complains. Wow, that's kind of drastic. Back in the Chapel, the Council reads that the Pioneer Journalist has also left behind four history books (which are distressed-looking pamphlets, really) if the kids want to study. So…do they? DK thinks it's a good idea, since the Showdown is often connected to what's in the Journal. Glad someone made that connection. In an interview, Greg agrees with DK. In the Chapel, so does Michael, but Blaine doesn't think this is going to be too popular in his district. "If I don't come out of my bunk by the end of this," he says, only half kidding, "don't come looking for me."
The Council addresses the assembled town in the mess hall, and Blaine is the one to say that the Journal says the original town failed (in addition to the ten other reasons already stated in episodes) because of lack of education. There's a smattering of applause. It's very smattered. The Council members each hold up their color-coded history pamphlets and say they contain information about Bonanza City. "Boring!" Taylor heckles repeatedly from the back. Blaine announces that all the kids are going to need to meet with their Districts and study after breakfast. The heretofore unseen Sophie from Yellow (a true stealth pioneer, somehow remaining almost entirely off-camera for more than a month of shooting) raises her hand and makes the already familiar point about the frequent connections between the Journal and the Showdown. Taylor, on counterpoint: "I hate school and I hate reading!" Suddenly, I hate the future. Not sure why. Laurel quietly says she's cool. DK says that in 32 days, they haven't done one educational thing. "Why start now?" Taylor brats. DK says that the purpose of this whole experience is to prove that they can be responsible. Of course, appealing to everyone's higher nature doesn't work so well on Taylor, because she doesn't have one. As the meeting breaks up into study groups, Jared interviews, "Education is the root of civilization. If a person isn't educated they'll be flipping burgers at the supermarket." I'm really curious about Jared's supermarket.
Alex leads the studying in the Blue bunkhouse, using the ever-unpopular "read aloud to the group from the textbook as quickly as possible" method. Nathan is doing the reading for Red, while Jared acts as the "pay-attention" enforcer. Although he's not threatening anyone with his pimp-stick, at least. In the Green bunkhouse, Sophia is running things by making everyone act out the contents of the history pamphlet. She interviews that she learned that in school, and was really proud of her district-mates for remembering everything. But in the Yellow bunkhouse/classroom, things aren't going so well. That's because Taylor and Leila are hanging out in the chicken coop, while Taylor is reciting her manifesto to Leila: "If I don't want to do something, they can't make me do it." Yeah, we got that memo, sweetheart. You don't have to staple it to our foreheads. Back at their bunkhouse, Blaine is just now noticing that only seven of his nine team members are present. I hope there aren't any math questions in the Showdown.
So then the whole Council goes to the chicken coop as the truant squad. Leila rolls her eyes as they arrive, a sort of combination of "Here they come" and "Taylor's gotten me in trouble again." Blaine politely asks Taylor to let them into the chicken coop so they can talk, so of course Taylor has Leila do it. Once inside with his Council-mates, Blaine lectures them about how everyone else is studying. Leila's like, that's why we're here instead, duh. Greg repeats the threat that they won't be getting any reward this time. Michael reminds us what happened last week, when they gave Taylor her letter from home in exchange for a promise to work hard. Obviously, this promise turned out to be as valid as all of Taylor's other promises. As before, Leila folds like a chaise longue in a high wind, and Taylor's on her own. DK is quietly frustrated as he asks Taylor why she's even staying, and what she wants out of this if she isn't going to participate. "I don't know," Taylor says. "Please stop criticizing me," she carps in an interview. "I can do what I want so don't tell me what to do!" The Council gives up. Taylor can come or not, but as of now she's not included in any rewards. For serious this time! Taylor sits and pouts. I made a rule when I started recapping this show that I wouldn't criticize any of these kids' parents based on how they act when they're away from them -- God knows my kid isn't always an angel even when I'm around -- but Taylor seems to be taking my resolution as some kind of dare.
The Green team wraps up its study session: "Quick, what year did the Navajo Indians leave?" "1864!" "Go Green!" It's like a history-nerd pep rally. And they all pour out of their bunkhouse in their uniforms, joining everyone else in the town in the rush to the Showdown field. As always, Jonathan is there waiting for them, and he starts by asking who did a lot of studying that morning. Thirty-six hands go up. Jonathan asks the converse question, and Blaine throws Taylor under the bus. "Taylor, you didn't study?" Jonathan asks, trying not to sound all disappointed-dad. DK announces to Jonathan and the whole town that Taylor won't be in on any reward that gets won today. Jonathan pointedly says, "I'm glad the rest of you value education enough to open those books and study." Because, sure enough, the Showdown is going to be a pop history quiz. And there will be extra pop. The kids' "Will you stop being a dork and just explain the damn Showdown already" expressions are getting better by the week, I notice.
What's going to happen is that Jonathan will ask them all a question from the history texts. When he does, twelve balloons – three for each district, and each with an answer printed on it -- will pop up from behind the high wall they're currently facing. Each team will use slingshots -- two at a time -- to shoot out the balloons with the wrong answers. It's basically multiple choice, but with additional risk of blindness. The first team to shoot all but the right answer for each question gets a point, and the first district to get three points gets to be the Upper Class. So how do they get the reward? Well, each district has a box containing a limited amount of ammo. Machine hex nuts, to be precise. To get the reward, they have to have enough combined ammo left over at the end to fill a glass jar that looks to be about a quart in volume. So accuracy counts. Even if, as I suspect, the teams start out with about four gallons of ammo each.
The teams take up positions. The two shooters from each district don goggles and stand in waist-high wooden booths a short distance from the answer wall, while their teammates mill around in a sort of on-deck square made of hay bales behind them. Jonathan asks the first question (and we might as well all learn something too, as long as we're here): "What Native American tribe originally inhabited the land that is now Bonanza City?" The options are Comanches, Pintos, and Cherokees. The teams have a few seconds to confer on the right answer before Jonathan tells them to open fire. And shooting those balloons out turns out to be harder than it looks, unless you're Hunter or Colton. Yellow is the first to have one balloon left, but since that balloon reads "Pintos," they lose that round. Jonathan informs Blaine, "Pinto is not a Native American tribe." They're not? Who invented the car, then? Anjay interviews, "Pinto is a bean," and that opens the floodgates for the mocking of Yellow for their collective ignorance. Alas, if only Taylor had studied. To his credit, Zach takes the blame for getting it wrong. Jonathan tells everyone to start shooting again, and after a lot of rounds go wide, Green is down to Comanches for their answer. Which means they win a point. In an interview, Sophia admits, "I had zero experience with a slingshot, but at least we had Hunter." Who, with a steely marksman's gaze that pierces even through his shaded goggles, must be the scourge of local vermin back home.
question: "Which mineral was believed by the Native Americans to bring good fortune and long life?" The options are Perrier, gold, and turquoise. Don't get tripped up by Perrier being in there, Zach and Blaine; the question referred to a mineral, not mineral water. Fire! On the Red side, DK and Mike hit their targets, but the nuts bounce off. Zach explains that they weren't pulling back far enough. Greg wins the second question (the answer is also not gold), so they're tied with Green for the lead. question: who colonized the area in the 1600s -- Mexicans, Spanish, or Ewoks? Jonathan's ability to keep a straight face is really getting a workout here, as I take a moment to imagine the Conquistadors tooling around the high desert on speeder bikes and scout walkers. Blue beats Green by what looks like only a second, and with the correct answer (Spanish), they now have two points. Mike complains about not being able to pop any balloons, and Hunter and Michael give him the tip about pulling the elastic back further for more firepower. Michael interviews that they did this in order to help Red save ammo for the reward. question: Who led the Pueblo uprising in 1680 -- Geronimo, Tonto, or Popé? Despite the fact that Blaine probably thinks that television (and thus Tonto) existed in 1680, Yellow listens to Zach when he says Popé, and they win that point. We stop getting to see the questions for a while, but we do see that Hunter knocks out both wrong answers for Green in one round. That ties them with Blue for the lead, with two points. round, Mike finally eliminates Red's first balloon, and Sophia nails Green's last. Jonathan calls a cease fire, and asks how sure Green is they have it right. Sophia vows to give Jonathan her whole dollar's worth of buffalo nickels if she's wrong. Fortunately she's not ahead of herself, because Green just won the Showdown. Laurel interviews that Hunter was the MVP for Green. Which is always a wise thing to say about someone who can take your ear off at thirty yards.
But it's still not over. When Jonathan gives the order to fire after the question, Red shoots out both their balloons, instantly and simultaneously. It looks bad-ass, and nice job getting it on camera. "I didn't even get a shot off," Greg complains with grudging admiration. That's a point for Red. But they can't catch up with Blue, who wins the round and gets anointed Merchant Class while Greg strikes a hero pose atop the hay bales. Now it's down to Yellow and Red for the crappy jobs. Red quickly gets its second point, but then so does Yellow. Game point: When did the last mine around Bonanza City close -- 1920s, 1980s, or 1950s? Thanks to some panicked, crappy, ammo-wasting marksmanship, Red comes in last and gets to be Laborers again, for the second time in a row. DK does not have a good record going.
The Council picks up their ammo boxes and, one by one, the Council leaders dump their leftover nuts into Jonathan's jar. ["Hee. …I'm sorry." -- Sars] Green is first, and it looks like the jar is almost a third full when Michael's done. Greg dumps in what looks like a similar amount for Blue. It would kind of suck if someone missed the jar and all the nuts disappeared into the hay bale in which the jar is resting. After Blaine dumps in Yellow's, the jar is almost full, but not quite. There's some manufactured suspense as DK steps up to add in Red's leftovers. He takes one nut out and drops it in. And then he dumps in enough to make the jar overflow, humming a little clown car tune as he does so. Oh, DK, you're such a scamp. Needless to say, the town wins its reward.
The sun seems to be getting low in the sky as Jonathan gets ready to reveal the reward options. After reminding them that the Showdown was all about education (because apparently they're slow learners), Jonathan drops open the front of a tall crate to reveal a library, complete with textbooks, classic novels, comic books, and even a Masterpiece Theater armchair. Taylor shoulders to the front of the crowd to see, as if this has anything whatsoever to do with her. She interviews that the library was "corny," but she hopes the Council picks that because she'd hate to miss out on a reward that she's actually interested in. You know, my viewing partner had a thought here, which was that maybe Taylor's parents really do see how she's turning out, and they sent her here to give her a kick in the pants. I'm really trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. The second reward option? A full arcade, including Dance Dance Revolution Supernova, air hockey, driving games, a pool table, and anything else you can think of. Plus? All the games are free. Free! In other words, the production gave up on converting the coin slots to accept buffalo nickels. Everyone freaks out. Jonathan lays it out in his typically hectoring phraseology: "What do you guys want to do? Exercise your brain or exercise your thumbs?" How does Jonathan play DDR, anyway? Taylor chant-erviews, "Please choose the books, please choose the books." The Council heads off to confer. Blaine and Greg agree that the books are educational, but they have eight days left and they need some fun. Michael disagrees, saying that to him, books are fun. I'm with Michael, but only because I didn't see Guitar Hero in that arcade. I would play that game for a living if I could get away with it. DK's with Michael, but Greg points out that there are books in the dry goods store and they're never going to read the library in the time they have left anyway, so they might as well have some fun.
When they return, Taylor can't keep her mouth shut and says, "I don't care about the library." That reminds Greg that Taylor doesn't get to enjoy the reward, so they might as well pick one that she would enjoy, even if only to make Taylor's punishment sting. So they're going with the arcade. The kids celebrate raucously, all except for Taylor, who stands there looking like she got slapped. It's not a bad look on her. DK interviews that they've always chosen the more responsible option, but they've finally picked something fun. Anjay gleefully interviews, "Taylor was about nearly in tears that she was not going to get to go into that magnificent arcade." It's a bit unseemly, the way he openly enjoys her misery almost as much as I do. In an interview, Taylor states things a little differently: "If I ever get to go into that arcade and somebody [tries to] take me out, they're gonna get backstabbed or kicked real hard." She beams happily at the prospect of doing violence to her fellow humans. Wait, did I just say "fellow humans?"
Day 33. At the morning job board, Michael announces that since Green is the Upper Class for the second time, they can hit the arcade whenever they want. Green cheers as one. As for Yellow, Blaine tells his team that they have to do some dishes first, and DK tells his Red district that they have to get the water tank nearly or halfway full before they can visit the arcade. Greg's instructions for Blue? Taylor can't go to the arcade. Got that, Blue team? Taylor whines, "How many times re you gonna tell me that?" "Enough," Blaine answers readily. Greg tells Taylor that her ban might still be lifted if she gets off her ass, and Taylor gets a look on her face indicating that she's either considering it, or trying to figure out how to scam her way in by getting Leila and Kelsey to take up her slack. Everybody else, get to work!
Well, except the Green district, who swarms excitedly into the arcade and gets right down to the hard work of having fun. Even Hunter, who tells the game he's playing that he's going to just check things out and then go work hard. Seriously, he's going back out in just a minute.
But one Green district member isn't joining in the fun. At least, not that variety of fun. Dragging a wagon full of supplies down the street, Sophia tells us, "I'm a thirty-year-old trapped in the body of a fourteen-year-old." Yep, that's pretty much the consensus. Uninterested in the noise and chaos of arcade, she has decided to build a library. Which I think marks the first time someone has gone out of their way to create the reward not chosen. Hunter turns out to be true to his word about not hanging out in the arcade indefinitely; he joins her outside, where she has erected a teepee in the street complete with a hand-lettered "LIBRARY" sign. She then goes into the dry goods store and buys out the entire remaining stock of books from Emilie for 80 cents. Presto! Instant library! My wife, who went to library school for two years to get her master's degree, would be so jealous. Inside Sophia's teepee, we see her joined by Savannah, Campbell, and Alex, who asks her, "You think I should trust you with my atlas and my Navajo/English dictionary?" If I had a buffalo nickel every time someone asked me that.
Meanwhile, DK is trying to get his Laborer district to fill the town water tank before they go to the arcade. Jared peers inside, and reports that it's nearly empty, and thus impossible to fill. By which he means, "Impossible to fill while simultaneously playing Joust," which is completely correct. DK tries to motivate everyone to do five or six trips to the well, but morale is low. Mike points out that when they get home, there won't be a free arcade, so they should use it while they get the chance. Far be it from me to point out that if the town goes without water for a week, nobody will be getting home at all. Soon, Jared and Mike give up on the project entirely and head into the arcade. DK shakes his head. After Jared and Mike enjoy the facilities for a time, DK comes in to try and pry Jared away from the Gauntlet machine. Jared extravagantly ignores his district leader, who just responds with a "whatever." Leadership! Or maybe it's just that the plug wasn't somewhere DK could reach.
So now, true-to-his-word Hunter -- who, I remind you, is currently in the Upper Class and thus not obligated to do anything but play air hockey at this point -- is hauling water to the kitchen. I hope he's just rinsing out the washtub before properly getting started on the dishes, and is aware that the bucketful of water he just fetched from the well is now pouring through the open drainhole into the kitchen's dirt floor. I'd hate to think that the reason he works so much is because of bonehead moves like that. He talks about how much he misses his parents, and shows us a family photo he uses to motivate himself. And he either needs a newer photo, or Bonanza City is aging these kids quicker than I thought. Hang on, let me check my tape of the premiere…holy crap, who let those toddlers out of the house?
Taylor? Back in the chicken coop. Zach diplomatically interviews that "dealing with Taylor is tough," but he thinks he can do better than the Town Council. So he goes and finds her in the chicken coop, and politely asks to talk to her. "What do you want?" Taylor brats. Refusing to be drawn, Zach says that a lot of people don't seem to want to do their jobs. He lets Taylor vent about the Council's bossy ways (although I haven't seen them yell "Deal with it" more than once), and agrees with the nonsense she spouts about working harder when she's treated with respect (you know, like when she was on the Council and slept while the town starved). He tells Taylor and Leila that the dish situation needs addressing. By…you know…someone…at some point. They just stand there and make Zach spell it out: can they help? Backed into a corner by Zach's respectful manner, Taylor snaps at him, "I'll do dishes, but I don't like to!" Zach shrugs that everyone does stuff they don't want to do. Exactly. Exactly. I've been saying someone should tell Taylor that for weeks, and it took over a month for someone to finally get to it. His point made, Zach thanks her for listening and leaves her to think about it.
Amazingly enough, that wasn't the end of it. An indeterminate amount of time later, Taylor stands outside the kitchen, which is a veritable mass grave of dirty cookery. Groaning, she steels herself and enters. She stands looking over the devastation, steeling herself to begin, while the hero-music on the soundtrack makes it sound like she's about to fucking levitate or something. But since she really wants people's respect (sure she does) and really wants to get into the arcade (this, I believe), she resolves to get cracking on the dishes. "I'm gonna scrub them like I scrub my hair," she vows. Wow, don't go overboard. You get the plates that shiny, you're just going to blind everyone.
Long, long montage of Taylor washing dish after dish, intercut with shots of smoke pouring out of the cookhouse chimney because she is just working that hard. She makes an heroic effort to ignore the happy sounds coming from Leila and Kelsey in the arcade across the street, choosing instead to keep busy. Greg stands in the street, watching. He's either impressed at her industry, or trying to visually gauge her weight for later. Hunter arrives with more fresh dishwater from the well, amazed at how small the pile has gotten. Indeed, Taylor seems to be down to just one large table full of dirty plates. Hunter chips in for the homestretch, and Taylor thanks him, saying she's been doing this all day by herself. Which I'm sure makes up for the twenty-some days of doing nothing at all, in her mind.
Finally, when every dish in the kitchen is clean and the sun is getting low again, the Council breezes in and tells Taylor that she gets to go into the arcade now. Except she doesn't so much "go" as "get carried in by Greg." Hey, Greg? Even in highly emotional moments, girls have feet. Just saying. Flanked by a cheering Kelsey and Leila (who weren't so supportive of their queen bee when there were still dishes to be done), Taylor is swept into the arcade. I am mildly disappointed when everybody else in there fails to immediately clear out. We see Taylor happily playing the games, no doubt realizing that a good time means so much more when you've worked hard to earn it. And I almost said that with a straight face, too.
Day 34. Early morning. The kitchen and the laundry are in disarray, so apparently nobody cleaned up after dinner last night. Is Sophia really the only one awake? Well, no; everyone else is in the arcade, and I mean everyone. Even the workaholics like Laurel and Nathan are playing. Sophia figures that means she has to make breakfast for 37 kids all by herself, and she's not happy about it. She gets some stuff started on the stove, then rides her high horse into the arcade hollering for Blaine. She finds him at the pool table and demands to know why he and his district aren't in the kitchen, instead of leaving her to cook everyone's breakfast single-handedly. Blaine tells her to cool off, since he has money on the game. Tangentially, DK interviews that maybe the arcade wasn't the best choice for the town. Blaine promises to be in the kitchen after two more balls. This doesn't cut much ice with Sophia. "You're gambling while you're supposed to be cooking breakfast?" she asks. "Yup," Blaine says. Sophia yells at him some more, and Blaine basically begs her to let him finish the game. Sophia storms out without answering. "Psycho, dude," Blaine remarks to Campbell after she leaves. I have to say, Sophia kind of blew it here with the aggrieved martyr routine. The right thing to do would have been to fix two biscuits and a couple of eggs, eat them in her library, and let everyone else take care of themselves. Clearly nobody was in that much of a hurry to eat breakfast this morning, or she wouldn't have had the kitchen to herself in the first place. If they get hungry, they can eat balls.
Pool balls, I mean! Jeez..
But DK is with Sophia. Outside, he tells us that people are "abusing the arcade privileges." Shots of arcade abuse, and DK continues, "I am beyond frustrated right now. I'm angry. I don't know what can be done but something definitely needs to be done about this arcade." And then we see Blaine claiming victory in his pool game, which Greg disputes because Blaine didn't call the final shot. week, I'm sure the Pioneer Journal will warn the Council that a lot of people left the original Bonanza City over disputes about house rules.
Town Hall meeting. Jonathan's first order of business is who approves of the arcade, and who doesn't. Obviously the first question carries a noisy majority, but the second is answered by a firm minority of DK, Sophia, and Nathan. Sophia stands and states her position that the arcade has become a huge distraction. DK agrees with her, saying that he's just about ready to padlock the place. Some horrified yelling arises from the peanut gallery. Eric stands to propose a compromise; a system whereby the Council can allow access to the arcade as an incentive to doing their work first. Jonathan abruptly ends the debate by asking the Council to decide right now whether they want to padlock the arcade. They put their heads together, and after a moment, DK announces that the arcade is getting padlocked. To the shocked hush, he adds, "Until all your work is done." Meaning dishes are washed, breakfast is served, et cetera. Most people don't look too thrilled. Colton interviews, "I don't really know what the problem was. I think we got gypped." But how will this be enforced? Well, Blaine -- shifting his weight so as to favor the new asshole he got ripped this morning -- announces that this will be Sophia's job. Sophia's eyes slowly light up at being invested with some actual power to enforce her standards. She stands, shoots off a pair of imaginary finger-guns, and tells everyone, "Guys, I'm your new town sheriff." Wow, has it already gone to her head? She interviews, "Clint Eastwood, eat your heart out." Some of the kids look distinctly worried. Whether it's because they don't like Sophia or because they don't expect her to cut them any slack, it isn't clear. Not that there's a difference between the two when you're that age. Mike interviews, "Oh, crap, we're gonna have Sophia as a leader." Like it wasn't always just a matter of time.
Jonathan skips right past the usual question about whether anyone wants to go home, and goes right to the Gold Star. Which, this is the second week in a row where we haven't been privy to any discussion about who the contenders are. The Council confers just long enough to make me start worrying that they're going to give it to Taylor for her spectacular day of dishwashing, especially when the editors keep cutting between Hunter and Zach. Michael stands up and announces that "the Gold Star pioneer is Hunter." Judging from the way the barn erupts in cheers, Hunter obviously had popular support. Or maybe the reaction (and the reward itself) is motivated in part by the recent revelation that he's only 36 machine hex nuts away from being able to kill them all. In case anyone's counting, by the way, he's the sixth member of the Green district to be rewarded with a Gold Star, leaving Eric, Campbell, and Savannah the only Green members who have not been so recognized. And with only two episodes left, I'm thinking at least one of them is going to get shut out. Zach interviews that he was happy for Hunter, showing off the best Oscar-loser smile I've ever seen. Up front, Hunter tells everyone how much this will mean for his family, especially his dad (who, as you recall and as Hunter now reminds us, lost his job a year ago). He says his dad has never quit, so he'll be giving most of the money to his dad. Hunter, unless your dad is kind of a jerkwad (which, from what you've told us about him so far, does not seem to be the case), don't count on that. Hunter says that his dad taught him to never give up. Jonathan hands over the phone barn key, and Hunter runs off to make the call. We don't see Jonathan dismiss the Town Hall meeting, so presumably they'll still be there at the beginning of the episode, waiting for Hunter to come back.
Hunter gets his dad on the line right away, because it's not like he's at the office. (Sorry, Hunter's dad. I hope you're gainfully employed now.) Hunter tells his dad that he won a gold star, and Hunter's dad is like, "You did? Huh." He's a lot more impressed when he learns there's $20,000 in it. With Hunter's two younger-looking sisters swarming around excitedly in their kitchen, Hunter's mom talks to Hunter as well, and laughs the hugest laugh ever when she hears about the twenty grand. Good for her. Back to Dad, who says, "You know your rent's going to go up around here, don't you?" Hunter knew he was going to say that. Dad says he loves Hunter and couldn't be more proud. Well, maybe he could be a little more proud, if Hunter had won three weeks ago when his name first came up. Hunter interviews that all these happy feelings make him want to do his best for Bonanza City. And just to clarify, Hunter's dad seems like very much not a jerkwad. At the very least, he's doing a good job with his son.
Meanwhile, Jared sneaks into the arcade, which is empty even though the Council hasn't locked it up yet. He plays a round of Dance Dance Revolution, definitively answering many viewers' longstanding question: "Could Jared be any more of a spaz?" After entering his name on the high score board as "DANCEMAN," he ducks back out before anyone catches him. "Game over," one of the machines announces, because arcade games don't know how to not be on the nose.
Behind the closing credits: Taylor and Leila in the chicken coop, again. Taylor snuggles one of her allegedly cute birds and makes Leila share the closeness. Leila claims the chicken smells, which Taylor denies. Leila insists, "Either it's your breath or that chicken." Wow, that was almost as satisfying as watching Taylor do the dishes.