Camping Series Premiere Review: Pilot (Season 1 Episode 1)
On the Camping Season 1 Episode 1, four couples gather together at an abysmal-looking campground to celebrate the birthday of hen-pecked Walt (David Tennant).
The creative force behind the series Girls, Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner, tackle the complicated relationships between eight Gen Xers on their new HBO series Camping.
Girls had its share of detractors, but the show did capture — if not with absolute accuracy — the insulated, self-entitled, skeptical nature of millennials. Dunham and Konner appear to be out of their depth with Camping.
There is a lack of originality behind everything from the concept (an adaptation of the British TV show) to the characters themselves. Camping’s ensemble feels like how a twentysomething views people in their forties as opposed to how they really are.
Jennifer Garner whose body of work consists primarily of family-friendly fare plays Kathryn McSorley-Jodell, a Type-A personality who organizes a four-day camping trip with family and friends to commemorate her husband Walt’s 45th birthday.
Kathryn wears a fanny pack, carries a binder, stages Instagram shots to convey she’s having fun (when she’s not), walks with a purposeful stride, frigid, and always wears a tight-lipped, humorless expression. She’s unapologetically controlling and decidedly unlikable
Kathryn is a trope we’ve seen before both on the big and small screens. It’s quite a departure for Garner who often appears –both personally and professionally — to be a walking and talking embodiment of Mother Earth herself — nurturing, empathetic, and warm.
Kathryn is such an overpowering force, the rest of the ensemble doesn’t get much chance to shine. The only exception is Juliette Lewis (Secrets and Lies, Natural Born Killers) who is perfectly typecast as the hippy-dippy Jandice, the New Age girlfriend of recently separated Miguel (Arturo Del Puerto).
Jandice is the antithesis of Kathryn. She’s free-spirited, uninhibited, and fun-loving. The two women have one thing in common: their disturbing lack of self-awareness.
Ione Skye (Say Anything) plays Kathryn’s sister, Carleen, who bears the expression of someone who has been beaten down by life and everyone around her, including her boorish, bullying boyfriend, Joe (Chris Sullivan), her terminally bored stepdaughter, Sol (Cheyenne Haynes), and Kathryn.
Rounding out the cast are Brett Gelman (Love) and Janicza Bravo who play George and Nina-Joy. One of the more promising storylines involves still unknown issues brewing between Nina-Joy and Kathryn.
Otherwise, Bravo feels shoved into the mix, so Dunham and Konner don’t face the criticism of a lack of diversity that plagued Girls.
If Camping Episode 1 Season 1 is a first glimpse at how Dunham and Konner view the middle-aged, it’s also a foreboding indicator of how little they can relate to a woman of color.
It’s Kathryn’s self-appointed job to inflict her own idea of fun on the group, and, of course, she meets with opposition right away.
Whatever wacky hijinks ensue in upcoming episodes, the endgame is very clear. Everyone will undergo some sort of metamorphosis, making them better people when they leave than when they arrive.
At the center of this stereotypical journey of self-discovery promises to be Kathryn, who has the longest way to go to become relatable, much less likable.
There are hints that this version of Kathryn is a shell of her former self. She’s endured a full hysterectomy which has left her in a constant state of emotional and physical discomfort.
It’s distasteful to think Kathryn’s off-putting personality is going to be explained by hormonal imbalances, or the loss of her reproductive organs. This would perpetuate the misconception that women are simply the sum parts of their biological and physical make-ups.
Camping Season 1 Episode 1 can be summed up as good actors doing the best they can with mediocre, formulaic material. Garner is bound to earn raves for her clenched incarnation of Kathryn.
The series has time to evolve, but the most surprising thing about Camping will be if it turns out to be surprising at all.
What did you think of this episode of Camping? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Camping airs Sundays at 10/9c on HBO.
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Jennifer Lind-Westbrook
Jennifer has been working as a freelance writer for six years, contributing to BuddyTV, Screen Rant, TVRage, Hidden Remote, Gossip On This, and PopMatters. She prefers binge-watching old episodes of The Office (British and American versions) to long walks on the beach. She's still holding out hope that Happy Endings will get a revival.