If you can get past the unnecessarily foul communication skills of the camping party, the third episode of Camping highlighted the potential that this cast has to be really interesting. Fishing Trip brings us three major story arcs: the men going on a fishing trip (...it is on the schedule after all...), Jandice "helping" Carleen (and possibly Sol) find their inner females; and Kathryn making a discovery.
Bad news first, Jandice has a limited and vile vocabulary and her over-the-top character is only more grating with each outing. This is so unfortunate as Juliette Lewis has so much vibrancy and is spot on casting for the character but the one-dimension given to her by the script just makes for a telegraphed mess. Nothing about Jandice has been a surprise, whenever she is on camera the expectation is for bad language, shocked fellow campers, and public nudity or sex - and that is just what is delivered.
Good news is that the interactions of the men in this particulate episode give us a glimpse of what is needed to make for a watchable and interesting series. While far from perfect, there is some funny and direct conversation with insight into the mens' lives and details as to why anyone would want to tune in to a series to watch them in the first place. Unfortunately, it is all so uneven in delivery that the motivation to watch another episode is challenged at best. Another spark of light is the characters of Walt and Nina-Joy which give us not only the lone real grownups in Camping but the ones with the most hinted complexity and relatability. (The pair, thought they have little interaction between them, have been the shining gems of the first three episodes.) Fishing Trip had glimpses into what this series could really deliver, only time will tell if the potential is every realized.
