Have you ever seen those Friday the 13th sequels, like the one with Crispin Glover or that one where Horshack gets knocked off before the opening credits? When you're viewing these films, has a light ever gone off in your head and you end up thinking to yourself, "Why don't they just shut the camp down, you know? Seal off the land so this sort of thing won't ever happen again?"
One can't help but allow this thought to roam one's mind while watching "Return to Wannaweep".
In case you haven't already guessed, the episode sends the Middleton cheer squad back to the ill-fated camp of Ron's childhood (and of the hugely superior "Sink or Swim"), conveniently renamed Gottagrin. As it turns out, there are several squads there for a competition. And one of the squad members is...Gil (notice it's with one 'L'); he's cured and rarin' to be Ron's friend.
That I mentioned the Friday the 13th sequels at the beginning is appropriate. The episode carries itself at the same levels of predictability and watchability; a lot of the former and very little of the latter. Let's count the cliches, shall we? Ron refusing to believe Gil's change of heart? Check. No one believing Ron's supposed delusions (even though he was dead-on in "Monkey Fist Strikes" and "Sink or Swim")? Check. Kim and Bonnie trying to sabotage each other? Check. But then, something happens at the end of the second act that I found exciting...no, wait. Not exciting, the other thing - tiresome. Gil's good guy act turned out to be a front for more muck-spewing mayhem. Wow! I could never have seen that coming!
As with "Sink or Swim", Ron and Rufus manage to escape Gill's (the second 'L' is back) siege. In the earlier episode, Ron was able to outsmart, outmanuever and outlanyard his mutated nemesis, but this time, he decides that the only way to stop the creature is to become one himself.
Here's where I got lost: Ron spent a fair amount of time in the water in "SoS" and nothing happened. I imagine that it might've had some moderate effects on him (and that, in itself, is an interesting story idea). But here, a quick dip in a sealed-off stream turns him into...a giant beaver, obviously 'cause the staff wanted to see what he'd look like as a giant beaver. I'm sure that there was a more interesting and purposeful reason for this: They could've... well, they might... and there's also...hmm. Well, those stirring arguments aside, it's like they traded in Jaws for a Godzilla movie...and a really bad one, at that.
At the end, Gill is stopped, Ron is cured, Middleton loses the competition and I fell asleep. There's also a message in there about teamwork...but it's swept under the rug as quickly as it's introduced, befitting the half-hearted nature of the episode. (It's almost as if the writers knew beforehand that they were producing a dud.) Lastly, Ron doesn't even get in one 'I told you so!'. Without question, one of the show's weakest episodes.
*.5/****
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