Kid Nation: Filthy Nation

The kids of Kid Nation are dirty little stinkers aren't they? The mission of last night's show: to clean up Bonanza City. It's what the book said to do; along with those pesky grownups hovering about behind the scenes.

Complete with obligatory rat footage, we saw exactly how filthy Bonanza City has gotten to be in the last 17 days. Rotting food, empty cans, and miscellaneous scraps of wood (where did that come from?) were taking over the trash bins and it was time to take care of it. How cute that Anjay wanted to blow it all up with gunpowder! Unfortunately, Zach took the more intelligent approach and decided they should bury it far away from town.

Deciding who they would recruit to help in this little project was super easy. You choose all of the strong kids and hard workers and throw in a little bit of Taylor and Leila for drama. Taylor and Leila took it exactly the way you knew they would - not well. Those precious little beauty queens don't clean up trash. They only make it. Taylor and Leila outright refused to have anything to do with it and they ran away back to town. Meanwhile, new red district leader Guylan was trying his hardest to dig the hole the trash was to be buried in. He kinda sucked at using the shovel and decided to just give up and go pout underneath the cart away from the sun while watching the others finish the job.

But let's get back to the princesses. Miss Runner Up, Leila, changed her mind and went back to help the others with the trash. She tried to talk Taylor into going with her but Taylor wasn't having any of that. No way.

Later, once everybody was back in town, the clean-up continued. Guess which one thing is pretty vital when it comes to cleaning. Water. The tank was completely empty though and they needed somebody to fill it up. As punishment, that task was given to Taylor. Did Taylor do it? Absolutely not. She first threw down the bucket they gave her and just plain refused. Then she told them she would do it but when she was coming back with water she dumped the buckets out on purpose and ran to her bunkhouse crying about dictatorship. When Anjay and Zach go to try to get her and make her finish her job, she tries to get away from them. But they hold the door shut so she can't get out, she then kicks Anjay, and Laurel then steps in and tells Anjay to let her go. She walks off crying again and says she's going home. Well, I guess we know who wins Miss Congeniality tonight!

At the showdown, the grownup tells them it's all about pollution and recycling. There's a giant frying pan filled with 1600 gallons of pork and beans. But, the pork is alive! In the oinking dish are colored cans for each of the teams and they have to retrieve as many of them as they can in 15 minutes. If the teams bring a combined 75 cans back to the recycling bins, they'll get their reward. And can you believe it? Even though Taylor was afraid of the pigs she didn't have a problem getting down and dirty. Kudos to her on that. I felt sad for little Alex though because he got a can and was getting out of the frying pan just as time ran out and wasn't able to put it in their recycling bin. Poor kid.

The blue district wound up with 17 cans (laborers), red with 24 (upper class), yellow with 19 (cooks), and the green district with 20 (merchant). So yes, they got their reward. What will they pick? Mother Earth or fossil fuels? Fruits and vegetables galore or two gasoline-powered dune buggies with all the gas they need to run them? Mother Earth won out and the kids started gorging on the food. Taylor was still pissed though because she wanted the buggies. The poor girl even told Zach she'd hate him the rest of her life. Easy there killer.

The next day, Taylor and Leila continued their bratty behavior by refusing to do their jobs and instead going off to cook fruit salad for everybody. I loved it when Zach told them they're not going to get paid then since they're not doing what they're supposed to. Laurel loved it too.

At the town council meeting, it was all about DK. DK and the tears. DK had basically had enough of everybody's attitude and all of the fighting and wanted to go home. I can't say that I blame him. He'd been taking care of everybody's problems it seemed in the last few days. The kid had to have been worn out. Luckily, Guylan was able to take him aside and convince him to stay. The town needed him. DK came back to town hall to tell all of the bawling kids in town (I'm crying too by the way) that he's decided to stay.

Guess who gets the gold star? Why DK of course! By a unanimous vote too! He's utterly shocked and so excited that now he'll be able to go to college. His mother was thrilled and it was so sweet when she told him that he didn't need that gold star because he was already a star. How precious!

Back in the saloon, DK thanks everybody but gives extra credit to Guylan. It sure seems to me that Guylan and DK could be friends for a really long time. They're just so cute together.

Next week, the town council hunts for treasure and the kids in town learn that money changes everything. Hmmm. Can't wait!