Notes & Observations on the penultimate Kid Nation.

(as always, spoilers. Fun fact: my blog sees a fair amount of traffic from people Googling "Kid Nation Spoilers.")

- Meeting those Native Americans must have seemed pretty awesome to the town council, until they got back and saw the hot air balloons. Hope they like wisdom!

- This is by far the most incompetent council yet, and the first class featured both Mike and Taylor.

- Thimble-child Mallory has yet to have a reaction the editors didn't like.

- I can see why Jared's upset! Of all the characters who got any face time, he's the only one who didn't make it to the council or win a gold star. It's a shame too, I think I would have really enjoyed that teleporter.

- After Sophia chose the balloons, I was hoping the host would burn down the monument in front of the kids. Mallory's reaction would have been priceless.

- On a similar note, I wanted to see the town tear apart the arcade after it was closed.

- A lot of Kid Nation's pre-air hooplah focused on reports that one of the kids drank bleach. I guess it's not going to be on the show, so we'll have to speculate. My money's on Pharoh.

- To me, this show is only barely tolerable and it only scores that high because of DVR. I feel pity for anyone who has to watch the entire challenges. I noticed in the credits that Kid Nation has a separate 'Showdown Director.' CBS, fire this man.

- Alex's dad was the twist this episode needed. Did not see that coming!

- With next week's finale undoubtedly full of crying and flashbacks, this was in many ways the last true episode. The writers' strike will probably reap Kid Nation 2 before long, but I'm not sure I'll be watching. When does the new American Gladiators start?

- The Kid Nation Wikipedia page is more organized than it needs to be, though I do love color-shaded tables.