Now that I’ve got access to HBO Max and it’s massive catalog of content, I have been living my best life and watching shows that have always appealed to me in the past but were always just out of reach. Enter: Camping! This eight episode, half hour comedy touted an excellent cast and that’s really all I needed to want to tune in. Let’s dive in.
Despite this show getting a fair amount of negative reviews, I really wanted to check it out to see Jennifer Garner play a little bit against type, and then for the rest of the very talented cast. The show, created by Lena Dunham and Jenni Connor, centers on four couples who get together for a long weekend of camping to celebrate Walt’s birthday. Walt’s wife, Kathryn, has the whole weekend planned down to the minute and you can immediately tell that she loves being in control, but is very mean about it. Throughout the series, she seems to justify the way she is because of chronic pain she suffers from, which, sure, but my mom suffers from chronic pain and she is not even remotely close to what Kathryn is.
Her poor husband Walt just takes the verbal abuse, while the rest of the group just tries to avoid her for most of the trip. Other couples on the trip include Kathryn’s sister Carleen and her drug and alcohol addicted long-term partner Joe, Walt’s best friend George and his wife who recently got out of an affair, Nina-Joy, and finally, Walt’s other good friend Miguel and his new lover Jandice. These pairings all have their own major problems, but they more or less just choose to ignore them on a day to day basis. Kathryn continues to belittle her older sister and takes a strong disliking towards Jandice which never really goes away.
Most of this show showed these various couples fighting and avoiding Kathryn who won’t listen to reason or just take a hint, but there were a good handful of times where I found myself cackling. Most of the cackling was thanks to Juliette Lewis as Jandice, who’s just trying to invoke her hippie wisdom on this group of grumps, and she actually makes a lot of sense most of the time. For her appearing the most outlandish to the group, she’s actually the most well-adjusted. Another peripheral character that made me laugh a lot was the camp sites proprietor, Harry, played by Bridgett Everett. She didn’t get an abundance of screen time, but she made it count both comically and heartfelt. I loved her escapade with Walt when everyone was trying to find Carleen. I also loved the interactions Kathryn and Jandice had during that same time.
Camping (the show) might not be for everyone, but I really enjoyed my time with it. It was great to see Jennifer Garner play someone unlikeable, and that didn’t really redeem herself in the end. Also, again, the cast of characters surrounding her were a joy to watch as they interacted with one another. MVP of the show though belongs to Juliette Lewis. That woman is so freaking fun in everything I’ve ever seen her in! This show was a one and done, so if you’ve got some time to spare and an HBO Max subscription, check it out!