'Kid Nation' mixes, but does it match?

The first flaw, the first chink in the solidly likeable armor that surrounds Laurel, was exposed in this episode.  Granted, it reared its green head as she was defending her teammates, but it left the door open to criticism and even a (gasp) coup.  But I'm getting ahead of myself ...

The book, the town journal that always seems to mess things up, did it again by directing the council to mix up the teams.  Established friendships and familiar teammates were shuffled.  Emilie from red to blue, Nathan from blue to red, and Blaine from blue to yellow.   The last move, separating best friends and strong-kid duo Greg and Blaine, pretty much sealed poor Anjay's fate as a council leader. It's not quite Child Island, but there was inter-district yelling and protests, especially in the red and blue teams.  Greg even reverted to bully mode, threatening to punch a frightened-looking Anjay in the face.

The challenge was hauling rocks. A team-building and town-building exercise. The blue team won. Guylan was yelled at by Sophia (which hurt his feelings), and the town missed out on getting beds or a party trailer.  Oh, and Blaine won the gold star.  Then the good stuff began.

Sadly, another semi-anonymous face leaves the town in the form of Randi, a Nevada girl who missed her family and animals too much to continue in Bonanza City.  Her favorite quote, oddly enough: Don't let the fear of striking you out keep you from playing the game. Taylor takes the loss pretty hard since she and Greg tried to keep Randi around.

Forget social experiment, it looks like confrontation is now the key for the show.

At the end of the episode, the kids overwhelmingly agreed that the council was not doing a good job.  So as of next week, there will be elections again!

Anjay is out.  May as well declare that now.  But some of the other races could yield a council shakeup as well:

Blaine, the new yellow team member, will run against Zach (what, no Taylor?)

Michael the politician will run against Laurel (what, no Sophia?)

Greg the strong man will run against Anjay (what, no Olivia?)

And DK, whom everyone shed tears over when he was about to leave, will take on Guylan, who persuaded him to stay. (what, no Mike?)

Everyone is vulnerable, and it will be interesting to see how Laurel handles being challenged.  The show may need a jolt with "Project Runway" premiering -- its 8.1 million viewers from last week may drop even lower. But who cares?  What matters is who will win the elections!

Photos: CBS

-- Jevon Phillips