We’ve officially hit the halfway mark on Camping after this week’s episode. We start with Kathryn unable to sleep and thus irritated by the loud lovemaking noises of Jandice (Juliette Lewis) and Miguel (Arturo Del Puerto). Jandice offers a pill to quiet the mind but mixes it up with Adderall. No rest for the drugged, Kathryn. Nina-Joy (Janicza Bravo) and George (Brett Gelman) are up and having a disagreement about fighting each other’s battles. Nina-Joy didn’t want George to say something, only to let him know something had been said. Threatening Joe (Chris Sullivan) in response isn’t what she had in mind. Carleen (Ione Skye) and Joe are both up too since Carleen is worried about Joe’s sobriety and wanted to make sure Joe’s daughter Sol (Cheyenne Haynes) got something to eat. Carleen really seems to be making an effort with Sol and it’s very sweet. After the lovemaking, Jandice and Miguel have an issue of their own regarding getting married and she goes off to have a moment alone. Half the group is out having late night adventures…I love it.
Nina-Joy goes over to another campsite and sees a friend Allison (Busy Philipps) and her two pals, Beth-Ann (Nicole Richie) and Nia (Hari Nef.) Kathryn ends up crashing the party, causing Nina-Joy to leave. Carleen shows up as well. Kathryn begins talking about way too much medical information that people don’t need to know, trash talking her sister, and we find out why Nina-Joy is pissed at her. Nina-Joy cheated on George, told Kathryn that it was happening, and eventually Kathryn told. Now, her description of the situation with the word amazing is certainly not tactful, but I don’t blame her for telling. Obviously, it isn’t her place to share that information with other people, but if someone confided in me that they were cheating, I wouldn’t want to know either. I’d want to tell. Because there is no reason to cheat. If you are unhappy, you have every ability to end your relationship before going after the person you are interested in. I don’t care if you hook up with them later that day, just end the relationship first. And if you believe you can’t leave the relationship, then it’s abusive and that’s a whole other issue.
I continue to believe Kathryn still has more depth than we’re seeing. She briefly discussed some medical issues but she even says, “Time flies when you are dealing with pain all day and all night.” Some people will never really understand what it means to live with chronic pain. I’ve only lived in near-daily chronic pain for 13 months. I can’t imagine if this was several years of my life. I think I would become selfish about my wellbeing. Here’s something I’ve learned about living with chronic pain: people stop asking. Life goes on for other people and they will stop remembering your pain even exists for you. To some people, they might even consider it inconvenient. Walt (David Tennant) could be very different towards Kathryn than he is. But he loves her and he knows she’s in pain, and especially that people aren’t their best selves when they’re in pain. So far, she’s certainly said some things towards her sister that weren’t very kind, but apart from spilling the beans on her friend’s infidelity, she’s not a bad person. She’s Type A and enjoys things in her own way, but she’s still a loving wife and mother. And I hope to see more of the real Kathryn in the second half. Also, shout out to Walt’s mattress rage moment. Probably would be better to handle issues more directly with your wife, but sometimes you just need to let off steam. It happens.
Now a look at what happens next:
