In the season opener of The CW’s Killer Camp, a new batch of fresh blood — a mix of 13 British and American strangers — are welcomed to Camp Pleasant, one that is like any other camp. “There’s swimming, sunbathing, socializing, but someone wants to kill you,” Camp Counselor Bobby immediately warns them. “But you’re going to have the best time!”
That’s right: this is Killer Camp — the show where brutal reality and horror-movie murders collide. One of the campers is a killer. Every day they will order the murder of one of their fellow campers in the most savage way. They do have an advantage over the group of campers from last season, however. This time around, they all know from the start what they’re in for, so from the moment they arrive, they’re already putting out feelers on who the killer could be.
As the campers get situated in their cabin, they’re sizing up the competition, looking for opportunities for romance, and some are already strategizing about how they’re going to be playing the game. “As a nerd, you’re always kind of the quiet guy, so I’m really hoping I can maybe take a step back, be everyone’s friend, and really keep an eye out to find this killer,” Camper Sean says.
The killer’s job is to go unnoticed in the group, so in this game, you never know who you can trust. “Right now, I’m feeling a mixture of nerves and excitement, because there’s a killer amongst us,” Camper SJ says. “We’re all being [friendly], but you might have an arrow and shoot it in my back, babes.”
During the “Circle of Trust” where the campers get to know a little more about each other, Sean asks to go the bathroom and admits to his “bad timing.” While doing his business in an outhouse, a “farmer” in a tractor drives by and crushes into it and kills him, explosions and all. Later, back in the cabin, they mourn the loss of him and remember how super nice he was.
For their first cash game, the campers get suited up and head to the lake for “Pole Position.” In the slippery game, Camp Counselor Bobby explains that “campers must tackle my lubed up poles” and snag one of the inflatable cash critters hanging on a line above them and take them back to safety. Any critters left on the line or fall in the water, the cash amount of those will be rewarded to the killer.
Hilarity ensues as the campers try to maintain their balance on the lubed-up poles and end up slipping the moment they step foot on it. One of them, Camper Jaydah, later admits to being clumsy, but that doesn’t make her slip and fall any less hilarious. After an impressive feat where Clyde scored the most with $600, out of the possible $3k to win from the game, the “Innocents” bank $2275, meaning that $725 went to the killer.
After the game, the campers assess who may have sabotaged the game and try to figure out who the killer may be. Some of the guys suspect Jordan, an athlete who plays tennis who slipped twice. Camper Basil mentions that Jordan “took his time trying to recover” after his slips on the poles. Camper Bella mentions to some of the girls and SJ that when Jordan fell, “he just took his time falling.” SJ, however, doesn’t think Jordan is the killer, because “he’s my bebeh.”
Of the top three campers who played the worst, Camper Basil brings up Camper Maura as one of his suspects. “From day one, she’s acted a little too innocent for me,” he says. “On her first run, she just stepped on the thing and fell off, and then on her second run, she grabbed the cheapest thing, which was the parrot. After that game, I was like, ‘I think it’s her.'”
The next challenge is “Quivering Mess,” an immunity challenge whose winner is guaranteed safe from being killed off that night. Two at a time, campmates will duel in a game of bloody bow and arrow. They will take aim with their blood-soaked arrows and shoot. Whoever is shot, is eliminated from that round. The last remaining camper will also get to name another camper who also will win immunity.
After a fun-filled battle between the campers where many went head-to-head with their so-called rivals, it was Camper Valentina who reigned supreme. “I promise you, my aims were a fluke and a half,” she says. “I don’t even think I was even aiming in the end. I don’t know how I won, but I won!” After receiving her immunity woggle, she, “after careful consideration,” selects Lexxi as her immunity companion.
The campers attend their first-ever campfire at Camp Pleasant — and for one of them, it’ll be their last. “The mood is so down,” Camper Basil says of the evening. “People are scared. But I’ve done a good enough job. So I’m not worried.” “I think if I was the killer, I’d kill me, honestly,” Clyde confesses. “I’m not trying to flatter myself, but I feel an impending sense of doom.”
Campers Valentina and Lexxi are safe from being eliminated and executed, but unfortunately, the killer among them has chosen Camper Basil and Camper Clyde to visit the Camp Pleasant organic ice cream parlor. “You’re so lucky!” Camp Counselor Bobby exclaims. “Only one of them will return,” he explains to the campers, as the saboteur among them has enlisted Handyman Bruce to brutally murder the other.
“It’s been fun,” Camper Basil says of his final words. “I hope to see you guys tomorrow.” “I think if I die tonight, I think [the killer is] Jordan,” Camper Clyde reveals to the group. “Today he said, ‘You’re my biggest competition,’ and I know it’s a lot of pressure to get sussed out like this, but I feel like if I die right now, you’d be the one that have killed me.”
In his rebuttal, Camper Jordan shares that, “I think that [Clyde] is threatened by me. He sees that I’m onto him. He’s nominating himself. He’ll come back tonight.” Confident words from the camper who performed poorly in the first cash challenge. As the campers hug the two, Clyde mentions that there are no hard feelings, to which Jordan admits that the remaining nerd in Camp Pleasant is playing a good game.
Campers Clyde and Basil went off into “a wood” and split off when they ran into a sign that pointed them into different directions. One of them emerged into a forest clearing where they saw a vintage neon ice cream parlor attached to an ice truck. At the back of the truck, there was a delicious-looking tub of their favorite ice cream flavor. The camper ate with wild abandon. Handyman Bruce slammed the door shut and turned the temperature of the truck down real low. Liquid nitrogen rushed in.
Starting with their feet and moving up, they began to freeze solid. The camper convulsed in pain as dry ice filled their lungs and covered their skin inch by inch until they turned into a human popsicle. Handyman Bruce wheeled him out and stood the camper upright, picked up his baseball bat, and hit him in the head. The camper’s head shattered into a thousand icy shards, blood gushed from the head like yolk from a runny egg.
The campers are relieved when they see who returned to the campfire, but at the same time, are saddened that the other would not be coming back. It was Camper Clyde who made a safe return. “That means it was Basil who had his head battered with a baseball bat and one of you ordered Camp Handyman Bruce to do it. Who would do that?” Counselor Bobby asks. “Good night.”
Who do you think the killer is? What did you think of the Season 2 premiere? Let us know in the comments below!
Killer Camp airs Fridays at 8pm on The CW.
