| “ | Eh, look, I've done some bad stuff. Heck, "bad stuff" is actually my vanity license plate. I should be ashamed of myself, but I'm not, but I want to be! | ” |
"Cameron Campbell Can't Handle the Truth Serum" is the 11th episode of the fourth season of Camp Camp, and is the 51st episode overall. It premiered August 10th, 2019 on the RT FIRST site, and August 17th, 2019 on the Rooster Teeth website.
Official Synopsis[]
| “ | Campbell accidentally consumes a truth serum just hours before his parole officers are due to check in on his progress. Without the ability to lie, the campers help him find prove [sic] his efforts to become a better citizen. | ” |
—Episode description | ||
Plot[]
Standing in front of a large conspiracy board, a frustrated Cameron Campbell explains that what he's saying is all very simple - he points at Nikki and tells her she's a Rhodesian coin maker with whom he's been in business with for 14 years, though she says she isn't even that old. He then points at Neil to inform him they saw a superhero movie together on December 16th, prompting Neil to scoff "as if" in reply. Next is Nurf, the avocado-shaped boy (which Nurf says is hurtful but also a sick burn), whose alias is Seymour Ntuku and that he runs a completely conflict-free tiger farm out of Suriname, even giving him a fake nose and a pamphlet of commonly-used Suriname phrases to get him started on backing up the claims. He then asks if any of his friends and business associates have any questions while winking heavily, which prompts Max to raise his hand and ask what the fuck is going on. Campbell asks if he's even been listening to what's happened over the past 3.5 hours (which he obviously hasn't), and explains his parole officers are making a visit today, thus they have to ensure his alibis are airtight. The campers begin flooding him with questions; Dolph can't remember his fake name, Harrison asks what a false flag operation is, and Nerris wishes to be a centaur instead of a shark, though she was actually supposed to be a loan shark. Defeated by the "feeble-minded weenies" being unable to follow along with his crazy alibis, he stomps off declaring himself doomed, then grabs a beaker off the Science Camp table, groaning that he needs a drink. Neil tries to stop him but Campbell downs the entire beaker and belches loudly, to which Neil reminds him (yet again) that the beakers are not fancy shot glasses. Campbell totally ignores this and compliments the brew's flavor, which Neil gladly informs him is a prototype. Campbell jokingly asks if it's a prototype for bed-wetting issues, then sincerely hopes that's what its for as he still wets the bed and it makes intimacy with a partner extremely challenging. The campers stare at him in shock, and Neil informs him he's just chugged a glass of truth serum, and Campbell blurts out that his father never hugged him and his uncle Clark hugged him too much as the theme song quickly rolls.
The campers have now been herded into the mess hall, with Campbell saying he needs all hands on deck to deal with this serious problem - "and I'm not referring to my stage 3 hemorrhoid flare-up." David eagerly says he's happy to help, and Campbell irritably states he'd rather talk to the ass-end of a yak than deal with David's grating positivity, which obviously crushes David. Gwen asks how much progress he's made on his parole checklist, and despite wanting to lie he takes out the paper to show he's made absolutely zero progress. She asks what his plan was, which he explains was to lie through the interview, which is something he's skilled at, but his plan was ruined due to the serum and is honestly feeling an urge of bloodlust vengeance over it. David tells him not to panic and that assures him he's progressed nicely, which Campbell openly questions and Max chimes in to say that the only change he's seen is Campbell being around way more, which isn't by choice. Worried, he states if he doesn't impress the officers he'll be stuck at the camp forever, which enthralls David and horrifies Max, thus he quickly rallies the other campers to join in reforming Campbell so they can get rid of him permanently.
At the ampitheatre, Max Nikki and Neil are all seated in the front row, telling Campbell to treat this as a mock interview with them playing the role of his parole officers. They start by asking how Campbell's doing, and are informed that he coughed so hard earlier that he popped a cyst on his back, which grosses out Neil while Nikki gives him a thumbs up. Max commends him on (theoretically) completing his checklist, which Campbell heatedly denies and demands to see the paperwork. Ignoring this and moving on, Max asks what he's most ashamed of, and he admits to using Wikipedia every day but regrets rarely donating to their annual fundraisers. Neil questions this with heavy derision, as Campbell's been to jail and has committed tons of crimes, but Campbell sticks with his answer as he wasn't able to use the site while in jail. Continuing, Max asks what the best thing is about the camp, and is gleefully told that the cartel will never look here. Max is unimpressed but Campbell adds that getting to know the kids has been great, which Nikki takes as a compliment. He actually meant that "getting a first-hand glimpse at these tiny demons" has made him realize just how much he despises kids, and that camp is his IUD. Finally, Max asks if he's a good person, and despite straining himself to try and lie Campbell openly declares he isn't, and that he has the moral compass of an Ebola virus. With a sigh, Max notes that his shittiness is ingrained deeply, which Campbell corroborates with a story of him eating his twin brother in the womb and feeling no remorse. Max turns to his friends and says they'll need to do this the old-fashioned way, and while Nikki asks if he means painstakingly overcoming every item on the list and learning about each other along the way, Max says he actually meant Neil will need to whip up an antidote to get Campbell lying again. Campbell asks if they're done, as he needs to get back up to his room to deal with the contraband in his colon suddenly rupturing, citing he has 6 minutes to get it taken care of "before reality goes night-night." Nikki suggests doing both her plan and Max's.
Campbell takes the trio up to his room above the mess hall and shows them it's pristine, but then presses a button to reveal false walls loaded with weaponry such as knives, guns, dynamite, and even a bazooka with small bombs. There are also a couple of vats containing a small elephant and a jackalope, as well as three computer screens, irradiated barrels, bricks of (presumably) cocaine and other drugs, potions inside small glass balls, fertilizer laced with kush, and a large box reading "if found return to Morad". Campbell says he got it all from the black web, to which Neil asks if he meant to say dark web, and Campbell calls him a nimrod for thinking he could get an irradiated football on the dark web. Nikki spots a venus flytrap plant and reaches out to touch it, but Neil quickly intercepts to tell her it's dangerous. She dismisses his claim but is then met with the plant pulling a gun on her in return. Max puts an X across the first item on the list (maintaining a clean & healthy lifestyle), despite the fact that this is clearly the opposite.
Down on the main floor, Campbell is now serving lunch, in the form of gravy balls, to the campers. Nurf says he's not eating this, and Campbell agrees he shouldn't as it's full of MSG, canned lard from the ragtime years, and a thimble full of the Quartermaster's tears, and slyly mentions that he calls out for someone named Agatha in his sleep. Harrison asks if they can just eat normal food and Campbell merrily tells him no, as the camp is financially bankrupt due to funneling all their registration fees into a timeshare in the Maldives, and also morally bankrupt because "who gives a great gazonga about anything, we're all just dust!" In a quiet rage, Quartermaster calls on Agatha to calm his tumult, and Max checkmarks the second item on the list (must consistently hold down job) even though it's only been one shift.
The next item on the list is "attend weekly psychological therapy", and rather than actually enrolling him in a legitimate counseling group, they end up creating one with the help of Gwen, Ered, Nurf, Dolph, and David (acting as the instructor) while Max is on standby holding the clipboard. They greet Campbell who says he's happy to be among real-life losers to help him feel better about his own problems. After brushing this off, David asks where he thinks his antagonistic attitude comes from, and Campbell believes it came from "a combination of schoolyard bulling, deep-seated fear of irrelevance, and a general malaise about being around people less wealthy than me." Reluctantly, Max admits he's good at opening up, but before David can continue steering the session Campbell says he'll take it from here in terms of figuring out everyone's issues. He points at Gwen and says she suffers from a crippling fear of unfulfilled potential, points at Ered and says she's an only child with undefined boundaries and an inflated sense of self-worth, points at Nurf and says he has a tiny ding-dong, and that Dolph has schizotypal personality disorder fully marinated in Asperger's. All of them immediately burst into tears (except Ered who attempts to fight them back), distraught at having their own deepest issues dragged out so carelessly. Nonetheless, Max adds a checkmark to the list.
Now at the Sleepy Peak Community Garden, Campbell is attempting to prove the next item on the list (giving back to the community) by showing Max and Nikki that this is where he grows his medicinals. Max looks visibly uncomfortable amongst the plants while Nikki pops up to say that the smell of the plants is making her brain do backflips. Sheriff Sal appears on the scene and demands to know if Campbell has a growing permit, and after a tense moment the two share a laugh, as he only came by to pick up his treats, and the two openly exchange a brick of drugs for a suitcase filled with cash. For this item on the list, Max adds a big question mark instead of an X. A quick montage ensues of Max checking off the remaining points, though what actually transpired with Campbell is left unseen. At the end of the day, Max declares this was a huge fucking failure and tosses his pen aside. Campbell starts panicking, as his PO's will be here to interview him any minute, and they haven't made any progress whatsoever. Neil comes slow-walking up, carrying a new beaker fresh off the Bunsen burner, winking and trying to look cool but accidentally trips a bit. Luckily he's able to keep himself (and the glass) from falling to the ground, and Campbell greedily gulps it down as a black car comes screeching into the activities field. The married duo of Agents Miller arrive and Campbell greets them, informing them he likes birds with a forced smile. The trio question if this is even true, as they have no idea of knowing if the antidote actually worked. Irritated, Max calls out for him to tell a lie, and Neil hastily covers up his words so they don't get exposed. The Millers begin interviewing the people of Camp Campbell; Max lies like crazy as to how great and caring Campbell is, a downtrodden David says Campbell's like the father he never had, Gwen apathetically tells them he's the most honest person she knows, Nurf says he's made a real 180 and after a beat he leaps off his chair and begins screaming that he doesn't have a tiny ding-dong, and finally Dolph tells them Campbell has opened his eyes to the path to self improvement while sobbing the entire time.
At the end of the interviews, the Agents Miller compliment Campbell as everyone had good things to say about him, and it seems as though he's made some real progress. One of them asks if he's engaged in any illegal activities at the camp and his thoughts immediately begin spiraling; words spoken earlier from various characters overlap each other while he begins grinding his teeth and sweating profusely. David encourages him to speak the truth to power, Max and Neil tell him to say something, and Nikki comments that this moment is tense. Finally he leaps up and shouts that he lives an illegal existence, and Max immediately turns on Neil and snaps that his antidote didn't work. Neil insists it did as he tested it on Space Kid, who sheepishly informs everyone he's a bit concerned about the pace of his mental development. Defeated, Campbell clarifies that it did work and he is fully capable of lying, but that he doesn't want to anymore; he's done some bad stuff - he even holds up the vanity plate for his car that reads BADSTFF - and he should feel ashamed but he doesn't, yet also he wants to. Elaborating, he thought that doing one good deed would make it easier to keep going, but that would mean constant effort and because it sounded hard, he didn't follow through. After today, he feels like he should be getting around to it and vows to do so, prompting everyone (but Max) to let out a heartwarming "aww!" Despite the fact that he's shown no real growth, he has shown disgust for his past behavior and a desire to come to terms with that, and so the Agents Miller reward him by removing 1,000 community service hours off his sentence. Everyone cheers and Max gleefully shouts goodbye, but then it turns out he still has 23,487 hours still remaining which prompts Max to bellow "OH WHAT THE FUCK?!" They bid him best of luck and will return in a month to follow up.
David congratulates Campbell for his honesty, as he's on the path to positive change after all, and excitedly asks if he wants to get started on his remaining 23,487 hours. Campbell replies he's exhausted from all that personal growth, and asks if David can just forge the paperwork to say he's completed all his hours for the day. After a beat, he realizes he shouldn't ask him to do that, and then promptly offers to just do it himself.
Transcript[]
{{Transcript}} would go here.
Features[]
Characters[]
Main Characters[]
Supporting Characters[]
Minor Characters[]
Music[]
- "Camp Camp Song Song" (Opening Theme)
- Hard Truths (Ending Theme)
Gallery[]
- Main article: Cameron Campbell Can't Handle the Truth Serum/Gallery
Trivia[]
- This is the last episode to have Ryan Haywood as Agents Miller.
- On Campbell's conspiracy board, the elaborate stories he assigned to the campers can easily be seen, such as Dolph being named Pakpao and a sticky-note beside him with a lipstick kiss mark that reads "Please leave me alone forever, ❤️ L", Preston as Alan Smithy and Nerris as Furio Tigre over a map of Thailand, Space Kid named Baby Jones over an article of a missing child found, Nurf as Seymour Ntuku over a picture of his alleged tiger sanctuary, Neil as Scotty Boyle with a picture of a movie theater and an actual ticket stub, Harrison as Jose Smith, a night-vision photograph of Nikki (named Jillian Murray) with white eyes looking like a wild animal over a map of Rhodesia, and two pictures of a somewhat camera-shy Max individually labeled Joan Smith and Joe Smith over the same Rhodesian map. There's also a large flyer for a loan office that reads "pay nothing, get money!*" and a disclaimer of 50% interest fee rates.
- The name Baby Jones could be a shout-out to Space Kid's voice actress Lindsay Jones, or even potentially her second daughter Luna, with whom she would have been pregnant while this episode was in production.
- Nerris' assigned name is a reference to the loan shark, Furio Tigre, a character in the video game series Ace Attorney.
- Campbell calls Nikki "girl camper with hair" when he's previously called her "girl Neil".
- She also says she isn't even 14, which is correct. Although it has not been directly said by any character in the show, on page 4 of the Official Camp Camp Press Kit, Nikki is stated as being 10 years old.[1]
- Campbell's "13-step path to parole" checklist consists of the following: must maintain a clean and healthy lifestyle, must consistently hold down job, attend weekly psychological therapy, give back to the community, must not harbor fugitives, must not sail/swim or think about international waters, must not impersonate an officer of the law - real or stripper, no Gangsta Rap - only Summertime by Will Smith, no inciting youth to defy ban on dancing and/or rock-N-roll, no bitcoin laundering and/or bitcoin operating laundromats, must not solicit enemies of the state for poker games, must release your tax returns, no jaywalking.
- David tries to minimize Campbell and Max's small argument over whether Campbell's changed by saying "mercury is in retrograde and I think we're all saying things that we don't mean" to make excuses for their unkind words to each other, which suggests he believes is astrology.
- In this episode, we learn that Campbell has stage 3 hemorrhoids, cysts on his back, and a twin brother that he ate in the womb. He still wets the bed which causes intimacy issues (and at his age is extremely unusual), never received hugs from his father, and is also heavily implied to have been molested by his uncle Clark.
- Nikki says the smell of Campbell's medicinal plants makes her brain do backflips, and so with this and her dilated pupils it is most definitely marijuana.
- The character "Agatha" whom Quartermaster weeps for at night, may be Quartermaster's mother, or romantic partner who he'd outlived considering Quartermaster's immortality.
- It is unlikely to be Quartermaster's sibling since he's shown a desire to kill them to retrieve the family tontine.
- However it could also be the Quartersister's real name.
- It is unlikely to be Quartermaster's sibling since he's shown a desire to kill them to retrieve the family tontine.
- Campbell brings a few peoples' deepest issues and insecurities to light, which are:
- Gwen's crippling fear of unfulfilled potential, which could explain why she keeps gathering post-secondary degrees.
- Ered's undefined boundaries and an inflated sense of self-worth due to being an only child, which could explain the cool-kid attitude.
- Nurf's allegedly tiny ding-dong being the root of his bad behavior, although it's been explicitly stated that his bullying patterns are from having learned nothing but violence as a young child (prominently featured in "David Gets Hard", "Eggs Benefits" and "Attack of the Nurfs").
- And that Dolph has Schizotypal Personality Disorder fully marinated in Asperger's Syndrome. People with SPD usually have few, if any, close relationships (which is true for Dolph) and Asperger's is most often characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests (which is also correct). In "New Adventure!" he did express a desire to break out of the characterization "box" he's been put into by the other campers.
- Based on David's downhearted statement of Campbell being "like the father I never had", it's highly possible that he has some kind of issue with his father (such as being estranged, deceased, abandoned, or fully unknown to David). It's also possible that he was still hurt by Campbell's prior comment of finding his optimism annoying, but despite this he still regards Campbell as a father figure.
- It seems as though Space Kid cannot wink (with one eye), as his attempt at doing so caused him to blink (with both eyes).
- He's also a bit concerned about the pace of his mental development, suggesting he may have some kind of undiagnosed disorder.
- As of this episode, Campbell has 23,487 hours of community service remaining, and as stated in "Keep the Change", his active hours are from 7am-7pm. If Campbell were to put in non-stop service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, this breaks down to: 978.6 days, or 139.8 weeks, or 32.17 months, or 2.68 years. As he only does 12 hours of community service a day all of those numbers should be doubled, thus it will take 5.36 years for him to serve the remainder of his debt to society if he puts in the exact same amount of hours every single day.
Cultural References[]
- Campbell uses the country of Rhodesia as part of his cover story for Nikki, but that territory became part of modern-day Zimbabwe in 1979.
- Harrison's cover story included a False flag operation, originally referring to pirate ships that flew flags of countries as a disguise to prevent their victims from fleeing or preparing for battle.
- Campbell's parole checklist has a few Cool S symbols doodled into it (and what the article doesn't tell you is that it was a hugely popular trend with North American schoolkids in the late 90's and early 2000's).
- One of the rules on said checklist is "no Gangsta Rap - only Summertime by Will Smith" and the song is also used on the real-life TV show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
- Campbell reveals he has an obsession with Wikipedia, making use of it every day but regrets rarely donating to their annual fundraisers.
- Campbell says that the camp is his IUD (which stands for Intra-Uterine Device). Men can't wear these devices, so he's saying the camp affects his reproductive capacities the same way an actual IUD would affect a uterus.
- And that he also has the moral compass of an Ebola virus.
- The brand of red marker Max is using is called "Skerples", meant to be a parody of the actual brand "Sharpie".
- The box labeled "if found return to Morad" could be a reference to a man named David Morad, an 18-year old robber who successfully targeted drug dealers.
- Campbell says he got all his crazy and highly illegal items off the black web (which isn't a real thing), but the dark web that Neil asks about is real.
Continuity[]
- In "Nikki's Last Day on Earth", Nikki gives Neil's deep throat tonic a 3/10 for taste. Subsequently in this episode, Campbell gives compliments to the flavor of Neil's truth serum, showing he took Nikki's advice on making his experimental potions more palatable.
- Campbell comically mistaking the David-squirrel for the real thing (in the previous episode "Squirrel Camp") shows that he doesn't pay much attention to what David says, and is profoundly annoyed by the sound of his voice (most likely reminding him about his community service tasks). This also indicates that Campbell is still resistant to taking direction from David, which he was ordered to do by the FBI in "Camp Corp." Turns out that Campbell does indeed find David's "grating optimism" to be irritating, and plainly informs him of it here.
- The events of this episode are directly followed up on in "Keep the Change", "Panicked Room" and "Time Crapsules" for Campbell. He is initially overconfident and selfish in his reasons for wanting to change, and completely oblivious to Max's efforts to undermine his attempts at growth. He later admits that making self-improvements would mean actually putting in constant effort and he was too lazy to do so, but vowed to finally start trying from that point on. He seems to follow through on that in apologizing to Miss Priss and explaining his efforts to become a better person after they get locked in a room together.
- This episode, along with "Keep the Change", show David being the only one to sympathize with Campbell and support his attempts to change. He also recognizes Campbell's speech in "Time Crapsules" as being about his own reform, but is being expressed by personifying the camp.
- The events of episode are directly followed up on in "Keep the Change", "The Butterfinger Effect", and "Time Crapsules" for Max. In both this and the truth serum one, he was heavily resistant to the prospect of change (mostly for himself but also largely for Campbell), although he does relent in the third episode that he has improved, at least somewhat. In the fourth one, after a fallout with Gwen, he recognizes the effects of his bad behavior on Gwen, which isn't something he'd openly admit to in previous seasons. However, he does not make a genuine personal effort to make her feel better (until his apology at the burial ceremony); rather, he blatantly copies David's behavior in several interactions with her, especially in his opening lines of apology.
- This is the second time that Campbell has openly announced a hatred of children, having previously stated "kids are diabolical monstrosities that drive you to the brink of insanity" in "Cameron Campbell the Camp Campbell Camper".
- Sheriff Sal has an appearance here, having only been seen in the very first episode, "Escape from Camp Campbell". In this episode, his arms are much skinnier, and his nose is a completely different shape.
- Neil is wearing the jacket that represents Neil Diamond from his "amalgamation of cool Neils outfit" from "Ered Gets Her Cool Back".
- David once again makes reference to Campbell being a father figure to him; he's previously mentioned this in "Camp Cool Kidz" and "The Order of the Sparrow".
Errors[]
- There is a grammatical error on the RT website's episode description. It reads, "the campers help him find prove his efforts to become a better citizen", which isn't a grammatically correct statement. The correct description is most likely "fine tune his efforts" or "find proof of his efforts".