Pretty lame and anticlimactic in my opinion.
Xmas morning the camp tree was decorated and everyone got a stocking with candy, etc. Each kid made a gift for the person whose name they drew. There was obvious happiness to be free of the program for a short time.
It was stated that the 6 remaining needed to demonstrate that 'they could trust' each other. (Ironic and a contradiction to the message they received throughout the program- you're alone. There's no one to help you.) To that end they partcipated in a high ropes course. Derek went part way up the tree and refused to go further. Instead he stood on a platform and fell backward into the groups arms.
So these kids had to stay through Xmas in order to do a ropes course? That was the finishing touch that was going to crack the hard nuts?
Next scene. There's a snow storm. Glacier tells them that the temp will be way below 0, but they're hiking anyway. But first they each have an assignment (or something to that effect).
He takes them one by one away from the group and sends them over a hill where, surprise, surprise, their parents are waiting. Totally caught off guard the kids were ecstatic to see their parents and to be leaving.
They did quiet a number on Jada though. She was last, sitting in the circle alone. They asked if she knew what was going on and then told her that everyone else was graduating. They let her believe that she was the only one not going home. They directed her to complete her assignment- go over the hill. She collapsed on the ground sobbing. While she was down they rammed it home re: what she needed to work on and change (lying). They made her stand up and walk over the hill, sobbing. Her parents were waiting.
Her dad said later, "She did it and didn't quit". Like she had a choice?
Nothing like the element of surprise to make for a happy ending. Smiles and hugs all around. Promises to be good. Even Frank and Isaiah claimed to have been changed- different people.
They checked in on the kids six months later.
Reported that everyone doing well and on Jada and Isaiah's problems. Nick finally getting one-on-one tutoring which he should've had 10 years prior. Lexie and Heather at TBSs. I think Lauren might have been headed that direction (don't remember). Shawn meditating in the backyard, "On what he learned at SW". Derek stacking a house of playing cards and doing his homework. Frank viewing an exhibit at a museum with his mother. Isaiah playing football with the boys. Jada... well Jada was talking on the phone and putting on makeup. Refused TBS, going to high school. Why don't they put the kid in some art school where she can pursue her passion? Her parents said she was still lying and that they'd caught her smoking pot. She said she hadn't, and then said her mom caught her once. Particularly for Jada, even if the program 'worked' as intended, didn't anyone notice that she didn't grok metaphor. Seems someone would have noticed that, and that it wasn't 'working'. Her exasperated parents said they didn't know what would become of her.
[ This Message was edited by: Deborah on 2005-08-25 11:03 ]
