BSC TV Series Episode # 4: Kristy and the Great Campaign

Memory Reaction

I actually owned this video as a kid so I saw it a bunch of times.  What stands out to me is that they made these super-elaborate ice cream sundaes.  I remember watching with my friend talking about how no one would ever have that many toppings in their house.  But maybe we were just deprived kids with healthy-eating parents.

I also remember that the BSC gets Courtney to wear her hair in a ponytail for most of the episode, but then at the end she pulls it out right before her speech.  It’s supposed to be symbolic of her being herself or something.

Revisited Reaction

The BSC has this new client, an 8-year-old girl named Courtney.  She’s a nice, shy girl who really likes animals.   Meanwhile, Kristy hears that this annoying kid, Jeremy, is running unopposed for third grade student council and that Courtney doesn’t really like him.  Jeremy’s the little brother of Justin Marver, a guy who Kristy has a rivalry with (even though he wasn’t in the books).  Kristy convinces Courtney to run to beat Jeremy and to help make friends.  This is a bit of a hard sell, but Kristy manages to pull it off by saying everyone deserves to know how great Courtney is.  Kristy enlists the whole BSC to help.  They make campaign posters for her, help her with her speech, and even give her a makeover.  They put a lot of effort into all this.  I don’t think that anyone who ran for student council in my high school put so much effort in.

Anyway, Justin’s also helping Jeremey with his election.  Since Kristy kind of hates him, and is rather competitive, this pushes her to go a little overboard with Courtney’s campaign.  She doesn’t let Courtney hang out with a new friend she has made, she ignores Courtney’s ideas for posters and speeches, and just acts overall pushy with the whole thing.  Eventually, Courtney blows up and says she doesn’t even want to run.  But Kristy realizes what she did wrong and talks to Courtney to tell her she’s a great kid and would do great in student council, but should just be herself.  The rest of the BSC doesn’t know this and runs all over town trying to find Kristy and tell her to talk to Courtney.  I don’t know why they didn’t think to look at the school where the election was happening, but I guess no one in the club’s supposed to be a genius.  Anyway they get to school in time to realize Kristy already talked to her.

Courtney gives a nice speech about how even though she doesn’t talk a lot she has good ideas and is a good listener and would be good in student council.  Then Kristy starts chanting in support, followed by the rest of the BSC and then actual elementary school students.  So, Courtney wins.

High/Lowlights

• At a club meeting, the girls are talking when the phone rings.  Kristy picks up the phone and loudly says “shhh” to the rest of them before answering.  Shouldn’t she have shushed them before picking up the phone?

• The BSC’s getting together with all their clients on a particular day to watch a video together.  But they take all the kids to the store with them.  In what universe did they think taking a bunch of kids to pick out the video was a good idea?  Of course they’re going to argue about what to see. The sitters should have picked out the video ahead of time.  Luckily Courtney was there and was able to find a good compromise.

• Kristy refers to the “grade school” elections.  Who calls elementary school grade school?  That’s kind of outdated, isn’t it?

• Mallory comes up with the slogan “Count on Court” for the campaign, which they end up using. I guess they gave that win to Mallory the writer, but I liked Mary Anne’s “Westin’s the best one” better (Courtney’s last name’s Westin).

• Courtney’s makeover consists of putting the front of her hair in a high ponytail, and dressing her in leggings and a baggy sweater.  I totally tried to imitate that outfit when I was a kid.

• But the ponytail scene reminds me of the scene in Not Another Teen Movie where they give the nerdy girl a makeover by taking OUT her ponytail.  And doing nothing else.

• This is the video where they are talking about the Arnold Twins and Jessi announces how she uses Pig Latin on them.  I remember her saying that so well, even if I thought it was in a different episode.  

• While they’re helping Courtney plan her campaign, they’re making ice cream sundaes.  Kristy scooped all the ice cream, but then Courtney put on toppings.  And when she’s finished they all tell her how amazing she is for doing such an awesome job.  It was a bit over the top, but I guess they were trying to build her confidence.

• Jackie Rodowski’s in Courtney’s class and has a bit of a crush on her.  But he doesn’t want to admit it, so when Jeremy asked him to play a trick on Courtney, Jackie agrees.  The only problem is that the trick’s dropping the class pet garter snake on Courtney’s foot in the middle of some kind of “meet the candidates” thing.  Everyone freaks out (including Jeremy for some reason), but Courtney is calm because she’s already been established as an animal lover.  She ends up looking like a hero.

• The Science teacher’s nearby, and he just ends up carrying the snake back to his classroom instead of yelling at anyone or wondering which kids were behind the trick.

• Why’s Jackie in third grade with Courtney? He’s supposed to be 7.

• When the rest of the BSC finds Courtney at the end, right before she’s supposed to give her speech, Dawn stops and says, “I’m so glad we found you.  We have something very important to tell you.” Followed by a big pause, during which Courtney gets called to the stage.  Why didn’t she just say it without preamble?

• The election seems to happen at some kind of after-school assembly.  What kind of kids would stick around for that? My school always did them during school hours (although I guess then the BSC couldn’t be there.

• Jeremey Marver’s campaign posters all say “Marver-lous.”  That’s kinda cute.  I’m probably not supposed to think that, but I do.  I’m also jealous that my last name isn’t anything that could be turned into a catchy campaign slogan like that.

• I wish Courtney’s opponent was the little brother of Alan Gray or someone we actually knew.  All these new characters invented for the show don’t work as well as the pre-established ones.