‘Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp’ episode 4 review: Kristen Wiig, Jon Hamm, and ‘Auditions’
“Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp” continues its tradition of being completely absurd with its fourth episode “Auditions,” which may be the biggest yet when it comes to a celebrity presence. Jon Hamm continues to be entertaining as the government assassin The Falcon, while this episode also brought us the first appearance of Kristen Wiig as Courtney, one of the preppy attendees of Camp Tigerclaw who is very interested in prying Blake (Josh Charles) away from Katie and Camp Firewood forever. She only appeared in a single scene, but that scene is worth watching a few times over.
This episode was as a whole a little strange, given that after being such a huge part of the first three episodes, we had barely any Coop at all this time. Meanwhile, Lindsay was gone despite being a standout of the two episodes before that.
The majority of the episode was spent instead dealing with a crisis at the theater program, as Susie and Ben had to find some suitable replacements for their leads in the production. This is where Andy and Katie entered the fray, and is likely the official beginnings to the relationship they have around the time the feature film begins. We knew it was necessarily to introduce this relationship at some point, and this was a pretty funny way to make Andy look like he was actually pursuing her for a change … even if he was really just after the kiss.
We’ll be honest in saying that we’ve never loved the Susie / Ben / theater story as much as others in the “Wet Hot American Summer” universe, mostly because you’re confined more to a single space and there is only so much that can be done there. This was probably the best showcase of the department yet, and bonus points for the brief Ben / McKinley scene that will pay dividends later.
The real laughs for us came with Gail and Jeff (Randall Park), as she started to learn that Jonas may actually have pulled a Don Draper, to reference a different Jon Hamm show. We hope that there is more of Jeff, whose middle name also happens to be Jeff, somewhere in here. Also, hooray for the Henry Newman opening, which was completely insane and sets up how he gets close to Camp Firewood. Given the start of the movie with him and Beth, though, we don’t know how else he can really be featured for now.
While some storylines are funnier than others, it is becoming more and more apparent that even if you are not too familiar with this franchise, it is certainly worth catching up on. You will laugh, and laugh often. Grade: B+.
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