The much-anticipated 10-year reunion as planned in the original Wet Hot American Summer proves to be a let down.
In the 2001 film Wet Hot American Summer, the counselors at Camp Firewood decide that 10 years after that date in 1981, at 9:30 AM, they will meet back at camp for their 10-year reunion.
Netflix revived the movie in 2015, as Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp. Fourteen years after the original, the same cast, with many exciting newcomers, returned to Camp Firewood to tell the story of that first day of camp from that fateful summer in 1981.
Finally, 16 years after the original, Netflix brought the team back to show the 10-year reunion. Although when the original film came out, there was probably no consideration that there would even be a sequel, Netflix set the bar high with their nostalgia machine making a prequel worthy of the original. Unfortunately, this sequel is just a disappointment.
Similar to both of its predecessors, the bulk of 10 Years Later is told over a single day. The counselors are reintroduced in their 26-year-old lives before heading back to camp. The season also follows a similar structure to the others, intermingling the activities of the counselors that day with a governmental conspiracy.
10 Years Later’s biggest weakness is that it is too similar to the others. It follows too closely in their footsteps, reusing the same material so that it just feels tired. At least First Day of Camp was able to innovate by having to work back from the movie.
Everything First Day of Camp created had to be cleaned up to fit the canon of the film. This allowed the season to take some outlandish leaps with the material, and then even more absurdly walk itself out of what it created. Because of this, First Day of Camp felt fresh and exciting, and in some ways even stronger than the film.
With its new freedom, 10 Years Later flails. Most of the original characters are not given compelling adult storylines. Further, most of their storylines are easily forgettable, and simply as adults they are uninteresting.
Although in First Day of Camp, many of the new characters became some of the greatest parts of the season, the new characters in 10 Years Later make the show cluttered. 10 Years Later brings back not only most of the original characters, but also many of the characters introduced in First Day of Camp.
Some of the new characters in 10 Years Later are given far too large story arcs, taking away time from characters we already care about. Most of these new characters are not too great, and there is not enough time to care about them. With only eight episodes, 10 Years Later fails to juggle all three sets of characters, leaving many of the strongest characters by the wayside.
For example, Jai Courtney’s Garth weighs down Amy Poehler’s Susie. Poehler does not get any of the theater scenes that were so fantastic in the others, besides a single great scene with John Early as Logan, who was introduced in First Day of Camp. There is a cute callback to Parks and Recreation, but otherwise, Poehler’s arc is completely uninteresting.
Not all the newcomers are a detriment. The strongest would be Skyler Gisondo’s Deegs who challenges Paul Rudd’s Andy for Camp King. Like in First Day of Camp, this allows a younger character to bring some new energy to the show. Deegs does not really get his own storyline, but he does successfully highlight Andy, while creating a fun new character.
One of the strongest points in 10 Years Later is how they write back in characters they wrote out at the end of First Day of Camp. For the most part, they successfully bring back many of the great new additions, thankfully adding in a familiar level of absurdity.
It is somewhat of a coup how great Wet Hot American Summer and Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp were. Unfortunately, 10 Years Later cannot recreate the strange strain of humor. It tries, but is only unexciting and at this point, repetitive. Besides a few amusing gags, there is nothing fresh. The first seven episodes provide a few solid chuckles but are otherwise at best mildly entertaining. Thankfully the finale is given an ending worthy of the series.