Stream It or Skip It: ‘Camping’ on HBO, Where Jennifer Garner Tries to Control a Camping Weekend Going off the Rails

Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner have gone their separate ways as producers (amicably, though!), but before they split, the women who brought us Girls developed Camping and loaded it with great acting talent. Leading the way is Jennifer Garner in her first TV series since Alias. Can Dunham and Konner repeat their success?

CAMPING: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A woman jumping up and down against a bucolic background, with the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Daydream” playing. It sounds like the beginnings of a drug commercial. Then we see a longer shot of a wife asking her husband if he got the shot on his phone.

The Gist: To say that Kathryn Siddell-Bauers (Jennifer Garner) is a control freak is an understatement. The itinerary for the camping trip she planned to celebrate the birthday of her husband Walt (David Tennant) is held in a binder that’s thicker than a dictionary. Part of the reason why she feels the need to be in control is that she’s in chronic pain; she steals foam mattresses out of the other guests’ tents to ensure her pelvic floor is comfortable while she sleeps.

Even though they brought their son Orvis (Duncan Joiner), Kathryn specifically says the trip is for adults only; but her earth-girl sister Carleen (Ione Skye) brings her stepdaughter Sol (Cheyenne Haynes) anyway; her husband (and Sol’s dad) Joe (Chris Sullivan) is along for the ride but not in the best of shape, having only been sober for a few weeks. A third couple — Walt’s jerky buddy George (Brett Gelman) and his wife Nina-Joy (Janicza Bravo), who has had a falling out with Kathryn — also show up.

Another couple was supposed to be there, but everyone but Kathryn seems to know that their friend Miguel (Arturo Del Puerto) and his wife separated after he found out she cheated on him. He shows up anyway in the middle of the night, getting a thigh full of BBs from the pellet gun the campground’s owners gave Kathryn. And he’s not alone; he’s with a free-spirited healer named Jandice (Juliette Lewis), who throws a monkey wrench in Kathryn’s well-laid-out birthday weekend plans.

Our Take: Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner adapted Camping from a British series, and it certainly has the stamp of the women who brought us Girls: Over-privileged characters stomping around whatever environment they’re in, spraying their entitlement all over the place. This time around, though, everyone is middle-aged and they come to their entitlement a bit more organically, especially Kathryn.

It’s easy to see Kathryn as just a prickly, annoying, controlling hypochondriac. But knowing Dunham’s medical history, which she has given lock, stock and barrel to Kathryn, we can see why Kathryn is the way she is; wracked by fibromyalgia and having had a hysterectomy due to endometriosis, she needs to exert this control. And she’s slowly realizing that even though it’s coming at the expense of friendships — she thinks she’s her friend group’s go-to person for any and all problems, though it’s turning out she’s the last to know — she knows no other way to live right now.

It’ll be interesting to see the characters around her help her loosen up a bit. Walt is an amiable doofus (it’s always disconcerting hearing Tennant speak with a flat American accent, but he’s fine here) who joins in with the rest of the crew when Jandice runs into the nearby lake naked. George seems to be a douchey bad influence on him, a role that Gelman constantly excels at. We’re super-curious about what busted up Kathryn and Nina-Joy’s friendship, and Bravo plays her discomfort with Kathryn well. But the wild card is Lewis, always a fascinating watch, immediately making an impact from her first scene. Jandice’s free spirit is so opposite of Kathryn’s personality, the conflict between the two will be fun to follow.

Sex and Skin: Jandice strips down and runs into the lake naked, ruining Kathryn’s long-planned birds of prey-watching hike.

Parting Shot: As she sees everyone romping in the lake, she says, “Guys! Swimming is tomorrow! You’re ruining the schedule.” Unbeknownst to her a bear lurks behind her, which is why the owners gave her the BB gun to begin with.

Sleeper Star: We already mentioned Lewis. We also like Janicza Bravo as Nina-Joy, who is a pretty peaceful person… except when it comes to Kathryn.

Most Pilot-y Line: Do Kathryn and Walt really have to wear matching pajamas?

Our Call: STREAM IT. This could go south really quickly. But the talent on both sides of the camera, paired with some genuine laughs in the first episode lead us to think that Camping could have a solid first season.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company’s Co.Create and elsewhere.

Stream Camping on HBO Go