I had gathered from the promos that the kids on Kid Nation were going to consider killing a couple of their chickens to get some protein. Still, I was surprised that they were led to consider the question by the "Pioneer's Journal" that the town council consults every so often.

Tired of canned food, most of the kids were in favor of cooking up a couple of their feathered friends, but Emilie, a 9-year-old farmgirl who had grown close to all the animals, was not amused. But she and a few of her friends were outvoted, and the killing and the cooking proceeded. I have to say, though, I don't know what they would have done without Greg. Last episode, his dominant characteristic was bully. But he'd worked for a butcher before, so he was totally comfortable with the process of beheading and defeathering the chickens. A bunch of the kids were disturbed to learn that "running around like a chicken with its head cut off" has its roots in fact. But once they all had some chicken soup, they got over it.

Greg also proved useful during the challenge, when the four teams had to connect a bunch of pipes to get water to make a waterwheel turn. (It was more complicated than that sounds.) Turns out he'd also laid sprinkler systems with his dad before, so he led his team to a victory. But despite all this, the council decided to give the $20,000 gold star to Michael, who had fixed the frozen water pump and given several inspirational speeches. (It seemed to a lot of people -- not incorrectly, that Greg was only pitching in because he wanted to get the money.)

The other thing that jumped out at me was how totally useless Taylor, the pre-teen beauty queen and leader of the yellow team, has seemed. When she's not being judgmental about other people's principles, she's refusing to get out of bed and letting her team shirk its kitchen duties or talking about how "beauty queens don't do that" (in this case, dishes). I have a feeling that's not going to last long.

It's worth noting, though, that the reason she didn't want to get up was because it was freezing cold. So these poor kids are alone, fending for themselves, and it's also cold enough to freeze their water supply? It's looking worse and worse.

Lastly, in the kids say the darndest things category, during a conversation about how they would kill the chickens, one girl asked, "Are they gonna hang 'em like they did Saddam Hussein?" Hey, at least she's watching the news, right?