With Camp Campbell sold off due to lack of funds, the campers are split up and sent off to the camps they intended to sign up for. Max is left alone, and with a decision to make.
Tropes:
- The Atoner: Max's real goal for the episode is to fix his mistake with Neil and Nikki.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: After Max burns down both magic camps, Harrison and Nerris exchange a brief icy glare on the bus. Then Harrison smiles and pats the seat next to him, which Nerris happily takes.
- Bait-and-Switch: Cameron Campbell is confronting Max for the first time since the latter tricked the former into confessing his crimes and forced him to flee into the forest. He looms over Max threateningly, talking darkly about how he's had a lot of time alone to ruminate on who is ultimately responsible for his current situation...then completely drops the ominous tone to conclude that it's him.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Gwen finally has a respectable job that pays well and doesn't require her to be the Only Sane Woman. She doesn't like it very much.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Well, kind to himself. Max brushes off Neil and Nikki as "temporary friends" - and immediately regrets it. When they're reunited later, he admits that he was really trying to spare himself the pain of saying goodbye to his best friends.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Ered is glad to see Nerris again, and flashes her a hang-ten when they're reunited on the camp bus.
- Fatal Flaw: Cameron Campbell finally realizes that his is his Greed. No matter how much money he made it was never enough for him, and he screwed over others just to make a quick buck. He eventually realizes this after he betrays everyone but realizes the money he steals won't help him in most parts of the world, since he is a wanted fugitive, and turns himself in to try to change.Max: With all that money, you can just buy some new friends who will eventually hate your guts too.
- Good Versus Good: The Campwells are a
Designated Villain at worst, since their only real goal is to send each child at Camp Campbell to the summer camp they wanted to go to in the first place. Likewise, Max wants Camp Campbell back for selfish reasons, but his MO relies on convincing his former campmates that they want to come back. - Green-Eyed Epiphany: Harrison is initially reluctant to come back to Camp Campbell, until Max points out that the camp just needs a magic kid - it doesn't have to be Harrison in particular. Harrison is driven to a fit of jealousy until he finally snaps that Camp Campbell needs him back because he was their friend.Harrison: Oh wow. It seems I have freaked my own mind.Max: Ta-da.
- Hazy-Feel Turn: It's unclear exactly how much Cameron Campbell has reformed, up until he betrays everyone and makes off with the camp's money at the end of the episode - only to give it all up and turn himself in.
- Heel Realization: Double subverted. Cameron Campbell has been hiding out in the woods by himself for half a season, and he claims he's come to realize that he's at the root of all his problems. It turns out to be a cover so he can steal the camp's funding and flee the country for good - except that he really has realized that he's the problem, and comes to the conclusion that he has to turn himself in and try to change.
- In Medias Res: The episode begins almost immediately after the events of "City Survival" and doesn't even break for the Camp Camp Song Song.
- Ironic Echo: When Max dismisses their friendship, Neil huffs that "You were fine before you met us. You'll be fine after we're gone." When Campbell uses the exact same words to describe his relationship with the Campwells, Max has a look of visible shock on his face.
- Jerkass Realization: After watching Cameron Campbell's fight with the Campwells - a mirror of his own relationship with Neil and Nikki - Max realizes just how badly he's hurt his friends.
- Meaningless Villain Victory: Campbell claims to have "won" after he betrays everyone to take the funds for the camp for himself he plans to leave the country forever to start a new life somewhere else, but realizes he is still a fugitive in several other countries too and is leaving behind everyone who tried to help him due to his own greed.
- Never My Fault: Cameron Campbell says in the beginning of the episode that the Campwells are worse than he is and betrayed him in the past, cutting him out after he helped them build Camp Corp. It is later revealed that this is just his own twisted version of the events. They were disgusted by his selfishness and greed, with his various plans only benefiting himself instead of the corporation, and he ended up pushing the Campwells away himself due to feeling they never supported his ideas.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Max tries to soften the blow of the campers splitting up by pointing out that himself, Neil, and Nikki were always doomed to a temporary friendship. The other two do not take it as well as he assumes.
- "Not So Different" Remark: After "The Candy Kingpin" first pointed out the similarities, Max comes to realize that his self-centered and manipulative behavior is leading him to become like Cameron Campbell.
- Parting-Words Regret: At the beginning of the episode, Max has reverted to the angry, petulant, foul-mouthed brat he was at the show's beginning, and it's clear that he's kicking himself for parting on such bad terms with Neil and Nikki.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The Campwells are only in conflict with Max because they're trying to send every kid to the camp they wanted in the first place. They're also endlessly patient, even during their argument with Cameron Campbell, and have the brains to realize that just paying Camp Campbell to go away is best for everyone.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: David, Max, and Campbell team up to save Camp Campbell, all for different reasons.
- True Companions: Max has a hard time admitting that Nikki and Neil are this to him, because he knows summer camp can't last forever. At the episode's end, however, he admits to them both that putting Camp Campbell back together was just an excuse to save their friendship.
- Really, all the campers are this for each other. The episode takes time to show that, as much as they drive each other insane, they're all truly happy to be reunited.
- Tsundere: Max keeps insisting that he doesn't like Camp Campbell - he's just fighting tooth and nail to save it.
- Villains Never Lie: Despite knowing how Cameron Campbell lies and scams with just about everything he does, Max still believes him when he says that the Campwells are worse than him and betrayed him in the past and is confused for a moment when the Campwells say that Campbell hasn't changed at all. David also goes along with their plan, even though he is aware how Campbell tried to frame him. This might be justified as Max and David not having any other way to get the camp back.
- When He Smiles: During his water gun fight with Neil and Nikki at the end of the episode, Max looks distinctly happy.
