Plot I
The episode starts out with the counselors, Lou, Hazel, and Xander announcing an event. According to camp tradition, the person who first touches the stick when it’s thrown up in the air gets to be the Spirit Stick Guardian. Emma isn’t even paying attention when the stick gets thrown up but becomes the guardian when the stick lands on her back. Knowing that Xander really wanted the Spirit Stick, Emma decides to give it to him not knowing that another part of the tradition, that if the guardian loses the stick it brings bad luck, was legitimate “Giving the stick away means you failed as guardian,” Lou says. “Now all of Woodchuck cabin is going to be knee-deep in bad luck. Almost immediately, Zuri discovers a huge zit on her nose, and Emma gets knocked over by a camper carrying a boogie board. When bad things continue to happen to Emma, Zuri and Lou, they try to get the Spirit Stick back from Xander. But when it goes missing from Xander’s cabin, the bad luck starts to spread throughout the camp. According to legend, the last time the Spirit Stick was lost, back in 1958, poison ivy got into the food, and campers “had to eat sandpaper to scratch their insides.” Tired of the bad luck, the five of them went into the woods to find the spirits and apologize to them. In order to get good luck again, each of them must give up one item that one treasures very much. Lou offers in a sacrifice to the gods is a Hungry-Gal TV dinner. Emma gives an old pair of shoes, Zuri her favorite stack of cash, and Hazel a doll she made out of Xander’s hair. At the end of the episode, Emma and Xander are found apologizing to each other. Later Hazel comes in and tries to get the hair from Xander to make another hair doll.
Plot II
Meanwhile, Ravi tries to get help from Tiffany and Jorge for his swim test coming up Thursday. Tiffany and Jorge had a disagreement about who is the better teacher and who teaches it the best way. Jorge wants Ravi to actually go in the water to swim, but Tiffany wants Ravi to get the information on books and "BARF". Ravi frets over preparations for the swim test and injures two campers when he accidentally dives into a canoe instead of the lake to practice saving Jorge. In the end at the lake when Ravi has to overcome his fear of swimming to save the camp from the Spirit Stick curse.
This episode provides examples of:
- Butt-Monkey: Emma, who gets subjected to physical violence and humiliation throughout the episode.
