The True Cost of A Board Game and A High-Five Gone Awry in the Latest "Kiff" on Disney Channel

The latest episode of Kiff on Disney Channel shows the true cost of leaving someone hanging before the true costs of playing intense board games with friends and family.

Don’t Leave B Hangin’

Kiff and Barry are watching some kind of robot soap opera when the show is interrupted for some real space action - astronauts, including Commander Goldie Crispo, are heading up into space to track down Slimmy P - the grocery store mascot who inexplicably took off into space back in season one - and reorient him to send him back to Earth. 

As this is such an exciting event, Kiff and Barry head down to the launchpad and join the crowd of bystanders waiting to watch the rocket take off. There, the kids hope to get a high five from an astronaut. As Commander Goldie Crispo and her partner Rex are greeting the crowd, they get to Kiff and give her a high-five, and as Barry raises his arm, Goldie Crispo is called back to the ship for take off - leaving Barry hanging. 

Worse yet, the rejection of being left hanging is so severe, he can’t put his arm down. Kiff attempts to high-five him in the hopes of curing the condition, but no. It seems that the person who left him hanging must complete the high-five transaction, but that person just went to outer space! 

Surely, there must be something that medical science can do to help the situation, but alas. There is not. Dr. Lyon has even said so, but his wife does host a support group for this exact condition. So, Kiff and Barry go to the group, where everyone SEEMS to want to speak up and share their situation, but alas - they all have their hand raised because of their condition, not because they want to talk. The woman with both her arms up? They were meant for a high-five from twins! 

Alas, the group did nothing for Barry either, and on the way home they watched a livestream of Goldie Crispo high-fiving Slimmy P., rotating his orbit and sending him home. Next, they head to City Hall to have Glarbin help them with contacting the astronauts to see if there is something that can be done. 

When contacting them via video call, Barry explains his plight - through song! - and asks the astronauts to come back and give him a high five. Sadly, the astronauts are in space for the next 50 years, conducting experiments and sending other mascots home. There’s no coming home just yet for them. 

So, if they can’t come home, Barry and Kiff plan to go to them, studying up and spending the next two days building a rocket. When Barry is ready to take off, he realizes that he and Kiff installed an ignition system that requires two hands turning the keys at once. Something that he can’t do with one arm permanently stuck in the air asking for a high-five. 

Okay, so now that plan is scrapped. 

Just then, Slimmy P. is on approach back to Table Town, crashing through the atmosphere in a fiery blaze and landing near their rocket. On his skateboard, he has enough momentum to roll up with his arm raised and connects with Barry giving him a high-five. 

Kiff thinks that since Goldie Crispo gave Slimmy the high-five, by the transitive property, he has now received a high-five from an astronaut. I honestly raised an eyebrow. If this would have worked, I would argue that Kiff got a high-five from Goldie Crispo before her first high-five attempt with Barry. But alas, it did not work from Slimmy P. either, just got his finger to twitch a little bit. 

Now, we flash forward fifty years and find an elder version of Kiff and Barry waiting for Goldie Crispo’s return. When she lands, she comes off the spaceship and goes to high five Barry who is now able to move his arm, and pulls back joking “Too slow!” 

After. All. That. 

Barry thinks it’s the funniest thing ever, and we cut to a space station with an even older Glarbin and his nephew, as Glarbin is telling him this story - suggesting that some have said this story never happened at all, or was in fact, so funny that it reset the timeline, and Barry was never cursed to have his arm stuck in the air. 

What do I hope it means? That Slimmy P. is back on the planet for more fun later on. 

Thunderstorm Game Night

Kiff is at the Buns residence for the evening when an intense thunderstorm rolls through. While this could just be considered a weather event, it also means that the family can play a board game that they have locked in a hall closet for just this reason. It’s the only time they can play the game, because otherwise it causes so much competition between the family members, it only ends in screaming and crying. 

The game, “Head of the Table,” might seem a lot like Monopoly and LIFE combined to you and I,  but causes great rifts when it arrives at the table. Immediately, the family is arguing over what pieces to take for the game, with Kiff trying to keep the peace and taking the game piece that nobody else wants. 

As it gets to her turn, she immediately draws a card that will set her behind from the beginning, with Barry suggesting that it’s her first time and she should get to try drawing a different card. The family reluctantly agrees, and Kiff draws another card - demanding game money from the player to her right, which happens to be Barry.

As the game continues, the family seems to gang up on Barry, setting his piece back, taking his money, anything that gives him a disadvantage in the game. Barry even catches his mom trying to cheat at one point. 

Later, Terri gets a card where she can give money to three different players, picking Kiff over Barry. This causes Barry to get up, politely excusing himself from the table, and head into a nearby closet for a second. Kiff grows worried about her bunny bestie, and tries to talk to him. He seems okay, just weird, before she comes back out to the game and explains that she might have to forfeit, giving him a better chance at winning. After all, the family told her that he’d probably be sad for a while if she lost, causing her to have a vision of the rest of their lives, with an Elder version of Kiff floating in a flooded Table Town that has been submerged by years of Barry’s tears. 

As she is explaining that she might leave the game, the thunder cracks again and reveals Barry, who heard the whole thing. He goes on to explain that the game is not for the weak, and is only for those who have a spine - angering Kiff in the process. A new side of Barry is unleashed and he begins eliminating players from the game with gusto. It’s astounding to Kiff, who is keeping up with him, and the rest of the Buns family is rooting for her. 

Finally, it comes down to one last roll of the dice to determine who wins the game, with Kiff and Barry both promising to end their friendship, whether immediately or through time travel. And it all is based on the roll of a 6. 

As Barry tosses the die, it rolls off the table and under the living room chair. As Kiff and Barry watch the roll, the storm clears and the sunlight has come out. According to the house rules, regardless of who won - the game is over and they can go about their lives. 

Kiff seems astonished at first, but obliges and heads outside with the rest of the family. Not to leave the audience hanging, we zoom in under the chair and find the dice balanced on its side in the carpet, with one of the faces showing a six. But we’ll never know who actually won. 

This episode of Kiff is now available on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW app. You can catch up with earlier episodes streaming now on Disney+.