"Kiff" Wraps Up Season Two with Absurdity, Randomness, Calamity, and A Whole Lot of Heart
Kiff rounds out its second season with another example of what makes the show so great - combining absolute ridiculousness with emotion and heart. We’re also calling it now, this might be a “For Your Consideration” episode at next year’s Children’s and Family Emmys.
Souvenir Money
In the first half of our episode today, we find out that it’s the last day of school, and soon Kiff and Barry are going to go on a fun trip to one of Table Town’s biggest landmarks that we’ve never heard of - Old Punctual. Old Punctual is a geyser outside of town that draws people in and the students become quite taken aback that Kiff and Barry are going. Perhaps it's jealousy, or perhaps they’re all like Trevor, who gives Kiff and Barry money up front to get him a t-shirt from an Old Punctual souvenir shop.
The rest of the students jump on the opportunity giving Kiff and Barry a shopping list for when they go, with Candle sending out a mass text which causes even kids from other schools to give Kiff and Barry money up front.
By the end of the queue, Kiff and Barry have amassed 500 nuts (money in Table Town) and have a pages-long shopping list of souvenirs to get.
As they are on their way home, they are waiting at the tram station with a literal pile of money in their arms when they come across the train robber, whom fans may recall from the Friendaversary episode who robbed Kiff. He sees the money and is practically salivating trying to get his hands on it, prompting Kiff and Barry to go to the OK WILL to purchase some kind of safe (like a bank has!) for the money.
They end up getting a lock box from the store, but to purchase it, they need to use some of the souvenir money. It’s okay though, they figure, since souvenir stores at Old Punctual will likely haggle.
Ummm about that.
As they leave the store with their cute little lock box, they realize that they might, in fact, need a bigger and better lock box to put the small and cute lock box in. As such, they use more souvenir money to get a bigger and better lockbox, and again later to get a keychain to put the two lockbox keys on.
As with most of her goods, Kiff puts the keys into her tail and quickly loses them in a nearby sewer grate. After spending time getting them out, they return to the lock box and realize it is gone. Someone must have taken it, but who?
To figure it out, the two once again (for some reason) hire Jackie, the detective who claims to be busy until she realizes how much money is on the line and agrees to solve the case for 10% of the pot. So, we’re already talking almost 50 nuts out of the souvenir money, but hey, those souvenir stores will haggle, right?!
Jackie is on the case, but instead of looking where they last saw the lock box, she decides to start at the beach with full metal detectors and everything.
Growing annoyed, Kiff and Barry go off to look for their lock box on their own and discover that a majestic Griffin is the creature that has taken their lockbox, and follow it back to its nest. Many fans have gathered for this momentous occasion, and Glarbin is there representing the Table Town Conservation Society explaining that Griffin’s build nests from found items.
The kids climb up the tree and into the nest but Glarbin is behind them, he too hoping to get a closer look at the majestic creature. When he discovers that the kids are there to get the lock box, he explains that tampering with a Griffin’s nest is illegal, and they likely won't get the lockbox back for at least 13 years.
The Griffin looks at Kiff and Barry, and Kiff holds out the keys as if to explain, “That’s ours, and we’d like to have it back” but the Griffin simply takes the keys, and makes them a part of the nest too.
Now they have no lock box full of nuts and no keys.
We, the viewers of the show, know that this is all going to work out in some way or another. It always does. It basically has to.
That’s when Jackie pulls up on a pirate ship-esque vehicle, explaining that she did not find their lock box, but instead found an old treasure chest of pirate doubloons. That’s it - she’s going to give them the money, right? No. Instead, she gives them two doubloons so that they can go buy “a sodie pop” and the kids are next seen at Sips (the soda fountain seen throughout this season).
There, they are devastated having lost the 500 nuts, but ask if they can pay for their sodas with doubloons. Fortunately, the server at Sips is a pirate gold doubloon enthusiast (there it is!) and explains that each of those doubloons is worth at least 250 nuts. Perfect, since they have two of them! Instead of cashing them in and taking the nuts to Old Punctual, they go home and buy the shopping list of souvenirs from a tacky online souvenir shop. Problem solved.
Kiff Loses Barry
Now, the last half of the episode featured Kiff and Barry looking out a window seeing Old Punctual in the distance, but don’t worry! We’re going to get up close. The Chatterley’s and Barry are on their way to the landmark and Martin hasn’t been there since he was a kid. Now, he’s going to do something he wanted to do when he was younger but didn’t get the chance to since some bigger kids blocked his view - throw a keychain with his name on it (“Lil’ Marty”) at the last moment before Old Punctual erupted and watch it launch into the sky.
Barry is on the phone with his mom who is making sure he wears his mosquito net hat whenever he is outside, which we learn as soon as they arrive also blocks his view.
The family has joined the crowd at the edge of Old Punctual, which consists of a band called the Shoeshiners, other attendees, and a park ranger who is some kind of relative of Glarbin I’m sure. Martin’s keychain plan is ready for action when he notices a nearby sign saying that there is no littering - which would include his keychain. While he goes to obey the sign, one of the nearby band members turns themselves around and their guitar hits Marty, bumping him and making him drop his keychain into the geyser hole.
As the geyser rumbles, we realise that the geyser is clogged and now the steaming hot water is erupting wherever possible, fracturing the ground in smaller geysers and launching those in attendance into the sky. It’s quite the scene. Barry, who can’t see anything, is holding onto Kiff’s hand and in all the chaos they get separated. Thankfully, the reunite and Kiff guides him back to the car with Martin and Beryl and quickly leave the scene. Martin is stressed (remember, this was all his fault) and asks for one hour of silence in the car. When that time is up, Kiff realizes that the person in the car is not Barry.
Elsewhere, we see Barry on a bus with the Shoeshiners, realizing how lost he is when he removes his mosquito net hat. He explains his situation, and it turns out that the motel he and the Chatterley’s were planning to stay at is right near the motel. He also apologizes since he’s never heard of the band before, with the band leader explaining that most haven’t, they haven’t had their one big hit yet.
Oh wait a minute, there hasn’t been a song yet this episode has there? I sense this might be coming soon.
The band agrees to help but Barry is assured that Kiff will find him.
Back in the Chatterley’s car, we learn that Jerri Jo is a loveable country mouse who hates mosquitoes (and looks an awful lot like Barry in his mosquito hat) but didn’t say anything since Martin asked for one hour of silence.
So, they head back to Old Punctual, and the Glarbin-esque Park Ranger is on the lookout for Lil’ Marty. Yeah, they found the keychain. Martin needs to leave, but the park ranger gives a clue, saying he saw someone wearing a hat like Jerri Jo’s get on the Shoeshiner’s bus. Jerri Jo explains that she should be on the bus, because she’s their roadie. However, she didn’t know where the bus was going because she worries about amps. Not their next stop.
We go back to the bus where Barry is adding lyrics to the song that the Shoeshiners are playing and we get a montage of both Kiff and Barry singing while she is tracking Barry to the motel.
This is exactly where they were supposed to end up so it worked out quite well. Jerri Jo runs off, and we see Barry waiting on a couch as Kiff is told someone from their party has already checked in.
It seems the two are about to be reunited when they each head to open a door, and we see Barry open the door for a stage manager while Jerri Jo opens the door for Kiff. She checks in for them.
Nearby, Kiff hears the faint sound of music and sees the crowd, while Jerri Jo hears the distinct sound of her amps. Kiff is lost in the crowd getting closer to the stage when Barry pulls her up on stage, and together they all perform Barry’s new song with the Shoeshiners.
We get to hear the rest of the song as Martin and Beryl take the stage. The park ranger has also come to arrest Lil’ Marty, but gets distracted enjoying the song. Flam Ranjo (based on the belt buckle but clearly Flam Bingo-esque) signs the Shoeshiners to a record deal, and Jerri Jo is reunited with her amps, which she likes maybe a bit too much.
Similar to the close of season one of Kiff, this episode ends on this beautiful note and song, and just has us wanting more. This last segment sounds like utter nonsense but that’s because it is. That’s what Kiff does best. It’s wonderfully absurd, yet so full of heart. And frankly, we can’t wait for season three.
We close out after the rollicking performance, seeing Kiff and Barry sleeping in the back seat of the Chatterley family vehicle.
Until season three.
This episode of Kiff is now available on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW website. You can also catch up with earlier episodes streaming now on Disney+.