The first season of Kiff wraps up with a convoluted day at the beach, plus the greatest pool party that Table Town has ever seen.
Beach Day
It’s time for a beach day, and Kiff, Barry, and the Chatterly parents have arrived all the way at Banister Beach. When everyone decides to take the moment to relax and enjoy their fries (Kiff) or their book (Baryl), Martin gets upset because nobody will bury him. You see, the whole drive over he apparently told the family how he was always the one doing the burying, watching someone else in the family become the center of attention and the beach’s humorous photo op with only their head sticking out of the ground.
As such, Kiff and Barry bury Martin, fulfilling his wishes. However, Kiff is becoming very protective of her fries that she didn’t finish, as she wants to savor them. Now, there’s a seagull lurking nearby that she just can’t trust.
Even Baryl’s book time is interrupted when a stray volleyball arrives in her lap, and she is asked to return the ball – but she refuses to spike it back as she doesn’t play volleyball anymore. And uh oh, here’s the reason why! It’s Dennis playing volleyball, her old high school rival.
So now we have our three stories for the episode, let’s see how this plays out.
Martin is now fully buried by the kids, but the seagull is getting closer, freaking Kiff out. They decide to leave the area and go further down the beach, away from the seagull and leaving Martin on his own. Okay, now he can become the photo spot he wants to be. Except that now someone else has parked themself on the beach, complete with chair to cover up Martin’s head. Oh! It’s Beverly, and she has some pretty hefty headphones on so she likely can’t hear Martin screaming from beneath.
Baryl has returned the Volleyball (walking it over) and we discover through some aggressive ribbing that he was the best player in their high school, beating Baryl in a technicality. Cut to a bird landing on the volleyball net making it droop a bit lower so his ball barely made it over after he slipped on his untied shoelace. Baryl insists she was the better player, and now we have a rematch in store.
Down the beach, Kiff and Barry are taking their places away from the seagull kid. Barry (who can’t swim, remember?) is blowing up all his floaties so he can safely wade in the water – which means leaving her fries unattended. Can she do it?
Martin is trapped still and now has to contend with crabs who are ready to restyle his mustache. But seriously, the have a mirror and everything. Baryl is now stuck looking for a partner to play V-ball with, and her options aren’t too great. As Martin concocts a plan as the tide is rising, he knows that the water will get to Beverly and she’ll have to get up.
Back at the other end of the beach, Kiff and Barry are in the water, and Kiff sees the seagull approaching their stuff. An ill-timed spiky thing bursts Barry’s floaties, and she must help him with that, but when they get back to their stuff, the fries are gone. Sure enough, they see the seagull walking away with the fries, and corner the bird under a pier. Kiff tries to retrieve them, getting into an altercation with the seagull kid when the bird’s older siblings arrive on scene, protecting her. They challenge Kiff for proof that those were her fries, since everyone else on the beach seems to have them. Alas she cannot, but the seagull kid gives Kiff a knowing wink. Those were definitely her fries.
Baryl has picked her partner, and he isn’t that great. He misses the ball, and it lands near Beverly who smashes it back to Baryl who is impressed with her skills. Since Beverly is naturally great at everything, that includes Volleyball. Baryl has her partner, and once again Martin is stuck is as the tide is rising. He needs to now figure a way out, and his current plan is to keep digging lower, so he does.
After getting the idea from Barry who got caught up in someone’s kite string, Kiff has baited the seagull to prove to everyone that she stole her fries. Like land fishing, she has tied the fry to a piece of string that Barry has found.
The volleyball rematch is on, and things are looking great for Baryl and Beverly, especially when Martin’s head pops up out of the ground (after his digging escape) and trips Dennis a la the original shoelace incident. This time, Baryl and Beverly are sure to wi—- oop. No they’re not. The net is starting to disappear string by string, as the seagull flies overhead with that last fry, with Kiff, Barry, and a lifeguard tower holding on for dear life. So that’s where Barry got the string.
Later in the car, everyone seems unhappy that their day didn’t work out like they wanted it to save for Barry, who found the humor and fun in everything that happened that day. A feeling that was passed on to the rest of the Chatterly gang.
Suns Out Buns Out
School’s out for summer, and Principal Secretary has to literally push Kiff and Barry out of the doors. Outside, the kids are trying to figure out what to do with the Summer, especially since Candle’s dad turned her pool into a half-pipe. Barry suggests that they use his pool. Wait, what? Barry has a pool?
As the kids show up, they are stopped by Barry’s sister, Terry, who has taken over the pool with her high school friends. Barry doesn’t use the pool, and he doesn’t know how to swim, remember? We’ve known this since very early on in the series, but apparently it was news to all his school friends (except Kiff). Barry and his friends should just go back to serving watermelon to the high schoolers while they sit by the pool.
Barry stands up for his friends, and insists that this is his pool too, eventually cooking up a wager with his sister that if he can swim to the end of the pool, Terry will serve them all the watermelon that they can eat, and if he doesn’t the kids are to stay out of the pool, but be the high schoolers butlers all Summer, waiting on them hand and foot (and paw).
Okay, so how can Barry learn to swim if he’s not allowed to use the pool? The kids cook up a plan and “borrow” the dolphin’s tank car (another call back to earlier in the series. This is the season finale, brace yourselves for a lot of them), and use the vehicle to teach Barry. After doing a montage-worth of dry land exercises like holding his breath or faux-swimming next to a fish tank, he’s ready to get into the vehicle.
He jumps in and is doing quite well, inspiring hope in all his friends until his tow hits a decorative rock at the bottom of the tank that brings it all back – the reason he doesn’t know how to swim, the reason he doesn’t go in the pool. The Terrible.
The flashback shows us a young Barry swimming in the pool when a frightening claw comes up from beneath and grabs his leg, pulling him under. Back in reality, Barry starts screaming for a lengthy moment. Its amusing, but you can also see how clearly traumatized he is by this incident, and Kiff seems to be the only one that cares that maybe this whole thing is a bad idea. The other kids don’t want to wait on the high schoolers all summer.
As Barry explains The Terrible and what happened, we see that it’s Terry who told him that, which leads the kids and Kiff to realize, this whole thing was a lie devised to scare Barry. As they explain what this means to him, as well as the definition of the word, “Gullible,” Barry is a new bunny, and ready to take on the pool once again.
They arrive back at the house, and Barry jumps in ready to show off his swimming abilities. As Terry realizes he is doing it, she slinks out of her tube and under the water. Barry, traversing the pool, stops mid-way and starts screaming again. The Terrible has attacked again. Kiff is comforting him, and sees Terry coming up from the water and ringing out her ears. It dawns on Kiff that Terry is the Terrible, and reveals the terrible secret to everyone there. Terry admits that she didn’t expect this whole prank to become a decades-long thing, but alas. Now that Barry knows none of that was real, he is brimming with confidence and swims across the pool. The high schoolers were impressed and his older sister was actually proud.
A deal is a deal, and Terry now has to keep serving up the fresh watermelon to the kids, how much can they eat?
The kids kick back and enjoy their pool party, and instead of kicking the high schoolers out, invite them to stay and play with them. Terry is making watermelon runs, and the town learns that Barry has a pool, and the party continues to grow.
All of this surrounded by what could possibly be the summer anthem of 2024, as Terry buys more and more watermelon, eventually growing her own. Expect to see pretty much every character we’ve met this season at the party (use that rewind button to spot them all) all summed up with a touching moment that wraps up the first season of this great show.
This episode of Kiff is now on Disney Channel and streaming on the DisneyNOW app. You can also catch up with earlier episodes of the series on Disney+.
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