Tara Ward watches TVNZ’s new local series about a group of teen delinquents sent to an unusual rehabilitation facility.

This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here.

TVNZ’s new teen comedy-drama begins like no other. A balaclava-clad teenager breaks into a fancy house and wanders through every room, breaking ornaments and pulling artwork off the walls. As she enters the kitchen, the figure leaps onto the bench, pulls down her pants, and closes her eyes. She gives a small grunt at the exact moment when two adults walk into the kitchen. They scream, horrified at the scene in front of them, while the teenager stares back at them, frozen. “I did a big shit on the bench,” the voiceover announces.

And with that, Camp Be Better has begun.

Written and directed by Chye-Ling Huang and Hayden J. Weal, Camp Be Better tells the story of 17-year-old Niah (Sweet Tooth’s Louise Jiang), who is sent to a rehabilitation camp as punishment for breaking and entering (and dumping). She quickly discovers Camp Be Better isn’t your ordinary boot camp: instead, this is a luxury holiday for the offspring of the rich and privileged, whose wealth and influence has allowed them to swerve the justice system for 100 days of facials and champagne. While those on the outside think these naughty teens are repaying their debt to society, the reality is far more indulgent.

Episode one of Camp Be Better is a short, snappy teaser into Niah’s new world, and introduces us to the campmates she’ll spend the next 100 days with. This is a teen drama with plenty of archetypal characters: as Niah’s fellow camper Jonas puts it, “we’ve got a crazy rich Asian, the wanky prince from Brigerton, homeschool baby Christian Bale and a ginger”. The show has the stylised teen world of Sex Education and the quiet uneasiness of Creamerie, with an energetic script that’s filled with snappy jokes and sharp one-liners.

Niah finds herself in a cohort of nepo-babies responsible for drug crimes, indecent exposure and arson. “Most of you should be in jail, or worse, cancelled,” camp leader Papa Sterling announces on their arrival. Niah doesn’t fit in at Camp Be Better, and can’t understand how someone with neither wealth or connections ended up there. Things get even worse when the campmates discover Niah is actually – gasp – poor, a crime they consider far more shameful than leaving a poo on a kitchen bench.

It’s up to Niah to find out what’s really going on. Why is her mother in jail? Who sent her to Camp Be Better? And what’s really going on in this weird summer camp filled with rich kids and all their issues?

Just like a teenager, episode one of Camp Be Better feels like it’s still working out who it wants to be. It has the hallmarks of a fun, quirky drama, and we can expect this obnoxious bunch of teens to indeed become better people, mostly thanks to their friendship with outsider Niah. How deep the show is willing to go in its skewering of wealth and privilege isn’t entirely clear in the first episode, but there’s no better timing for it, given the current issues around boot camps and debates around how the rich and poor are treated differently in the criminal justice system.

There’s a lot to set up in episode one, but with a strong cast (including well-known faces like Tom Sainsbury, Amanda Billing and Lisa Chappell), big energy and a keen script, Camp Be Better sparkles with potential. If future episodes can take us beyond the teen stereotypes and into some deeper moments of connection – all while making us laugh – then it will be a winner. Unlike finding a turd on a kitchen bench, this series comes as a welcome surprise.

Camp Be Better streams on TVNZ+.