236. Moss Piglets
Season 21, Episode 8
Heidi and Cartman bump incoming since this episode is saved by a fat, selfish Heidi who makes Cartman see what a dick he is (without any self-reflection, of course) as she takes control of the relationship. Nathan and Mimzy are mostly wasted in this episode. The tardigrades evolving socially and drawing interest from the NFL to be converted into fans because of all their bad press and concussion issues is amusing and I’m approving of any potshots directed at the NFL. A lot of this episode kind of goes in one ear and out the other with me, but I’ve watched it a few times now and it is a funny despite 22 minutes despite the lack of staying power. The all female bus stop scene with Heidi playing the Cartman role, even expressing his misery when Cartman interrupts them, is a nice touch.
235. Are You There God? It’s Me, Jesus
Season 3, Episode 16
Randy: That’s God?
Jesus: Yea, 'tis my father, the creator. He is the Alpha and the Omega. The Beginning and The End.
Mr. Garrison: Well, yeah. But that? God: What did you expect me to look like, my son?
Mr. Garrison: Well, not like that!
I wonder where this episode would rank if it weren’t for a shriveled up and wheelchair bound Rod Stewart shitting himself while singing ‘ooooohhhhh’, and if we didn’t see God. They’re two things that always stuck with me. Early on in the series Parker and Stone were drawn to plots where the four boys were forced with changes and growing up. In this case, it’s Stan being excluded because he hasn’t gotten his “period” yet. Cartman and Kenny are shitting blood due to a virus and think it’s their period. Kyle lies about shitting blood to fit in. Stan takes massive amounts of hormones and ends up maturing way too fast and growing a beard and titties. It’s a good story in terms of structure, but it’s not super entertaining
Jesus trying to capitalize on the Y2K craze and become a big deal again with a horrible concert is a more enjoyable plot, especially since his terrible plan almost leads to him being crucified again. His arc is better than Stan’s too. But the way both plots tie together with God’s appearance is well done with Stan wasting the only question God will answer to learn why he hasn’t gotten his period yet.
234. White People Renovating Houses
Season 21, Episode 1
After the way season 20 went off the rails, I was really excited for South Park to make a triumphant comeback. It didn’t. The highlight of the episode is the way Cartman’s spirit is crushed every time Heidi shows up in their middle of his good time. The way he prefers his relationship with his Amazon Alexa over Heidi because she only does what she’s told and serves him is spot on for Cartman’s selfish nature. The seeds are also planted here for Heidi’s slow turn into Lady Cartman with Cartman labeling Heidi as the abusive one.
I liked the plot of replacing Amazon Alexas with rednecks who need jobs, but it doesn’t get the time needed to really take off. Randy and Sharon’s home renovation show is an accurate parody of those shows and I like that aspect, but falls flat for me. While I like the new serialized format of the show, the cost is sometimes getting episodes where various plotlines eat up time and none are really developed in 22 minutes, but since nothing here outside Cartman/Heidi carries through the season, there’s just undeveloped ideas here. And the actual message itself is a little unclear to me to boot.
233. Franchise Prequel
Season 21, Episode 4
This isn’t that great of an episode. But mocking the way studios seemingly spend more energy and time planning their cinematic universes than they put into the actual films is accurate. I’m also a fan of the kids’ superhero characters so that helps. The whole “You’re greenlit” joke about Netflix greenlighting everything was also very timely too. The Zuckerberg parody also could’ve used more room to breathe…or less room…I can’t be sure. Professor Chaos’ fake news plan is another bit of commentary I appreciate and it actually shows Chaos coming up with a great plan for a change.
This episode is similar to White People Renovating Houses in that the individual ideas and plots are fine, but none of them develop enough and prevent the episode from being great. This one really should’ve been a two-parter. I’d have liked to see more on the business of fake news sites and how they work (like Cash for Gold), more infighting over the Coon and Friends franchise, and for Zuckerberg to be more than a one note joke.
232. It’s Christmas In Canada
Season 7, Episode 15
Nothing makes me happier than tuning into new South Park and discovering it’s about Canada. As a Canadian, I love it all. But here is my lowest rated Canadian episode of the series. To rescue Ike from his birthparents who just took him back, the four boys travel the only road in Canada (a nod to the Trans-Canada Highway, I assume…or it’s to add to how strange Canada is) to get him back. The biggest highlight of the episode for me is them taking City Airlines to get there.
They discover Canada is in disarray due to the laws passed by the new prime minister that decree Mounties must ride sheep, the French cannot drink wine, and the Newfies cannot sodomize their children. The best joke along their trip on the only road in Canada is discovering they went the wrong way on their journey to Ottawa. The new prime minster is Saddam Hussein in disguise doing his best Wizard of Oz impression. It’s a fairly weak episode as Christmas episodes of anything tend to be, but the Canadianness brings it up for me…just enough.
231. Douche and a Danish
Season 20, Episode 5
Another casualty of serial storytelling. This is a funny episode throughout, but since it functions as a set up episode for various plotlines, it doesn’t really make much of a lasting impact in terms of narrative. Cartman and Heidi get some time to shine as they drum up support for Denmark just in time for Gerald and the trolls to troll the entire country of Denmark. The trolling works, makes everyone say “fuck Denmark”, and forces Denmark to go offline, Trolltrace included.
The other plotline shows Mr. Garrison, standing in for Trump, saying horrible things about women on the campaign trail so he’ll lose. He criticizes female supporters for being okay with “Fuck the immigrants to death” but thinking misogyny is a step too far. This leads to him saying the election is fixed and his supporters trying to lynch him. The scene where he bursts into the class and tries to teach it like nothing happened is classic Garrison. He ends up at a memberberry support group run by Randy, where the plotline of J.J. Abrams being responsible for everything is set up yet never develops beyond this. Basically, a lot of the set up work for this episode is wasted since they have to rewrite everything after the next episode. It really weakens a fairly strong episode in retrospect.
230. Super Fun time
Season 12, Episode 7
This is one of those episodes where Parker and Stone try to get as much material as possible out of as few jokes as possible. I think if it wasn’t all so damn silly this episode would have totally failed. Cartman and Butters have a mildly entertaining B plot though the device of having them physically linked the entire episode yet doesn’t deliver like it could’ve if it were the A plot. The dedication of the employees at Pioneer Village to not break their 19th century character only works because things get so ridiculous and the gag of them suddenly delivering all the information that would’ve caused them to break character once their shift is over is earned. Stan finally embarrassing himself and getting into a 19th century character to help save the day is earned too.
It’s the Die Hard parody that elevates this episode as “Hans” and his crew hold the kids and staff hostage at Pioneer Village, in full armour, loaded with weapons and tech, all to rob a couple hundred from Burger King…with food in paper bags and all. The sheer stupidity of these “professional” thieves going through all this over a Burger King score is pretty much perfect. Despite the good gags and silly premise, the first half is pretty dull but the second half more than makes up for it.
229. Pinkeye
Season 1, Episode 7
Rewatching this episode over two decades since its release, it’s astounding how quaint it is. It’s just an old-fashioned Halloween story where the town is overrun by zombies because Worcestershire sauce was mixed with embalming fluid. Kenny being crushed by Russian Spacestation is a great death and the first time his death jump started the plot by happening right away (he also dies three times in total). There are lots of nice moments like Zombie Chef singing Thriller, the chainsaw zombie massacre, and the first reference of Cartman’s mom being on the cover of Crack Whore Magazine.
The costume contest wins the episode though. Stan is mocked for dressing like Raggedy Andy after Wendy ditched dressing as Raggedy Ann, which was her idea, to dress as Chewbacca. Kyle then gets mad at Wendy for winning the costume contest instead of him because everyone else is dressed like Chewbacca too. Then the true classic highlight of the episode is Cartman dressing up like Hitler. Principal Victoria forces him to watch a tape called “Dressing Up Like Hitler in School isn’t Cool”, but all it does is show how much he idolizes Hitler and it’s all fantastic. Cartman had displayed some racist tendencies before this, but this episode cements him as one. Principal Victoria makes Cartman dress up as a ghost instead, but that makes him look like a KKK member and he scares black people. Truly classic South Park stuff.