South Park - General Discussion

[Amarsir]

3 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

I don't know why I'd do a genetic profiling test. I wouldn't want that to claim victim status. That's what my neuroses are for.

I did one, less for ancestry than for health profiling. Turns out I'm that I'm 89% Eastern European and 11% areas adjacent to Eastern Europe. Totally something I wouldn't have guessed from my Polish & Hungarian parents.

22 minutes ago, crookedjackson44 said:

This show has completely gone off the rails.  Last season was a disaster, and this season is no better.  Once upon a time, Randy was a geologist, who would certainly know what the word "indigenous" means.  Now it is certain that any episode that focuses on Randy is terrible.  Early episodes were timeless, dirty, but very funny.  Now with the focus on current events and politics, the ruin of this show seems unstoppable.

Current events and politics has been a South Park thing since very early on. I think the turn that was most in evidence here was Randy going over the top. Because he was funny in the past as the guy whose overboard on trends, that's become his go-to thing. And it makes him inconsistent season-to-season or even week-to-week.

[TyranAmiros]

I wanted a twist where it turned out Randy was actually partly Italian and used that retroactively change his mind about Columbus Day..."See, Sharon. It wasn't appropriation after all. I'm actually 2.3% Italian, so I don't have to feel ashamed about celebrating Columbus."  But that would have conflicted with "Indignant People's Day."

I feel the same way as the boys do, though. As a teacher, I wish there was a day off between Labor Day and Thanksgiving!

[benteen]

I thought this episode was really funny and a great return to the South Park one-offs.  Always like a good Randy episode.  Though the Kenny voice was hilarious and it was nice to see all four kids involved.

Sharon seems more and more disgusted with Randy with every appearance.  I wonder if that will lead anywhere later this season.

[Peace 47]

I didn't particularly love the episode, although I loved last week's so much, I am still riding a high of just loving that the show is back, so maybe I enjoyed it more than I otherwise would have?

A little bit of Randy goes a really long way with me:  he's just a lot to take, so the Randy-levels in the premiere worked better for me over how omnipresent he was last night.  His kissing a Native American just to get his DNA for the genealogy test didn't really crack me up, although I did laugh when they came back to retest with a different kind of swab, and Randy looked at it and said "Give me tw--three minutes."  How far he was willing to go to cover his tracks was pretty good.

I didn't really find the kids threatening that guy all that funny.  I did like the source for their investment in the Columbus Day issue, though: a vacation day being at stake is a good premise. 

Edited September 28, 2017 by Peace 47

[OnceSane]

Vacation days are sacred, so I liked that the kids were willing to do anything to get it back.  And Randy's random stupidity worked here.  But I'm especially loving Sharon's "completely over it" faces and voice intonation. 

[Lantern7]

Last night, the audio was wonky and out of sync, and I didn't see Randy take a dump. Watching the episode tonight, the screen froze. Did that happen to any of you?

In case you you never saw it, here's a takedown of Columbus Day from Last Week Tonight from three years ago.

" . . . and then he kissed me." Funny.

[ganesh]

20 hours ago, TyranAmiros said:

I feel the same way as the boys do, though. As a teacher, I wish there was a day off between Labor Day and Thanksgiving!

Seriously, even the students are dragging already, and we have a huge conference to go to at the end of October. We don't have veterans' day off here either. 

[halkatla]

On 28.9.2017 at 4:46 AM, TresGatos said:

I think this is the unfunniest episode of South Park I've ever seen and I've seen them all.

For me it is one of the best, at least it gets into the top 20... I´ve also seen them all, multiple times.

The thing I love about South Park is it´s total realness regarding current events and political correctness (on all sides) while being hilariously silly at the same time. There was so much truth in this episode.

I lol´s at least 5 times (usually I´m happy with just one time), I thought I´d die when Randy was standing over the native american holding a cross and a globe.

This was a good hit against all the lame social justice warrior people who are ruining everything.

Loved how Cartman rallied the boys to defend their day off school, the history lesson he came up with was so cute (and brutal).

I don´t think I need to say any more, this episode was just good and it speaks for itself. So many details to love, and obviously the biggest love goes out to Randy, he´s my star.

[ganesh]

I'm not nitpicking, but does CO have Columbus Day off? There's not many states that actually do. 

[Tachi Rocinante]

Some public employers (county, city, state) get Columbus Day off, most private sector and schools do not - they use it for the day after Thanksgiving.

Edited October 1, 2017 by Tachi Rocinante

[ganesh]

I used to have both off in high school. 

[funky-rat]

I'm in PA, and in my 40's, and we did get Columbus day off at one time, because sometimes it fell on my birthday, but I believe at some point we lost it.

[Zima]

I love Randy-centered episodes! I can always count on them to be hilariously entertaining.

The thing that I love the most about South Park is that it makes fun of EVERYBODY. I definitely take the side of those who say that Columbus day should not be a national holiday, but I still laughed my ass off. 

[Lantern7]

No press release this week, and "Holiday Special" will air on Wednesday night. A break would explain why we got a Columbus Day-themed episode that early.

[Ottis]

On 9/28/2017 at 0:22 AM, Amarsir said:

I did one, less for ancestry than for health profiling. Turns out I'm that I'm 89% Eastern European and 11% areas adjacent to Eastern Europe. Totally something I wouldn't have guessed from my Polish & Hungarian parents.

I did one, too, and I admit that finding out if I was part anything special for victim status was part of my motivation. Sadly, I appear to be 100 percent Western European white boy. Well, sad except for my lifelong privilege. Sorry about that.

Edited October 5, 2017 by Ottis

[Lady Iris]

I'm all for any Randy-centric eps. When I saw the clips of this ep I could not possibly understand why Randy was kissing a Native American. Kinda felt bad for the guy, he fell hard, brought flowers and his parents. Heh!

[OnceSane]

Quote

Professor Chaos has found the perfect tool to spread lies and misinformation about Coon and friends.  In trying to save their reputation, the boys come face to face with Mark Zuckerberg.

[benteen]

I like that we'll have a return of The Coon this week but I really thought they'd do Harvey Weinstein.

[Galileo908]

It's been a long time coming, but HERE is the episode promoting the new game. Don't care, I loved it. Gotta admit, this was the best plan Butters ever had. It's so great and refreshing to see the kids on another get rich quick caper and Butters being a dick.

"We're Coon & Friends, not Harvey Weinstein."

So what the hell was up with Mark Zuckerberg? He was acting (and dubbed) right out of an old kung fu movie. Still kinda funny. $17.23 was enough to buy off him off? Man, wasted opportunity to have it be $14.12. But that last fight was amazing, AND Mr. Stotch grounding Butters and Putin for starting this mess? Gold.

[Spartan Girl]

Coon and Friends are back, just in time for the new game!

Butters really is upping his villain game. I actually was rooting against him. But Stephen "grounding" Putin? A year too late, asshole.

I laughed so hard at Heidi randomly showing up, and Cartman muttering "Ohmyfuckinggod" under his breath.

"Suicide Squad sucked!" LOL, truth.

"Who would have thought Mark Zuckerburg was such a penis?" I guess they never saw The Social Network.

The way they turned the tables on Zuckerburg with Facebook live was brilliant. As was "All right, Civil War, fuck you."

[Lantern7]

No out-loud-stuff for me, but I'm suffering from a respiratory infection, and I'm wrecked. Looks like Gerald isn't the only one in South Park that can wreak havoc online. Butters-as-Professor Chaos is fun to watch . . . but where's General Disarray?

I like the running gag of Heidi coming up behind Cartman, and his look of regret for ever meeting her.

[JakersWild]

21 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

So what the hell was up with Mark Zuckerberg? He was acting (and dubbed) right out of an old kung fu movie. Still kinda funny.

Apparently there is a thing where people have wanted to block him on Facebook, and found it was impossible to block him. Seems they ran with the idea of unblockable as unstoppable, and mocked that with a Kung Fu parody of him who couldn't be blocked. Really, any mocking of the head of Facebook, who used to hand out business cards with "I'm CEO bitch" printed on them, seems fine by me.

[Lantern7]

Forgot about Fast Pass's origin, where Jimmy's parents were more horrified by the standup comedy than the crippled legs.

[JakersWild]

On 9/14/2017 at 7:58 PM, Moxie Cat said:

Oh yeah - plenty of Confederate flag waving rednecks and a sizable KKK contingent in my state north of the Mason-Dixon Line too. I imagine they're everywhere.

I'm going to have to look up the note about Matt and Trey refusing to do Trump - I hadn't known that. On one hand, it's a super-easy target; on the other, it's also a cop-out and ignorant of the current world.

It isn't so much they are refusing, as feeling they can't compete with reality. How sad is that?

“It’s tricky now because satire has kind of become reality,” Parker said.

“It’s really hard to make fun of and in the last season of South Park, which just ended a month-and-a-half ago, we were really trying to make fun of what was going on but we couldn’t keep up and what was actually happening was much funnier than anything we could come up with.”

“So we decided to kind of back off and let them do their comedy and we’ll do ours.”

https://coed.com/2017/02/02/south-park-creators-donald-trump-hard-to-make-fun-of-season-20-trey-parker-matt-stone-interview/

[Ottis]

On 10/11/2017 at 8:37 PM, Spartan Girl said:

I laughed so hard at Heidi randomly showing up, and Cartman muttering "Ohmyfuckinggod" under his breath.

I know this is SP, a TV cartoon, but this whole Cartman/Heidi thing puzzles me. First, I didn't even realize he had a girlfriend until 2-3 episodes ago. And at first, it looked like she was doing something to him off screen that we didn't see, that caused him to want to avoid her. And then he started with this resigned, passive-aggressive response to her when she shows up. Which irritates her, but not enough to break up with him or ask what his problem is. Is the show trying to say that jerks are the ones who get girlfriends? I don't get the running gag, though I, too, am starting to laugh at Cartman's drawn out response to her.

14 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Forgot about Fast Pass's origin, where Jimmy's parents were more horrified by the standup comedy than the crippled legs.

Was the show clear on that? Because I thought that's where they were going, but the sequence seemed to indicate they were more upset about his legs (the doc said he wouldn't walk, and he would be good at stand up, and the crying started after both) - and then he was shown with the microphone. 

[jcin617]

1 hour ago, Ottis said:

I know this is SP, a TV cartoon, but this whole Cartman/Heidi thing puzzles me. First, I didn't even realize he had a girlfriend until 2-3 episodes ago. And at first, it looked like she was doing something to him off screen that we didn't see, that caused him to want to avoid her. And then he started with this resigned, passive-aggressive response to her when she shows up. Which irritates her, but not enough to break up with him or ask what his problem is. Is the show trying to say that jerks are the ones who get girlfriends? I don't get the running gag, though I, too, am starting to laugh at Cartman's drawn out response to her.

Cartman and Heidi were boyfriend/girlfriend for a good part of last season (and for most of it, happily together).   His attitude of being resigned to it is mostly new for this season.

[Peace 47]

2 hours ago, Ottis said:

And then he started with this resigned, passive-aggressive response to her when she shows up. Which irritates her, but not enough to break up with him or ask what his problem is.

She actually tried to talk to him several times in a couple of prior episodes this season, and he brushed her off and later accused her of being abusive.  Then, when she finally tried to break up with him, he threatened to kill himself, and I think she went back to him to keep him from doing it.  So poor Heidi can't win and is actually the character suffering emotional abuse in that relationship.

I really liked her last season when she pluckily figured out higher order calculus all on her own in that one ep.  I thought that she was a good new character addition to the show, and understood how she could fall for the false facade that Cartman was putting up last season (though I didn't really get Cartman's angle or why he was bothering to be kind to her, other than I guess it was because he thought he was totally isolated from other people by losing his Internet access and just wanted someone to manipulate).

Now, with each new episode, I end up feeling bad for Heidi that she is trapped in this horrible relationship.  At least Wendy gets a chance to get the best of Cartman sometimes, even though he tortures her plenty.  Heidi hasn't gotten the same chance for dignity yet.

I really enjoyed the cinematic universe discussions that the kids were having.  That was my favorite part.

[funky-rat]

I wish they'd go back to episodes that don't rely so heavily on up to the minute events.

My husband and I aren't well versed on Alexa or any of those devices, so while some of that show was chuckle-worthy, it was only "meh" to us.

I use FB and I was completely lost on a lot of last night's ep.  My husband was even more lost.

I'm glad this season is less focused on politics, but other than the first ep (White People Flipping Houses), I'm just not in to this season at all.

[ganesh]

On 10/11/2017 at 8:30 PM, Galileo908 said:

He was acting (and dubbed) right out of an old kung fu movie.

 

20 hours ago, JakersWild said:

Apparently there is a thing where people have wanted to block him on Facebook, and found it was impossible to block him. Seems they ran with the idea of unblockable as unstoppable, and mocked that with a Kung Fu parody of him who couldn't be blocked. Really, any mocking of the head of Facebook, who used to hand out business cards with "I'm CEO bitch" printed on them, seems fine by me.

I had no idea. That was brilliant. 

I like that Chaos' lair was in Circuit City. 

2 hours ago, funky-rat said:

I wish they'd go back to episodes that don't rely so heavily on up to the minute events.

To be fair, there was one line about Weinstein, and fake news on Facebook has been in the real news since the election. 

[funky-rat]

4 hours ago, ganesh said:

To be fair, there was one line about Weinstein, and fake news on Facebook has been in the real news since the election. 

Yes, but I was completely lost on the Zuckerburg blocking thing.  I got that he was supposed to be dubbed like a bad kung-fu movie, but that part just didn't make any sense to me.

[ganesh]

I didn't know the reason until I came here, so I just figured he was being a douche bag life he is irl. 

[Racj82]

10 hours ago, funky-rat said:

Yes, but I was completely lost on the Zuckerburg blocking thing.  I got that he was supposed to be dubbed like a bad kung-fu movie, but that part just didn't make any sense to me.

You don't need to know about the Facebook thing. Or the Alexa thing. They are riffing on things in pop culture but either those jokes can work on their own or are expressed enough that you get it. It really just comes down to finding something funny or not. Zuckerberg is a douche. That's all you need to know. The other stuff is just adding to the joke.

[Amarsir]

I do think they should have set up the “unblockable” joke better instead of assuming we’d get it. Otherwise Zuckerberg was funny but so random that it distracted from the plot rather than adding to it.  The rest came out fine.

On 10/13/2017 at 10:38 AM, Ottis said:

I know this is SP, a TV cartoon, but this whole Cartman/Heidi thing puzzles me. First, I didn't even realize he had a girlfriend until 2-3 episodes ago.. 

Did you not watch last season? (Or alternatively block out anything not Garrison-related?) Them getting together was kind of a big deal and one of many things that carried over between episodes.

[Lantern7]

No press release yet, but I found this link.
 

Quote

 

Official Description

Beloved entertainers are being cut down in their prime due to massive overdoses of opiates. Stan is about to be exposed as the source of the illegal drugs.

 

Characters listed: Stan and Marvin Marsh. When was the last time Grandpa had any lines? Also, does he have enough marbles to realize what an utter dipshit his son turned out to be?

[Ottis]

10 hours ago, Amarsir said:

Did you not watch last season? (Or alternatively block out anything not Garrison-related?) Them getting together was kind of a big deal and one of many things that carried over between episodes.

I watched some of last season? Mostly I remember Eric taking on women's causes to get Heidi's attention, and them getting together. But it feels like he was exposed later as being insincere, and she was mad at him. I assumed they broke up, and that was that.

Then I see these new eps, and she acts like one of the women you see IRL who sticks with an asshole boyfriend, hoping to get engaged one day, while the boyfriend is increasing douchy and everyone around them is appalled that she still likes him.

I don't know how to reconcile those two things!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

1 hour ago, Ottis said:

she acts like one of the women you see IRL who sticks with an asshole boyfriend, hoping to get engaged one day, while the boyfriend is increasing douchy and everyone around them is appalled that she still likes him.

Last season, no one was appalled that she liked him. They were just completely bewildered that Heidi, who has been shown to be very kind, wanted to be around Cartman at all.

This season, Cartman (1) accused her of being abusive when in reality he was the one being a dick to her and then (2) threatened to kill himself when she tried to break up with him. Classic emotional abuse - being emotionally manipulative and gaslighting her yet not willing to let her break up with him, despite the fact that he doesn't want to actually date her or spend any time with her.

[Ottis]

22 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

This season, Cartman (1) accused her of being abusive when in reality he was the one being a dick to her and then (2) threatened to kill himself when she tried to break up with him. Classic emotional abuse - being emotionally manipulative and gaslighting her yet not willing to let her break up with him, despite the fact that he doesn't want to actually date her or spend any time with her.

That part I have seen. I just can't figure out what the show is saying with this. This isn't a one episode, Cartman-is-a-dick plot. This has gone on all this season, and its roots were apparently last season (thank you for the additional background). So there seems to be some point to this. I don't know what it is. 

[OnceSane]

Quote

Drugs are flowing into South Park. A passionate young health advocate has traced the source of these illegal meds and is about to expose Stan Marsh.

[Amarsir]

3 hours ago, Ottis said:

That part I have seen. I just can't figure out what the show is saying with this. This isn't a one episode, Cartman-is-a-dick plot. This has gone on all this season, and its roots were apparently last season (thank you for the additional background). So there seems to be some point to this. I don't know what it is. 

I don't think any of us know where it's going. Cartman moved to feminist SJW before last season started, apparently at some point after seeing Ghostbusters but never explained. It was generally supposed that this was fake, but the show gave every indication it was real. (Again, for no reason.) He got with Heidi because they were both social media pariahs, and that changed him to a genuinely good person, briefly. Now he's back to his old self and Heidi is more-or-less on the hook

[Galileo908]

Well this was messed up. Children's entertainers are all addicted to opioids and all the kids think they're real. Autopsy and everything.

God, the old lady farts were too much. I've got family in these homes and old ladies like Ms. McGullicutty are the most ruthless people in there. But what an ending, it was amazingly satisfying.

This story was impressive: satirizing the prison complex, the opioid crisis and how much nursing homes suck all in one fell swoop. Didn't really laugh all that much, though. The barbershop quartet was one of the best things I've seen, though. I will never not love covers of Insane in The Membrane.

I had been watching someone stream The Fractured But Whole and that game is hilarious.

[Spartan Girl]

• The guys doing R&B and rap as a barbershop quartet
• The retirement home as a jail
• Chuck E Cheese ODing at a kid's birthday
• The nasty farting old lady as Head Bitch
• And Stan's grandpa beating Head Bitch with a sack of Hummels...

This was NUTS, even for South Park. And was Marcus supposed to be a spoof of somebody?

[Galileo908]

1 minute ago, Spartan Girl said:

• This was NUTS, even for South Park. And was Marcus supposed to be a spoof of somebody?

No idea, maybe Chris Christie? He was voiced by Josh Gad.

[Lantern7]

Man, this felt like coming home. I mean, I've grown used to -- and a little fond of -- the big picture stories Then we have something that mixes current events, lots of farting, some vomit, an original song, one of the boys in over his head, and his friends helping him out. Also, a new character that takes things way too seriously. I wouldn't mind seeing Marcus in another story. The constant indignation really came off well.

Also: covers of Nineties hits. "Rape Me"? Sure, why not? Kinda wish they could've covered The Cure to salute Robert Smith, one of the first celebrity cameos. But Cyprus Hill and Spin Doctors? Awesome.

[Galileo908]

It was reminiscent of the barbershop cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit from The Muppets.

[Peace 47]

I was going back and forth on the episode, thinking that some things were working for me and some things weren't, and then the kids' barbershop quartet covered that classic old-timey hit, "Insane in the Brain" and I said right there that I would forgive the episode anything.  Instant classic moment.

4 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

He was voiced by Josh Gad

No way!  Neat.  I found everything with Marcus to be hilarious.  I wasn't exactly sure who he was spoofing, either.  His grandiose detective pronouncements made me think it was a parody of a famous detective with whom I'm not familiar.

[Spartan Girl]

Josh Gad?! I had no idea! Wow!

[benteen]

Disappointing episode.  South Park could have done a lot more with this topic.  Marcus was a rare misfire for a character.

Not that it didn't have its moments.  Stan's grandfather was hilarious in this episode (hearing him say top bitch was funny enough) and it was nice to see him get a win.  Also nice to see Stan return to the forefront as he has often gotten overshadowed by Cartman and Kyle over the past few years.  The barbershop quartet was fun too.

[crookedjackson44]

Well, the DVR cut out just as Stand gave his grandfather, who stood up, a bag of Hummels?  What happened after that?

[Racj82]

2 hours ago, crookedjackson44 said:

Well, the DVR cut out just as Stand gave his grandfather, who stood up, a bag of Hummels?  What happened after that?

How did your DVR cut off that early? There was like 5 minutes left.

Anyways, Stan's grandfather beat the shit out of the old lady with a bag of Hummels, became head bitch, and the old lady got put in solitare. The new kid also went after the real enemies. The doctors that push the drugs out there.

[Amarsir]

15 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

This story was impressive: satirizing the prison complex, the opioid crisis and how much nursing homes suck all in one fell swoop. Didn't really laugh all that much, though. The barbershop quartet was one of the best things I've seen, though. I will never not love covers of Insane in The Membrane.

That sums up my impression too: good story idea, not hilarious except for the quartet.  I felt like maybe the problem was too much focus on external characters. Old people as a prison metaphor is funny, but we don't care enough about any of them to carry that much focus.