We’re three episodes into the 20th season of South Park, and Matt Stone and Trey Parker have certainly raised the bar in delivering a running story that features twists and turns that make most network procedurals seem dull. As Bill Hader told Norm Macdonald earlier this week, that is the showrunners’ goal, raising the bar with each new episode. But this season feels special from a storytelling perspective, adding new layers to already great characters. Sending Randy Marsh on his newest adventure has me beyond excited for his unparalleled stupidity to shine through as he exposes the truth behind member berries, but there’s plenty more in store for everyone.
Some fans aren’t exactly thrilled as they have been in the past, when a new story was told and wrapped up each week. Now we have actual cliffhangers and plot development, and because of that I’ve seen people claiming that the first episode “Member Berries” wasn’t very good or the second episode “Skank Hunt” wasn’t funny enough. That’s certainly fair, but if you aren’t completely satisfied by this week’s episode, “The Damned,” then you might need to ask yourself why “Everything sucks.” Let’s break this week’s fantastic episode down.
“Most people that quit Twitter leave at least three paragraphs stating that they’re quitting Twitter before they quit Twitter.”
Everyone has that friend that threatens to quit social media for attention. Be it once a week, month, year, or even, in extreme cases of desperation, daily, you’re thinking of that person right now, the one who writes, “This is why I’m done…” But we all know it really means “Look at me! Over here! Pay attention to me!” In some cases, they follow through and no one really gives a crap, which makes it all the more annoying when that person returns a few months later to talk about how great things were with no Facebook or Twitter (and don’t even get me started on the Lent crowd, bravely quitting social media for 30 whole days). But in some cases — Poof. Gone.
Either way, does a person really exist if he or she isn’t online to crave attention and pretend like his life is perfect? That’s one of the several recurring themes this season, and this week’s episode takes it one step further by asking what happens when someone leaves Twitter, not because he chose to… but because he was forced. If that someone is Eric Cartman, sh*t presumably gets dark, but we’re witnessing the calm before his storm.
“Every time Amy Schumer talks about her vagina, I lose my f*cking mind.”
Somehow Eric Cartman is even more sinister than he has been for 19 years simply be being quiet and sincere. Of course, it’s still hard to tell where he’s going in his new role as a nomad in a world without followers, as it’s just him and Heidi Turner braving the land of the lost souls. Are the rest of the boys justified in their fear that Cartman will retaliate against them in ways we’ve never seen? Or will they be caught up in their false terror and the collateral damage of SkankHunt42’s actions while Cartman finally learns the truth about the female anatomy? A huge step for this young boy will be learning that females don’t have balls, but just thinking about where that can take us sends shivers up my spine. (His “Holy sh*t” moment elicited a huge belly laugh from me.)
At the same time, the subtle recurring Schumer gag is such a good double-edged sword that pokes at both fragile bros who refuse to accept that women can be funny and the progressive battering rams who force their agendas (you know, like the one a commenter is sure to accuse me of having). All the while, the reality is humor is subjective and you like who you want to like, be it Schumer or Dane Cook or Jeff Dunham. Get over it, all of us. Let’s all learn from Cartman already.
“I am giving you this, lady. Would you please just shut up? Get out of your own way.”
Matt Stone and Trey Parker previously admitted they might have a hard time taking on the 2016 presidential election, since, you know, it’s a dark, twisted comedy in its own right. Yet Mr. Garrison’s Giant Douche has been wonderful. Granted, Donald Trump might not actually want out of the election – maybe he’s 100 percent authentic in every absurd thing he says – but Garrison telling his massive crowds, “I hate all of you so much, I seriously hold so much contempt for each and every one of you pieces of sh*t” while opening up about the truly weird sh*t he’s done over 19 seasons (where’s that montage?) feels like it’s the inner monologue that Trump’s brain should be having, like that exit strategy people predicted he’d have pulled off by now.
And yet, as Randy Marsh, who continues to be one of the greatest characters in TV history, shows us, people are more confused than ever, because… everything sucks. “How did we get here,” Randy asks, “completely confused and sh*t for choices? It’s like there are other forces at work.” That’s right – those gosh-danged member berries.
“To get the troll to come out, you must say his name.”
It’s a little surprising that someone caught up with Gerald Broflovski so quickly regarding his secret online identity, SkankHunt42, but it makes for great comedy to see him so panicked, destroying his phone and using a catapult that he keeps in his car just for the purpose of launching his computer into a lake. Your guess is as good as mine as to the identity of the person requesting a meeting with Gerald, but his panic led to one of the best moments of recent seasons.
Ike saying, “No, but I want to, Dad” was such an insanely funny moment that it completely caught me off-guard, and I had to pause the episode until I stopped laughing. Is it a coincidence that happened the same week that Denzel Washington’s Fences trailer was released? Probably. But goodness, that was so damn subtle and brilliant.
“We have a gender war on our hands.”
PC Principal declaring a gender war is still the most wide-open storyline at this point, because aside from Stan pining over Wendy, we didn’t see anything about the girls’ next step in their revenge for SkankHunt42’s dick-in-mouth photoshopping. It’s still my guess that Cartman and Heidi team up to end the gender war from the inside (or, you know, reality) while everything plays out on Twitter, but our biggest hope should be that Butters suffers in hilarious ways over the next several episodes, because he’s just kind of hanging out right now, and that’s not all that fun.
