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South Park, Season 23, Episode 8, “Turd Burglars” Review

I’m going to be keep this review as brief as possible out of sheer disgust for what I’ve witnessed in South Park last night. Not “disgust” as in anything moral, but “make me want to vomit” disgust. I can deal with a lot of the stuff that South Park does, but jokes about actual poop is where I draw the line. Even if I thought the reference to the Spice Melange from Dune as funny.

In this episode, Mrs. Broflovski suffers a nasty bacterial infection, and her gut needs a transplant of some healthy bacteria via fecal transplant. I looked it up, and its a real thing. Sheila’s health improves, and then every woman in town wants in on her shit. They even try to bribe Kyle with a copy of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. I’m not sure if that’s a subtle jab at EA by saying they’re still worth shit. However, even I admit Fallen Order’s good.

Meanwhile, Kyle goes through a germaphobe phase when he discovers all the bacteria and germs in his body. It doesn’t last long, though, and he embraces his own microbiome. As a result, he reaches a state that I assume is similar to someone high on the Spice Melange from the Dune franchise. His eyes turn blue, he has a heightened sense of awareness about micriobiomes, and he keeps saying one thing: the bookshelf.

Tom Brady’s Spice Melange

As the episode progresses, we get the titular “Turd Burglars”- Stan, Kenny, and Cartman. They start stealing shit for people who want to be healthier. This eventually leads to them wanting to get Tom Brady’s shit, which everyone calls “The Spice Melange”.

While the Dune reference seems a bit random at first, in hindsight it makes sense. In the Dune franchise, the Spice Melange is this super drug that sped humanity’s development into the stars. In addition, ingesting it leads to extended lifespans and heightened awareness. The joke that the show’s making is the fact that Spice Melange comes from a single source: the Sandworms of Arrakis. Their shit mixes with water to become the Spice Melange. A similar process ends up saving the town of South Park. However, replace Sandworm with Tom Brady, and Spice Melange with Tom Brady’s shit.

When the women of South Park try to do their own transplants with turkey basters, the resulting bacteria makes them all sick. Thanks to Kyle discovering Tom Brady’s collection of “spice”, though, the day’s saved. Just in time to make people sick for Thanksgiving.

This has to be my least favorite episode of the season. I can deal with a lot of the things South Park does, but this is where I draw the line. The only saving grace I could find were the jokes about Tom Brady and his Spice Melange. Now I need to go forget what I had to watch for Thanksgiving dinner.

I Give “Turd Burglars” a 2/5. I’m never watching this episode again.

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South Park Season 23, Episode 6- “Season Finale” Review

In the first half of South Park’s 23rd Season, Randy Marsh became the Walter White of marijuana. He’s killed dozens of cows while high, murdered Winnie the Pooh, and worst of all, the Halloween Special. It looked as though viewers needed to wait until the end of the Season to see Randy brought down. However, last night’s episode “Season Finale” seemed to finally throw fans a bone. In addition, it did all this while tying together the plots of most of the episodes.

The episode starts off with Randy being arrested by the police. They figured out he blew up everyone’s pot gardens in “Mexican Joker”, and they have the footage to prove it. In addition, all of Randy’s other actions have essentially left South Park sick of Tegridy Farms.

I made my dislike for Tegridy Farms clear from the beginning, and it looks like Matt and Trey took notice of the fans dislike. I looked at the comments in the teaser for this episode, and a lot of them shared my disdain. It’s clear that Tegridy Farms wore out its welcome, and the writers know it.

The ones who are most excited about Randy’s arrest are, naturally, the Marsh’s. If Randy goes to jail, then they can move back to South Park and live their old lives again. They’re so happy at the prospect that they throw a party to celebrate. It’s at this point, though, that the town goes through its crisis of the week.

No One Cares About the Whites

While playing football in the park, a kid named Jason White gets run over by a cop car. In real life, this would be a horrific tragedy, but in South Park, few people care. Except for the Whites, who we last saw in “Splatty Tomato”. Mr. White uses his son’s funeral to complain about how no one cares about them. I think it’s supposed to satirize how Caucasians are becoming the minority in America, but I didn’t care. They also happen to be big supporters of Tegridy Farms, and they show up to ruin the Marsh’s party. Cartman, in a rare display of sympathy, offers to help the White’s move on from the loss of Jason. The place he sends them to, though, is one the show’s familiar with: the ICE detention camp.

The story involving the ICE detention camp never got resolved, so I felt surprised to see it brought back. However, this time the show knows what’s its bashing and doesn’t hold back on it. In this case, South Park tears into ICE’s policy of letting the kids of deported parents be adopted by American families. The fact that it’s portrayed like a pet center’s not only black comedy gold, but reinforces how inhumane the practice is.

At any rate, the White’s adopt a Mexican boy named Alejandro, and viewers see how harmful their actions can be. While they think they’re being loving and affectionate foster parents, Alejandro doesn’t see it that way. All he wants is to see his actual parents, which the Whites fail to understand. This ultimately leads to Alejandro snapping in the biggest way possible.

Randy Marsh Has a Sobering Realization

Meanwhile, Randy Marsh, now cut off from Tegridy Weed, starts to feel guilt for his actions. He calls President Garrison for advice and tries to use his “reverse-blame” tactic, but it fails. Fully sober, Randy realizes how big a jerk he’s been the whole season. At his subsequent hearing, Randy owns up to his actions and that he deserves to be in jail.

Considering how much of a bonehead Randy’s been this season, this moment feels almost cathartic. For a moment or two, it even looks like Tegridy Farms will be brought down for good. Then, the status quo steps in with a bang.

Having snapped over his anger at the US, Alejandro starts causing way more destruction than a normal boy should be capable of. Since the White’s covered him in sunscreen, he looks exactly like Mexican Joker. As a result, Alejandro gets all the blame as he flees the police, leaving Randy a free man. DRAT!

Tegridy Farms Future?

So, Randy Marsh got off the hook for everything that he did, and Tegridy Farms remains in business. I wanted to see his weed business go down, but “Season Finale” reaffirmed my belief that this won’t happen until the finale. That is, if it happens at all. For now, though, the show makes it look like Tegridy Farms’ done for the forseeable future. As in, the growing season for weed’s done. That’s where the title “Season Finale” comes.

It felt good to see Randy get a taste of karma, even if the status quo meant he got off the hook in the end. However, I remain skeptical over whether or not he’s learned his lesson. If the show’s smart, then it will stop focusing on Tegridy Farms. It’s been forever since we had a classic episode about the four main boy. If we’re lucky, it will focus on that in the remaining episodes. Howerver, I now want to see if they’ll do anything with Alejandro and the Mexican Joker plot. That’s too big a plot thread to leave by the wayside. For now, though, I think this was one of the better episodes of the season. Second only to “SHOTS!!!” in my opinion.

I Give “Season Finale” a 4/5.

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South Park, Season 23, Episode 3, “SHOTS!!!” Review

It’s hard to believe that South Park has passed the 300-episode milestone, but here they are. I never saw the infamous “200” and “201” episodes, nor can I. Thankfully, last nights episode , “SHOTS!!!” made up for it by being the first South Park in a while to make me laugh my butt off. It does all this while juggling the Tegridy Farms story and jabbing at China once more.

The episode starts off in a meta joke, with Randy celebrating the three hundred… thousand dollars Tegridy Farms has made. He’s the only one who’s happy though, as everyone else in the family hates him. Sharon hates how he’s sold out to the Chinese, and Sharon and Stan hate living on the farm. That’s not the main focus of the episode, though.

Catch the Cartman!

The main focus of “SHOTS!!!” is with Liane trying to get Cartman a vaccination, something he’s terrified of. With any kid, this wouldn’t be much of an issue, but since this is Cartman, it’s almost impossible. No matter what she or the doctor do, Cartman starts squealing like a pig and running away. He goes so far as to strip down and grease himself to make him harder to catch.

This was one of the funniest things I’ve seen South Park do in years, and I had to restrain myself from laughing too hard. We all know how evil Cartman is, so seeing him genuinely scared is a treat. When the school has to order him to get a shot, though, he simply says he’s concerned with it making him “artistic”. He even has his mother recite “facts” about the dangers of vaccination at a PTA meeting.

The show could have stuck with a story about debunking the myths of shots, but they wisely decide not to. The adults of South Park know Liane doesn’t buy what she’s saying, and that those facts are untrue. The woman then snaps and says she can’t handle trying to get her son a shot, and dares everyone to do better. They try, with hilarious results.

So how does South Park top something that hilarious? With something even crazier! That pig wrangler convinces the town to have a rodeo so all non-vaccinated kids get shots, and Cartman’s the main event.

Take That, China!

Meanwhile, Liane got thrown out by Cartman over her stunt, so she ends up going to Tegridy Farms. Since Randy’s still dealing with his family’s disgust, they get high and talk their problems out. Randy realizes that he needs to make things right and get his Tegridy back, so he makes amends with his partner. I knew it’s implied he meant Sharon, but I knew it would be Towelie.

Towelie does end up coming back, but not before Randy vows to stop selling to the Chinese. He even makes Randy say “f**k the Chinese.” Under many circumstances, that would be racist as they come, but it’s made apparent he’s referring to the policies of the Chinese Government. Plus, it gives Matt and Trey a chance to pay China back for what they did.

SHOTS!!! Was Hilarious

So, the episode ends with Cartman getting out of another shot thanks to his mom. She blocks a shot he would have gotten, but makes it clear it’s so she can do it her way. In the end, Cartman willingly goes back to finally get a shot, but the episode has one last laugh for us. Remember that “artistic” joke? The shot made Liane into someone who wants to create art; an artist. Well played, South Park.

By a wide margin, this was the best episode of the season. In fact, it’s one of the funniest episodes South Park has done in years. I loved “SHOTS!!!”, and while not as ambitious as “200” and “201”, it brought us a lot of laughs. In the end, isn’t that what matters? Not to mention that it tackled an issue like vaccination by reminding us that it’s not an issue. Vaccinations are a good thing, and the odds they’re not are astronomical. If even South Park can say that with as close to a straight face as possible, then it has to be good.

I Give “SHOTS!!!” A 5/5. Happy 300th Episode, South Park!

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Last week’s episode of South Park, “Band in China” saw the show go after two big targets. First and foremost, they took aim at the Chinese government and their oppressive censorship of society. They also called Hollywood out for their increasing dependence on the Chinese market for financial success. And people are taking notice of what the South Park crew had to say.

Earlier this evening, Fox News was talking about how the NBA got itself in hot water. Daryl Morey, manager for the Houston Rockets, tweeted his support for the protests in Hong Kong. So China blocked the Rockets, leading the NBA to apologize. Then the news anchors mentioned last week’s episode and how this seems to prove the creator’s point.

South Park Vs. China

South Park’s managed to incur the ire of the Chinese Government, as well. After “Band in China” aired, the show was reportedly banned in China. In response, the show’s Twitter account posted the following statement earlier today:

I won’t lie, I was laughing my butt off when I saw this. It’s classic South Park to give this kind of sarcastic, back-handed ‘apology’. Matt Stone, Trey Parker, and their staff have made it clear they don’t care who they offend. I think they’ve even gotten death threats from some people over their show, and they refuse to back down. I respect them for standing behind their beliefs.

In fact, Matt and Trey are probably thrilled to know that they got their show banned in China. That not only shows they got under the Chinese Government’s skin, but that they hit the nail on the head. I may not have liked the episode as much as I should have , but seeing this makes me smile. South Park has still got it.

Plus, all this publicity is perfect for their 300th episode in Wednesday. They’re going after anti-vaxxers. 😊

Click here to see my review of the episode “Band in China”