This was a terrific season of South Park, showing that even after running this off-colour satirical dark comedy for eighteen years Trey Parker and Matt Stone are still far from running out of steam. They took on some hot button current issues such as drones, Kickstarter and gluten-free diets in typically hilarious fashion, and with each episode made just days before it is broadcast, tuning in each week it felt very fresh and current. This season the writers experimented with episode-to-episode continuity, rather than the usual formula of resetting each week, so each episode calls back to previous episodes, which was engaging, and we got to see what it was like for the characters to face the consequences of their actions, funny and also a new brand of humour for the show.
Go Fund Yourself
Stan, Kyle, Cartman, Kenny, and Butters abandon school to run a start-up company.
This was weak for a season premiere, lacking the wow factor of some of the more classic episodes like "Scott Tenorman Must Die", "Casa Bonita" and "Imaginationland", but it was still a funny take on the world of Kickstarter, as the boys take the name Washington Redskins and con people into investing in their business with the explicit goal to do nothing and live off their money. It slowed down in some areas, especially when the story focused on how this affects the Redskins football team, but on the whole it was a good episode, but fairly weak for the first in the season.
Gluten Free Ebola
Mr. Mackey annoys everyone by talking non-stop about how he has stopped eating gluten. After witnessing what can happen to those who consume gluten, the town resolves to give up gluten themselves.
This was a great return to form, it was classic South Park. Perfectly mocking those who obsess over eating only gluten-free foods, it also lampoons ebola, which was an important topic at the time. For example, when Randy is exposed to gluten he is quarantined with the others in a pizzeria (because pizza contains a lot of gluten), much like the ebola victims were quarantined. Only South Park can make a father being forcibly separated from his son funny, and here they do. They also poke holes in the logic behind the gluten-free fad, like when Randy is throwing out all foods containing gluten and checking the label for ice cream, says "No, ice cream's good for you," because it has no gluten.
The Cissy
In order to use the girl's bathroom and escape the crowds in the men's room, Cartman announces he is transgender. Meanwhile, Randy struggles with his dual identity as Lorde.
This episode was funny and also a poignant look at the world of transgender people. While it was classic Cartman to pretend he is a woman trapped in a man's body so he can use the girl's bathroom, the real standout of the episode was Randy revealing he has a secret double life as pop singer Lorde, starting a story arc that would last the whole rest of the season. It was completely random and made no sense why they would do this story, but that's what made it so hilarious and unexpected. Also, after "Dances with Smurfs" and last year's "The Hobbit" I'm started to appreciate Wendy more as a strong female voice on the show, and she's becoming a very good character in a show lacking in real, non-satirical feminist views.
Handicar
Timmy starts a new transportation service to raise money for summer camp. Based on the mobile app called "Handicar", the service becomes town's number one mode of transportation.
Given the season had been hilarious up until now, this fourth episode was quite a let-down. The same happened with this year's season of The Walking Dead, which was shaping up to be the best season so far until the fourth instalment. Recycling the plot of "Crippled Summer" with Nathan and Mimsy trying to sabotage Timmy's new business, it became painfully unfunny from the get-go. Luckily winning parodies of Matthew McConaughey's Lincoln adverts and Wacky Races managed to save this episode from falling completely flat but on the whole, it was disappointing and mediocre from a show where a lot more is expected.
The Magic Bush
Cartman and Butters fly a drone around South Park. Before long, publication of the first thus produced video (featuring Craig's mother) turns the town upside down.
This episode was a parody of the invasion of privacy that comes from the recent commercialisation of drones, and it achieved that very well. Stephen Stotch brought a lot of humour in his role as Butters' father. While his angry character constantly grounding Butters has become stale, this offered a hilarious new take on him as a father who considers it unfathomable that his son would disobey him, rather believing his drone has gained a mind of its own. "Is it possible your son used the drone?" the clerk at the hobby shop asks. Stephen replies, mystically and suspiciously, "No, that's impossible. Butters isn't allowed to use the drone without my permission." It was very funny and made the episode, though the frequent references to Craig's mom's "bush" were just too vulgar, even by South Park's standards.
Freemium Isn't Free
Stan is addicted to the new Canadian Terrance and Phillip mobile app, leading him to first-hand experience of the freemium concept.
While this episode successfully links mobile gaming addictions to alcohol and gambling addictions with the show's trademark satirical jab, the beginning of the episode was dragged down by the unwelcome return of Terrance and Phillip. However, once it got going it had a lot more to offer, with a satirical alcohol advert ("You! In a tuxedo! F**king this girl! Drink, drink, drink!") and a hilarious cameo from Satan. The underlying theme of freemium games scamming users into spending a lot of money on them is a fun topic for the show to dig its teeth into, and they do this surprisingly well with a convoluted government plot uncovered explaining the scam, but this is explained a few too many times and it becomes repetitive and loses its comedic edge.
Grounded Vindaloop
Butters believes he's living in a virtual reality after Cartman tricks him into using a VR device he has constructed.
This week South Park took on the growing popularity of virtual reality and Oculus Rift using parodies of such science fiction films as The Matrix and Total Recall to take viewers on an intense head trip that was crazy, enjoyable and most importantly, very funny. The story started out with Cartman convincing Butters he was in a virtual reality to get Butters to do some outrageous things, and it seemed like this would continue for the rest of the episode, which would have been funny but rather run-of-the-mill South Park. Instead, like they do with the best episodes, Parker and Stone took an unexpected turn and revealed that Cartman himself was in a virtual reality, and then that Stan was, and then Kyle, and they played on these sci-fi themes to blur the line being reality and virtual reality. And also, the racial stereotype Indian customer service guy for Oculus Rift Steve was a highlight, as his desperate attempts to keep customers on the phone and help them out were very funny.
Cock Magic
Kenny excels at playing a trading card game. Meanwhile, Randy rediscovers his talent in eponymous cock magic.
Like many great South Park episodes before it, "Cock Magic" was inexplicably random and came completely out of nowhere. The title refers to two phenomena - the 'Magic: The Gathering' equivalent of cockfighting, and Randy's college skill of performing magic with his penis. These are both wildly surreal concepts and also work surprising well, especially with the drumroll that accompanies Randy's tricks and illusions. Also, I admired how both types of cock magic wrapped up their stories by overlapping with each other, much like classic Seinfeld episodes do, where South Park usually have two separate plots with two separate endings, so this was a nice change of pace.
#REHASH
Kyle wants to play games with Ike, but Ike doesn't want to play with him anymore.
Part one of the two-part season finale, this felt like a particularly special episode as it started to wrap up the various plot elements of this season, making references to Lorde, gluten, freemium games and cock magic, as well as being contained in its own plot satirising Twitter trends. It was funny in just how crazy the idea of Cartman taking to YouTube to comment on YouTubers commenting about people commenting about comments, and the level of absurdity they took this to. It gets a little carried away in its making fun of the use of holograms of dead celebrities in concerts, using holograms of Michael Jackson, Tupac and eventually Randy in some record company's insane Terminator spoof plot to control the media. This made an interesting social statement but the story came out of nowhere and wasn't really necessary. The underlying message, however, about how TV and video games are no longer the worst addiction for kids, and that Let's Play videos on YouTube are taking over and kids need to go back to the TV, is a confusing and strange one, but relevant and tackled comically.
#HappyHolograms
Kyle organizes a Holiday Spectactular while holograms run wild in South Park.
The feeling I got from this episode is that the hashtag/holograms storyline didn't need two parts and could have been done as one solo episode, but regardless of that, this second part did offer some hilarious parodies of celebrities like Iggy Azalea, Taylor Swift and (for some reason) Al Pacino. It also made fun of the police shooting of Michael Brown, with the cops making a number of racist comments and the captain ordering his officers to shoot and choke any African-American they come across, which were a little disconcerting given how soon after these events it aired, and were too obvious to be funny. I did find the jokes about Bill Cosby's sexual assault claims funny, however, as it was worked into the Christmas Special song and was done more subtly. The climax of Cartman taking over the world with his hashtag and becoming "trend-scendent" was very funny and a fitting conclusion to an overall great season.
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