Just when I thought season 20 of South Park and its various subplots were too random and wired to work together, Trey Parker and Matt Stone are starting to make it work. Episode 6 finally saw everything start to come together. Cartman showed signs of his old self, Mr. Garrison’s part didn’t seem like added filler, and the Danish finally fought back against Skankhunt and the rest of the internet trolls. It wasn’t the best episode of South Park but it was a heck of a lot better than what we’ve seen most of the season.
Much of this episode was used as a setup for what’s to come but we still got a glimpse of where things are headed. The Danish were finally able to get Troll Trace up and running thanks to Heidi and her Emoji analysis. She figured out that people’s use of Emojis contains a constant pattern and kids and adults use them differently. Because of this, she was able to determine the troll haunting the school message boards was a parent. The Danish then used this technology to narrow the source of the trolling to Fort Collins, Colorado and released the internet history for everyone in the city. It was funny to see Fort Collins erupt in chaos. Everything from wives throwing out their husbands to people jumping off buildings occurred because of this. And unfortunately, one of Gerald’s trolling buddies, MLKKK, was set on fire because he called a little girl in a wheelchair R2D2. Part of me thinks this isn’t as much of an exaggeration as Trey and Matt intended. Could you imagine if everyone’s internet activity was made public? There would surely be some chaos! This whole scene felt like the bloody hijinks South Park of the past was known for.
Even Cartman is coming out of his PC shell. Since his departure from Twitter and the emergence of his new girlfriend, Cartman has been forced to live in his own head. This week we found out he has been imagining himself on a Martian colony equipped with neon roller coasters and vagina-shaped buildings. After he realized his internet history, including an email he sent to Butters bashing the new Ghostbusters for being too woman-centric, would also become public, his imaginary colony turned to dust and he was forced to survive on Mars, Matt Damon style. Although this wasn’t a major part of the episode, it was so unexpected and ridiculous it felt right at home in the South Park universe.
Surprisingly, though, the best part of the show had to do with the Member Berries. What is now an internet punchline, these cute and bizarre pieces of fruit stole the episode. After Mr. Garrison realized they were the reason he is winning the election, he and Randy attempted to destroy them for good. Trying everything from a blowtorch to acid, they realized the mischievous berries can’t be destroyed. In fact, some of them were able to escape Randy’s kitchen and set off down the highway singing in a miniature car. Things got better when it was revealed they kidnapped one of their own and tied him up in the trunk of the car, only to sacrifice him in one of Caitlyn Jenner’s martini. Even though these Member Berries are completely random, their utter existence is hard not to laugh at.
Sure, there have been better episodes of South Park, even in this season (applauding you episode 4), but this week had the focus and classic humor that’s been recently lacking. A benefit from having the various subplots come together is each episode shouldn’t seem so jumbled and incomplete. I imagine things will continue to escalate until everything comes together in the episode after the November 8th election. Can you imagine if Trump wins? I’d love to see Mr. Garrison try and get out of that one!
Score: 8/10
