South Park

[Dr. Insomniac]

Yeah, Cash For Gold was pretty funny if only for Stan's grandpa and the ending where the old people were convincing the guy to kill himself. The other two, meh.

[Foggle]

"Terrible" is a bit of an overstatement on my part, but so far it doesn't stack up very well against any of the other seasons in my eyes. So it's "terrible" comparatively.

Cash For Gold was definitely the best of the lot. Some parts dragged for me, but it was mostly consistent if not outright hilarious. Reverse Cowgirl also had its moments but IMO was pretty weak compared to last season. I thought Faith Hilling was completely awful, though. The trains and Russian roulette scene were pretty funny, but the rest had me groaning.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, as someone who finds the horrible overabundance of memes on the Internet to be quite annoying, I got a few decent chuckles out of that episode, but I will admit its one of those throw away episodes that just flat-out won't age well in the span of just a few weeks when South Park parodies something else that's popular at the time. That said, I've seen worse episodes in this category from previous seasons, so its not really all that bad to me.

At any rate, this season has had 3 episodes so far, with 1 of them being solid (IMO), and the other 2 being mediocre. That's pretty much how most of the previous seasons have started out ever since season 10, IMO, so that's nothing new for me. I thought Seasons 13-15 had weak starts of their own and only had a few truly stand-out episodes, so in that regard its not like this season is a decline in quality from the consistency of previous seasons, or at least not to me.

[Avaitor]

Figured this thread was worth bumpoing, considering the recent announcement that the show is cutting back from 14 episode seasons scattered at 2 parts of the year, to just one straight annual 10 episode order. Kind of surprising, but hey.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Maybe Trey and Matt are slowly trying to wind things down so that they can eventually end the show. I believe they are contracted for at least 2 more seasons (including this year), so maybe this slight cut-back in episode production is a sign that they are ready to call it quits after their most recent contract expires.

Either way, South Park hasn't bee nearly as popular as it used to be with its earlier seasons, so its not like their is that huge of a demand for new material, anymore, and it feels as though Trey and Matt just want to focus on other things, as well (which they sort of have done with a couple of other projects over the past few years), so this all may be for the better, in the end.

Either that, or it could just be that Comedy Central decided to purchase less episodes to save money, and I could just be horribly over-thinking all of this. At any rate, I'll still be watching the new season when it comes out, as I'm one of the few people who finds that South Park can be pretty hit or miss these days (and for me the hits are still worth it), as opposed to just being full of flops.

[Avaitor]

Well according to this article, it seems like Matt and Trey are cutting their load on South Park to focus on other things, while still maintaining interest in the show.

For the best, really.

[Daxdiv]

Well according to this article, it seems like Matt and Trey are cutting their load on South Park to focus on other things, while still maintaining interest in the show.

For the best, really.

I agree, especially when you do consider how big Book of Mormon was for them. I will admit that I haven't seen the play yet, (My mom has wonder if I want that to be my Birthday gift this year, and I did say "YES!") but I did end up grabbing the soundtrack the night it cost a dollar, and I got to say that the soundtrack for it was pretty good. Probably did deserve all those Tony Awards.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Alright, seeing the Nostalgia Critic's list for South Park inspired me to come up with my own list. South Park is one of my favorite cartoons ever, personally, so it was really hard for me to whittle down so many great episodes to a mere list of just 10, and even the list I came up with now is highly subject to change. I think a lot of the episodes I like, though, will be greatly different from that of a lot of other people. What I'm about to give you is my honest opinion, but there are always those ass-holes on the Internet who would see a list like mine, and say something like "really, you think that garbage is funny?" At least over here I can trust that people are at least accepting enough to be dicks about someone else's opinions, but regardless I will give you guys some very brief reasons as to why my favorites are my favorites. Also, another thing I want to point out is how many people claim that South Park isn't that good because it has a lot of current even episodes or parodies celebrities and whatnot and that it doesn't have a lot of substance to his characters or humor. Even people on this board keep saying that certain episodes really dated themselves and complain about stuff like that, when I flat-out don't agree in a lot of cases. I think people just miss the point sometime and focus on something else, but even a lot of those current event episodes are still funny either because they make up a compelling scenario involving the characters that is funny in its own right whether you know that its based off of anything or not, or just because they put more focus on the characters themselves rather than the basic scenario. That said, I think you'll find that my list generally has more to do with episodes that aren't based off any particular events and have more to do with being fun character pieces, or just mocking trends that I myself don't care for. Having said that, I present to you my favorite episodes:

First, some honorable mentions: Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000, Scott Tenorman Must Die, Cartmanland, Towelie, Asspen, The Return Of The Fellowship Of The Ring To The Two Towers, The Biggest Douche In The Universe, Lil' Crime Stoppers, Something Wall Mart This Way Comes, Ginger Kids, Cartoon Wars Part I and II, Imaginationland (3-parter), The List, Fishsticks, Pinewood Derby, Fatbeard, A History Channel Thanksgiving, Cash For Gold

And now for my main list:

Spoiler

10. Chinpoko Mon- The Nostalgia Critic already covered this episode in his list, so I won't really go into any detail, here, but even as someone who got the whole Pokemon craze being that I was a fan at the time as well, I still always found this episode to be funny. It just nails down the general idea of how fads work with kids, and the completely ridiculous plot about how a big Japanese coroporation was marketing to the children to use them as an army was just the classic style of South Park humor that's personally right up my alley. This one will always be a favorite of mine.

9. Stanely's Cup- I've heard so many people hate on this episode in the past, and about 99% of the negativity just goes toward its ending. Personally....I think the ending is funny as well, and I don't see how it turned so many people off considering how many worse and less tasteful things South Park had already done way before this episode. Another thing I notice is that, while people like to point out that South Park is a social satire show that often likes to make fun of current events, I'm surprised that people never seem to credit it for how much it also parodies movies, or in this case an entire genre of film. Having watched a ton of sports movies myself, this episode doesn't leave out a single cliche, and makes sure to capitalize on every joke possible while still remaining a unapologetic as this series has ever been. I love this kind of humor, but maybe I'm the weird one, here. Asspen sort of did the same thing, as well (though, it was more specifically geared toward's cheesy 80's teen movies as opposed to just sports movies), and it was certainly a great episode, but personally I got way more laughs out of this one.

8. Casa Bonita- This is a great example of a character episode. In this case, its more of a Cartman episode, and also somewhat of a Butters episode to a lesser extent. Cartmanland and Gingerkids were 2 other Cartman episodes that I really love, but this one just slightly won out over the 2 of those. The basic premise is that Kyle is going to Casa Bonita for his birthday, which is Cartman's favorite restaurant, and he can take any 3 friends with him. The only problem is that he refuses to take Cartman after what a jerk he's been to him in the past, and decides to take Butters instead. Of course, Cartman will do whatever it takes to get what he wants, no matter how silly of a thing it is, and he ends up going overboard by tricking Butters into thinking that the world is ending to get him to hide and go missing, all while trying to put up an act around Kyle to convince him that he has changed his ways, just so that he can go to a damn restaurant that he really likes. What I love about this episode is that it really shows you how manipulative and conniving of a person Cartman can be. Its part of why he's my favorite character, but also shows you how mean-spirited he is, yet at the same time it comes off being really funny. Of course, there is the part of you that is sort of rooting for Cartman, and the part of you that really wants to see the brat get his comeuppance. This episode is actually a little bit of both, to be honest, but I'd say it leans more toward the former, since even though Cartman is the bad guy here, you can see how badly he wants to go to Casa Bonita that he's willing to lie and scam out his ass to get what he wants. My only gripe with this episode is how Kyle is a bit out of character in how he becomes so trustworthy of Cartman after Cartman puts on such an obvious act. Its a bit out of character for Kyle, as he's usually much smarter than that. Other than that, its a great Cartman episode with a really satisfying and hilarious conclusion.

7. The Wacky Molestation Adventure- Once again, this one is another episode that's more of a movie parody than anything else. It does have some social commentary on what I think was a thing at the time with child abuse being a big thing in the news, and maybe something about people not really abusing their child, but the media and society were too sensitive to anything at that time and even being a proper parent and yelling at your kid about something could be seen as abuse. I'm not entirely sure if even that's close to the mark, but either way, I don't really care. That's not the point of why this is a great episode. At its core, its a really funny parody of Children of the Corn, and movie I sort of have a strange interest in if only because I saw it as a kid and it used to scare the hell out of me. This episode actually helped me get over that movie, and now I like it as a more of a cheesy but still well conceived horror movie. The general plot is that Kyle gets angry at his parents for not letting him go to a concert with his friends by a band called "The Raging Pussies," and tries to get back at them by calling child services and saying that he was molested. It turns out this ploy works and his parents are pulled away by authorities, leaving him to do whatever he wants. As soon as all of the other kids of South Park here about this, they do the same, and eventually South Park becomes an adult-free town. Flash forward in time a bit, and an unsuspecting couple ends up stuck in the newly named "Smiley Town" with Eric Cartman as its mayor, while the other half of South Park is split up and lead by Stan and Kyle. Essentially all of the kids have banded together and formed 2 separate societies, and with this new couple in the middle of the dilemma, you can bet your ass that this episode capitalizes on every Children of the Corn joke and reference that it can muster while still being a very clever and funny episode in its own right. It also pays homage and reference to quite a few other movies as well, and I always love movie parodies (well....the good ones, anyways).

6. A Ladder To Heaven- Its hard to explain why I love this episode so much....other than I just find it to be pretty fucking hilarious. That's really all I can say. I mean, it has a message about how sentimental people can get over something that they completely miscomprehend, and how there are people who can exploit people's emotions for whatever reason, but really I just see it as an episode about Stan, Kyle, and Cartman being the dumb kids that they are and figuring that they can build a ladder to heaven to get a free candy shopping-spree ticket that Kenny supposedly had on him when he died. Its them being completely selfish and partakin in a ludicrous idea all for some candy, and people and the media and even the freaking military taking their actions in completely the wrong way....and I just find that pretty funny. I don't know, maybe its just a good string of individual jokes that makes this episode so funny for me. I really can't explain it any further than that, so I won't. Moving on....

5. Super Fun Time- This one is a Cartman AND Butters episode in equal parts, and you can't go wrong with that. Mr. (or was he still Mrs. at thsi time? I can't remember. And quite frankly I don't care, because its irrelevant) Garrison takes the class on a field trip and tells them they have to partner up with someone to make sure that they nobody gets lost or goes missing. They are going on a field trip to some old country time-period sort of get-up, in which the actors obnoxiously stay in character during their entire shift, no matter what. Garrison tells Butters that he is absolutely responsible for keeping Cartman out of trouble, and Butters takes this very seriously to the point of hand-cuffing himself to Cartman. Of course, Carmtan doesn't want any part of this dumb-trip and as soon as he spots the next-door "Super Fun Thyme," he takes the first opportunity possible to ditch the class and head over there, even forcing Butters along with him. The other part of this episode deals with a group of international criminals (who robbed a Burger King, of all places) holding up in the get-up and holding the entire class and all of the employees hostage, all while the actors still annoyingly refuse to break character, leading to some absolutely hilarious situations. Both sides of the episode are extremely funny, and its good proof of how South Park can do great comedy without even really having to reference any current events or make any social commentary, whatsoever. Of course you could probaly find some of that here if you looked hard enough, but if that were the case then you're completely missing the point.

4. Woodland Critter Christmas- The Nostalgia Critic already talked about this episode, and like him I don't want to spoil anything for anyone who may have not seen it. I'll just say that its funny as hell, and IMO its the best Christmas special ever. Now go watch it.

3. You Have 0 Friends- As someone who used to constantly be bugged by friends about refusing to get a Facebook account, this episode finally nailed down why I can't stand facebook. Its not a forum for intelligent discussion, or a way to truly keep in touch with friends (at least not most of the time). Its a major online gimmick in which friends are treated as commodities and people partake in useless, meaningless "interactions" (if you can even call it that) and mini-games. I still gladly have no Facebook account to this day, and this episode on top of being a great sattire on that, was also just funny with plenty of good jokes. I nearly died laughing when it started becoming a parody of Tron towards the end.

2. The Breast Cancer Show Ever- So, remember how I said a few entries back that Cartman is either the character that you either want to root for or want to see get his own ass handed to? This episode is definitely the latter, and its actually a great character episode for Wendy. Basically, Cartman has never had a problem with picking on Wendy, who to be fair mostly comes off as an ass-kissing goodie-two-shoes that all the teachers love, even if she genuinely cares about what she talks about. However, Cartman ends up going too far this time, when he mocks Wendy and her message as she is making a presentation about the importance of Breast Cancer awareness. This causes Wendy to snap and publicly challenge Cartman to a fight in front of the entire school to finally shut him up once and for all. Now Cartman is in a tight spot, as he knows he clearly can't beat Wendy, but he can't afford to be embarrassed in front of his whole class by being beat up by a girl. This forces Cartman to do everything in his power to try and convince Wendy to call off the fight, all while he still tries to put up an act in front of everyone else that he's not afraid of her and is ready and willing to fight her at anytime. Its funny because once again it shows you how manipulative Cartman can be with his schemes, but in this case its for a problem that he got himself into in the first place. And the ending is priceless, since its once again something Cartman gets himself into, even when he could have very well been in the clear. Its just a really great way of showing you the pathetic side of Carmtan, which incidentally may be even funnier than his more clever side.

1. My Future Self 'n' Me- So, why is this my favorite episode? Well, because for me, it succeeds completely on 2 fronts. One is that its a really funny episode in which all of the jokes just hit home (at least for me), and it never fails to keep me from laughing. Two is that its another episode with a message, but its a message that I can really get behind more than any other that I've seen in the show so far. The episode is all about how parents and public service try to steer their kids away from drugs and other bad things by....flat-out lying to them about it. Anyone with some common sense and true morality knows that this is completely wrong, and you can bet that South Park rips this kind of thought to shreds. I won't really spoil the twist in the episode for anyone who hasn't seen it, but basically this episode is about Stan, and how through some strange circumstances he runs into his future self, or rather this future self runs into him, coming back from the past. The problem is that his future self is a complete homeless junkie who has succumbed to drugs and warns himself from the past to not go down that road. Of course, this being an episode of South Park, all is not as it seems, and since I can't really spoil anything for you, all I can say is that this episode comes up with every clever and funny way to mock just how terrible it is to flat-out lie to kids about drug use, and other such things in general, rather than talking to them seriously and getting them to understand that they need to make the choice for themselves, and realizing that in many cases if given the proper guidance, they can make the responsible choice. In this sense, a lot of the humor from this episode comes from how moronic Stan's parents act in this situation, and it just so turns out that Butters and Cartman have a lot of hilarious involvement in this plot as well. To me, this episode is just the most re-watchable, gets the most laughs out of me, and delivers its message stronger than any other episode in the show, and that's pretty much why its my favorite.

[close]

South Park is a show with so many clever, unique, and downright hilarious episodes that you are pretty much guaranteed that any fan will have a very different list of favorites from any other fan. These right here were my top 10 favorite epsiodes, so feel free to comment on them however you wish.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Ah dammit Ensatsu-ken, you beat me to it. 

Yeah, those are all really good episodes. "Stanley's Cup," "The Wacky Molestation Adventure," "Super Fun Time," "Woodland Critter Christmas," and "My future Self and Me" are personal top favorites for me as well. Between you and the Nostalgia Critic discussing a lot of the great ones, anything I could say about them would be redundant  . Even so, I'll post a top ten of my own, which was EXTREMELY hard by the way since I had to narrow it down from like a hundred different episodes (dammit South Park, why are you so darn good  ). I really won't go into too much detail, since I don't want to ramble and am too tired today to go super in depth into these episodes, but I'll summarize why I love them.

Spoiler

10. The Mystery of the Urinal Deuce - I love how this episode spirals into increasing degrees of ridiculousness, all to parody the absurdity of conspiracy theories. Plus, I love Mr. Mackey's continual frustration over the deuce in the urinal, first because I can relate to how something awful on an already bad day can piss you off and also because Mr. Mackey is an extremely entertaining character when he is allowed to shine. Really one of those episodes that'll still be relevant even decades after 9/11, since the main source of the jokes in the episode are how stupid conspiracy theories are, how ridiculous people are for believing in them, and the frustration of a really bad day. Also, the Hardy brother's jokes, as someone who had to read a bunch of them as a kid, were quite hilarious to me. 

9. My Future Self 'n' Me- E-K already explained why this episode works so well, so I'm not going to go over long here. I could very well relate to how parents try to stray kids from doing drugs and alcohol through over the top propaganda and not a serious, respectful discussion with them. Not to mention Cartman and Stan's parents are great in this episode, and the scene where Butters' parents, in spite of expectation, actually realize that what they did was wrong was hilarious. But really there is just a lot of good humor and satire in this episode in general, which is why it's one of my favorites.

8. Quest for Ratings- I've always liked this episodes' slam on how trashy media and news beats out in popularity of actually good or informative programming. Aside from that, the creative block jokes, satire on the media industry and the self-awareness about writing for a television how itself was always quite hilarious as well. A fun episode all around.

7. All about Mormons - I love to rewatch this episode. The jokes about the absurdity of the Mormon religion while also portraying them as good was a great way to examine why religion is so valuable to communities in spite of outlandish tales. So the jokes in the episode come from how uncomfortable Stan is around the Mormons, how parts of the origin of Mormonism are quite ridiculous, how much Randy tries to emulate them to try to become a better person, and a slam on the intolerance,the persuasive influence, and the value of religious faith. It's great!

6. Stanley's Cup- Oh wow is this an underrated episode. First off, it's a satire on every freaking sports film ever made. Second, the dichotomy of the relative lameness  of Pee Wee Hockey with how seriously it is treated in the episode immediately sparks great laughs. Third, Stan, just wanting to continue his paper route, being forced to deal with increasingly problematic and unnaturally serious situations  he isn't able to handle adds to the hilarity even when the cancer-ridden kid is in an awful state. Fourth, more hilarious moments from Randy, taking the Pee Wee situation more seriously than Stan, who not only probably doesn't remember, but doesn't care. And finally, the ending of the episode always addresses something that always bothered me about sports films. Who's to say the other team doesn't have dreams, tragic backstories, and goals? Who is to say they didn't work hard and have every right to win? In this episode, the team you weren't rooting for wins, but the rejoicing still happens in spite of that. It hammers home that for every winner there is a loser, and sometimes you just lose, but yours rivals or opponents  have just as much of a right to do so as you do. So I really enjoyed this episode on a number of levels. 

5. Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers- This episode just works. From the Lord of the Rings references, to the parents' fear of their children discovering porn and their reactions to it's name, to the kids' obliviousness of what they have, to how seriously they are taking their game and role playing, everything is just really funny to me in this episode.

4. Two Days Before the Day after Tomorrow- A parody of disaster films, specifically The Day After Tomorrow, one of the stupidest films ever made. Stan's relatable guilt for doing something bad is already enjoyable, but the episode's hilarity comes from how a crises emerges over nothing, how stupid every one is in the "global warming" fiasco, and yeah the Cartman-Kyle jew gold scene was funny too. Really, I always enjoy these episodes where Randy and the South Park adults overreact to a situation and it goes out of hand, but this is the funniest one to me by far.

3. Lil' Crime Stoppers - A parody of cop dramas and films. Again a lot of the humor comes from the dichotomy of how serious the situation is and the indifference of the boys, and how everyone is playing the cop drama scenario straight and the boys are simply caught in the middle of it and don't understand what's really going on at all. Plus, the episode introduces us to Sgt. Yates, Barbrady's much funnier and reusable replacement (I still love ol' Barbrady, but Yates is a funnier character for me). Oh, and let's not forget the boys' overly morbid conspiracy theory about the pie...

2. The Losing Edge- If you were ever, ever forced to play sports you didn't like as a kid, you would get a lot out of this episode. I can relate soooo much to what happens in this episode, from the boredom and indifference of the boys, the ignorant enthusiasm of the parents, and of course the obnoxious brawls between parents at freaking children's league games. Wonderful stuff with Randy in this episode, parodying Rocky and other boxing/fighting type films, and alongside the great and hilarious subversion of the sports movie genre with the boys training to lose, it's just a damn good episode and admittedly a biased favorite of mine.

1. Butters' Very Own Episode- I'm not going to lie, I'm always biased towards Butters episodes because Butters is one of my favorite animated characters ever. A down to earth and naive child who is always picked on and abused but always retains his childlike optimism and able to make the best out of any situation...I could go on and on about why I love Butters. But let's talk about this episode. I think this is the most serious episode South Park has ever done. Scott is having a homosexual affair, and a broken and insane Linda attempts to murder Butters, and when Scott and Linda finally reconcile they realize it's already to late and try to cover up what they have done, but the guilt eats away at them as other "victims" come to their "aid." But of course, throughout this episode, no matter how serious things get, Butters is his cheerful, playful, happy go lucky self and tries his darnest to get back home quickly so his parents wont be sad and they can all go the Bennigans together. And of course, he at the end puts everyone back in their senses, in a situation he didn't even realize was happening. Oh, and of course the mocking and criticism of definite scumbag murderers who lied and got away was simply awesome and hilarious at the same time. So, yeah, I'm totally biased towards this episode because Butters is my favorite character and it's definitely not the funniest in the series, but I do think this is the most serious South Park episode and there's just a lot of good in here that keeps making me come back to it, so right now I would totally say it's my favorite South Park episode. Of course, like I said, I love essentially 95% of the episodes in this series anyway, so it's always hard to chose between them for me. 

[close]

[Foggle]

I've always agreed with you that Stanley's Cup is a vastly underrated episode, but I can't really say it's a favorite of mine, either. I like both of y'all's lists a lot. Here's mine:

10. Breast Cancer Show Ever
9. Fatbeard
8. Cartoon Wars Parts 1 & 2
7. Chinpokomon
6. Butters' Very Own Episode
5. Christian Rock Hard
4. The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers
3. 1%
2. Lil' Crime Stoppers
1. Woodland Critter Christmas

If you guys want me to explain any of my picks, I can later... but I kinda' should be working on finals right now.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Great lists, guys!

Butters's Very Own Episode is another great one that I probably could have included in my honorable mentions, but I already had way too many in there as it was. It was HARD to even pick those without going overboard. I do really like Butters as a character, though, as he's my 2nd favorite South Park character next to Cartman (and for the record, he's Trey and Matt's favorite character if interviews are any indication).

Most of the episodes that you guys mentioned are also ones that I love.

"Two Days Before The Day After Tomorrow" and "The Losing Edge" are also great episodes, and prove that season 9 had some hits as well (which I don't quite get why some people seem to have something against that season).

Christian Rock Hard was another funny episode that I forgot to include in my honorable mentions.

"1%" isn't exactly a personal favorite of mine, but its still a great episode with plenty of laughs. I mostly remember the plot twist at the end regarding Cartman's dolls. That part had me laugh so hard that I shed a few tears.

Yeah, with all of the ad-mouthing that South Park can get at times, it shouldn't be forgotten just how many flat-out great and memorable episodes it has. It says a lot that even when I had 10 favorite episodes and 20+ honorable mentions, there are STILL a ton of episodes that I didn't even mention that could easily be a conceivable top 10 for someone else. The show just has so much variety and the times that it actually churns out garbage or even mediocrity is much further and farther in between than some people may let on.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Literally there are maybe like six episodes in the series so far that I don't like at all and almost 200 episodes that I freaking love, which attests to just how good South Park really is and why it's one of the greatest animated shows ever created.

Anyway, I think that most of the people that hate season nine hate it for "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina," which admittedly is one of the weakest episodes of the series, and also for "Erection Day" which is kinda bland and forgettable. However, every other episode in that season works, and as you can tell I love a lot of them. So I really don't think that it deserves as much hate as it gets, but generally it seems that South Park detractors like to dismiss everything after season 8 as awful, which in my opinion simply isn't true.

[Foggle]

Literally there are maybe like six episodes in the series so far that I don't like at all and almost 200 episodes that I freaking love, which attests to just how good South Park really is and why it's one of the greatest animated shows ever created.

Agreed. The only episodes I genuinely dislike are Jakovasaurs, Pip, Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina, A Million Little Fibers, and Eat, Pray, Queef. Those last two are the only episodes I've never finished; they're unwatchable IMO.

[Foggle]

Wait, no, never mind, Eat, Pray, Queef is okay. Turns out I mistakenly thought certain scenes from A Million Little Fibers were actually part of that episode. Fibers is just fucking AWFUL.

[Nel_Annette]

Come to think of it, I don't think there are any episodes I outright hate. Hmmm. I'll have to ponder which I like the least.