South Park

[Nel_Annette]

They usually air last week's episode before the new one, but last night they aired the first episode of the season instead. I think the attacks happened a few days after it originally aired.

Good episode. They've really been nailing it this season. Personally, I think South Park is pretty bad about ending its multiparters, so hopefully the end of this season will subvert that and be satisfying.

[Daxdiv]

They usually air last week's episode before the new one, but last night they aired the first episode of the season instead. I think the attacks happened a few days after it originally aired.

Basically this. Normally the 9:30 episode before the premiere is normally last week's episode and they usually have some form of commentary with the official South Park Twitter account, giving out some behind the scenes details like what inspired the episode, production art and creating scenes. I normally like to check it out every week myself just for the commentary.

Really, the whole ISIS thing was bad timing since the episode did air a day or so after Obama declared that ISIS was detained because the US sent out an attack on Syria where they believed that Jihadi John was located. Then a day later, France got hit with a terrorist attack that outdid the worst attack on Paris since WWII. I can see Comedy Central pulling the episode from reruns for the time being due to poor taste of the Paris bombings and it wouldn't be the first time a network has done that. Provided, you can still watch the episode on Hulu last time I checked, but the fact they pulled it doesn't surprise me anymore.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

To be clear, the episode hit the air BEFORE the Paris attacks happened. South Park airs on Wednesdays, and the ISIS bombings happened on a Saturday. Obviously Comedy Central would have pulled the episode from airing if the attacks had happened from beforehand.

[LumRanmaYasha]

A part of me wonders why Wendy, who's the most moral and outspoken character in the series, wasn't the one to challenge PC Principal, but Jimmy's disabilities and more down to earth nature probably does make him a better choice to push him out of his comfort zone and make some waves. It was great to see Nathan again, as well as the continuation of Mr. Garrison's subplot, and I totally did not see that twist about PC Principal and Leslie coming. This episode had me laughing and seriously intrigued in where the story is going, and it kills me that we'll have to wait two weeks to find out. Depending how the last two eps play out, this might very well end up my favorite season of this show.

[Dr. Insomniac]

This has been popping up my screen throughout this week. I'm amused how this accuses South Park of being reactionary, as if the people they mock aren't reactionary themselves. That said, a South Park that riles people up this much is a good South Park. Any less would make a poor season.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

What's funny is that this season has been strongly critiquing SJW's, and the episode "Safe Space" which the author of the post referred to is all about how you can't just ignore any critiques thrown at you and it's something that everyone has to deal with. Clearly he/she missed the point if they think that this show is actually encouraging people to maintain their assumptions about any given topic and never have them challenged. South Park has always thrived on comedy that attacks the general assumptions of society on various political to global topics. And on the contrary, rather than to ignore various real-life issues, this show has highlighted for many people, including myself, numerous social topics that we otherwise would never have given a second thought if South Park hadn't brought it up.

The irony of that post is that the author is basically being a hypocrite. He/she claims that the show just wants to be lazy and doesn't want anyone's assumptions to be challenged, yet clearly expect readers to adopt his/her beliefs without them being challenged in any way, otherwise they are just lazy idiots by his/her definition.

[Foggle]

I think this person makes a decent point about a select handful of episodes but either has little experience with the series or is cherry-picking to make their argument seem stronger. Honestly, I've never seen the show as being either particularly offensive or brilliant satire... it's just funny. Even when I don't agree with their views, it's usually funny. The amount of neocons who used the Safe Space episode as an excuse to shit on disenfranchised minorities is troubling, but I'm pretty sure its intention was more to make fun of self-important assholes who co-opt such concepts so they can ignore any criticism thrown their way than it was to, say, laugh at trans people who struggle every day to get others to accept them as human beings. This wouldn't be the first time SP has been misinterpreted by both sides of the sociopolitical spectrum, after all; like that Cissy episode, which was actually pretty pro-trans if you paid attention (few people did).

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

And we have just one episode left. I would never have imagined that South Park would present a season-wide story arc that would keep me so invested to the point of not being able to wait for each new episode. Here's to hoping that the finale lives up to the rest of the season.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I want to go to NoMoAuchie.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Man, there's so many questions and plot threads left to wrap up I can't believe there's only one episode left! This is going to be one packed finale, and I'm looking forward to it. Even if the finale doesn't end up being the best of the season, I feel pretty safe in saying this is my new favorite season of the show.

[Peanutbutter]

They seemed to hint that the story arc will continue into next season. I'm not sure where else they can go after sentient ads, unless they instead focus on Garrison's Presidential campaign which is more likely with the election next year. I'm ecstatic that not only did PC Principal pull a face turn, but also they decided to keep him on. He's the best new character they've had in ages and is utterly funny so I'm glad he gets to stay. I can't remember the last in any other show where a new character added to a show managing to breath so much new life into.




Great season and great finale.

[Nel_Annette]

Agreed. The finale didn't go into the direction I thought it would (thought there'd be a bigger twist to PCP being in that ad with Leslie rather than "the ads are trying to psych him out"), but I still loved it and this season was fantastic. Really glad PC Principal didn't get killed. The character caused a lot of the laughs I had this season, so I think he's warranted his stay.

When he interrupted Leslie's evil speech at the gun show, I was really hoping we'd get a final "Put a fucking sock in it!" but alas. And when the show cut to Randy with the townsfolk saying "Why did it have to be this way?" I thought it was going to show that they were hanging PCP like they did with Reality.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Best season of the show. It's official now.

And yes, I admire how the finale didn't go in the obvious route, and was all the more funny for it.

I also agree that PC Principal is a great new character, and I'm glad that they decided to keep him on board.

[Daxdiv]

The season finale was probably the best they've ever done. Once again, thank you SP for not killing off your best new addition to the show.

OK fam, time to rank/rate the episodes from this season.

Stunning and Brave: 8/10
Where My Country Gone?: 9/10
City Part of Town: 10/10
You're Not Yelping: 7/10
Safe Space: 10/10
Tweek x Craig: 10/10
Naughty Ninjas: 9/10
Sponsored Content: 8/10
Truth and Advertising: 10/10
PC Prinicipal Final Justice: 10/10

All in all, a good season. Can't wait to see what happens next year with the election.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Honestly, I feel that Sponsored Content was the best one. It's something that anyone who doesn't live under a rock can pretty much relate to, and it's actually a really great episode for Jimmy, and I just like when South Park can focus on great character pieces for their supporting cast, similar to what they did with Butters' Very Own Episode.

As for rankings, I'll need to re-watch the season again to decide that for myself, but honestly everything except for maybe the second episode (which was still decent) was great, IMO.