Each year South Park does a fantastic job of finding ways to make multiple statements about society while having them all bleed into one centralized plot that slowly crosses over. Season 20 has been off to a really great start and is continuing to replicate this never failing formula. Between the election and a nice look at internet culture, South Park has set itself up for another awesome serialized season that is smart and complex. What’s great about the show is that things are never fully what they seem to be, and the past season did a great job at masking the long-term game as long as it could, which paid off in the end and made things goofy. This season is finding a similar groove, and in “Douche and a Danish,” the plots finally seem to be crossing over more and story elements are getting more interesting.
One of the biggest stories South Park has touched on this season is the election and the current state of American politics. As has been discussed before, the show might single out one character to get their point across, but the points that Stone and Parker make are relatively generalized and can be applied to both parties. “Douche and a Danish” really gets deeper into the idea that the way the system works neither candidate has to truly try with their campaign. While the public likes to believe that debates and rallies get down to the core of these politicians beliefs, it’s honestly just turned into personal attacks on one another and the end result will only be the lesser of two evils. Yet, what South Park does so well is call out the system and the country for letting this happen. Garrison is pretty insane, but he isn’t wrong in how much people pick and choose what’s okay and what’s not because while a ton of people think it’s okay for him to be racist, they don’t believe it’s okay for him to attack women, and others are the exact opposite. Truthfully, neither is right and none of it should be okay, but that’s on us as a nation to realize and demand change, away from the corruption. Both of the candidates in the show represent past ideals of America; Clinton is a household name and something that people are familiar with while Garrison represents the old school conservative beliefs, but both come from an outdated generation.
It’s interesting because the show also plays up the claim that elections are rigged, and while in reality that is just a coping mechanism for dealing with losing the presidency, South Park finds a way to expand on the idea with the member berries. Apparently Randy is looking deeper into the diversion that the member berries are being produced for, which is to distract from the fact that the new Star Wars movie wasn’t that good because all it did was re-tell the original story. The idea, while really funny, begins to call out the public again because people just seem to not know what they want. The member berries take people back to the old days where things seemed simpler and safer, but it’s really holding the nation back as a whole from moving into the current generation and how things work. Sure, things in the world definitely are changing, but that doesn’t mean people should hold onto the past because it’s more comfortable. Star Wars in South Park just represents a tricky concept of the majority of people’s inability to focus on what’s actually wrong with things because we, as a whole, have let it get to this point.
Normally, Cartman is one of the people to see through the guise of everything, but the show might have made the character eviler than he’s ever been by going full on PC. This has been one of the most unique seasons for Cartman because he is still wreaking havoc, just in different ways. His new personality and relationship is basically causing everyone in South Park Elementary to question everything they have ever known. Girls are throwing up or fainting when trying to comprehend that Cartman has a girlfriend and trying to figure out what someone they know could ever see in him. The boys are just as shocked because they know Cartman the best and can’t believe it, especially because they caused his change. Cartman definitely has to be giving them a slow burn with all of this, getting them back by shifting the entire school dynamic. He could easily be pulling the ultimate troll, which would fall nicely in line with the other story line from the season, and especially now that Cartman is getting involved with the troll plot, maybe he will be a sleeper agent that wants to take down the anti-troll site from the inside.
South Park has really been showing a shift in power this season, at least for right now. Cartman’s change is altering everything at school and seems to have the boys going to radical lengths to stand up for themselves without his evil but clever ways as a leader. It’s really interesting to see Cartman’s story become more involved with the troll plot because it could become the final connection that brings everything together. With Randy looking further into the member berries origin, it will be funny to see if the creators actually use J.J. Abrams as the mastermind villain behind it all, or if everything goes deeper. South Park continues to do a great job of covering politics and getting down to the bare bones of what’s going wrong with the country. The show definitely singles out certain people but, again, all of the points made are relatively generalized and seem to question the public. Between the election stuff and the member berries, it’s as if Stone and Parker are trying to say most people are brainwashed into believing certain things. Even with the anti-troll software, the company clearly has alternative plans for it that play into using it to spy on whoever they want, but that’s what season 20 is really getting into, who can we trust anymore?
Other Thoughts:
- The Token’s Life Matters shirt Cartman is constantly wearing is incredible
- “I do it for the lols”
- The Danish Kickstarter advertisement is hilarious, especially their dancing.
- Terraform Mars everyone!
- Having it look like Garrison was doing stand up was a great way to display how this all comes off, as ridiculous comedy.
- The Trolls group attack on Denmark is great, looks like a Star Wars space battle scene with the headsets and music.
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