It's been nine months since my last South Park review, and I have to say that it's good to be back. Interestingly enough, this is my 21st South Park review on this blog, and it just so happens to be the premiere of Season 21. Let's get to it.
With such a long break between episodes, there was plenty of content for South Park to cover. With all the different options for what to cover, I have to say that I was disappointed to see Matt and Trey go down the politics route. After a whole season of politics last year, and plenty the year before, I was hoping for something a little different to kick things off.
In their benefit, though, South Park at least kept their main storyline fairly topical, as the show jumps right into the topic of white supremacy, mostly involving the town's resident rednecks. These episodes can work("Goobacks" from Season 8 is a great example), but I wasn't really feeling this one. For the most part, this episode didn't really bring anything new to the table, relying on buzzwords and semblance of conflict rather than actual conflict. Randy's parody of a home renovation show was pretty great, but didn't really feel like it fit in here. This story was a jumbled mess, 5 minutes of content stretched out to help fill out the episode's runtime. It was mostly all just a set up for the episode's closing punchline, which is the only time everything seems to wrap up nicely. I will give Matt and Trey some credit for that closing line; the idea that many middle class white people would rather bury their head in the sand than pay attention to relevant issues is a good one, and I felt they really hit the nail on the head. Perhaps everything would've flowed better if that was the start of the episode, rather than the climax.
Cartman's relationship problems with Heidi get the sub-plot treatment, which is probably for the best. This episode really showcases how poorly developed this relationship actually is, and if this is the swan song, then I won't be shedding any tears. The idea that Cartman would rather having a device he can control than an actual person is pretty great, and there's some good material here if you get past how little chemistry these two characters have.
6/10
This was far from a great episode, and most of the content in it either wasn't very good or wasn't very important. There's certainly something here, though, if you can make it through the episode, and here's hoping that "White People Renovating Houses" isn't a one-off. It appears that at least for now, serialized storytelling in South Park is gone, and that's probably for the best.
With such a long break between episodes, there was plenty of content for South Park to cover. With all the different options for what to cover, I have to say that I was disappointed to see Matt and Trey go down the politics route. After a whole season of politics last year, and plenty the year before, I was hoping for something a little different to kick things off.
In their benefit, though, South Park at least kept their main storyline fairly topical, as the show jumps right into the topic of white supremacy, mostly involving the town's resident rednecks. These episodes can work("Goobacks" from Season 8 is a great example), but I wasn't really feeling this one. For the most part, this episode didn't really bring anything new to the table, relying on buzzwords and semblance of conflict rather than actual conflict. Randy's parody of a home renovation show was pretty great, but didn't really feel like it fit in here. This story was a jumbled mess, 5 minutes of content stretched out to help fill out the episode's runtime. It was mostly all just a set up for the episode's closing punchline, which is the only time everything seems to wrap up nicely. I will give Matt and Trey some credit for that closing line; the idea that many middle class white people would rather bury their head in the sand than pay attention to relevant issues is a good one, and I felt they really hit the nail on the head. Perhaps everything would've flowed better if that was the start of the episode, rather than the climax.
Cartman's relationship problems with Heidi get the sub-plot treatment, which is probably for the best. This episode really showcases how poorly developed this relationship actually is, and if this is the swan song, then I won't be shedding any tears. The idea that Cartman would rather having a device he can control than an actual person is pretty great, and there's some good material here if you get past how little chemistry these two characters have.
6/10
This was far from a great episode, and most of the content in it either wasn't very good or wasn't very important. There's certainly something here, though, if you can make it through the episode, and here's hoping that "White People Renovating Houses" isn't a one-off. It appears that at least for now, serialized storytelling in South Park is gone, and that's probably for the best.
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