Most of them don’t want to admit that ManBearPig (climate change) is the reason for the destruction, electing to ignore the issue altogether. The latest episode, Nobody Got Cereal?, sees the disproportionate creature tear the town apart while its citizens fecklessly ask if it’s time to worry yet. This newfound level of maturity is perhaps responsible for the creators issuing a rare apology to Al Gore over the existence of ManBearPig – a naturally part man, part bear and part pig monster that is actually a satirical substitute for global warming. And, if it can be said about a programme that still features fart humour as a prominent comedy tool, that demonstrates just how much the show has matured.
It’s not so much mocking contrasting schools of thought, but asking its audience to understand why it is so exhausting to live in such a climate. More than ever before, South Park is questioning its own place in society, abandoning its usual approach of ‘offend everyone to offend no one’ to instead become more existential. But for this season in particular, they’ve made that uncertainty the entire point. Parker and Stone have always been agnostic in their satire, knowing what to mock but not necessarily what they should be advocating.
It’s the refusal to lean on either side of the argument that prevents the show from causing any real offence. Kyle is the only one willing to defend the poo’s offensive behaviour, and he rightfully ends up getting smeared in the process. While the episode may be attacking the ‘PC crybabies’ of the world, it also makes it abundantly clear that Mr Hankey is a relic. Eventually, she gives birth to five ‘PC babies’ who cry at anything they deem offensive. The idea that a woman could become pregnant from sexual intercourse is a major problem for the pair of them, who don’t want anyone to assume anything about their gender roles.
Meanwhile, the characters PC Principal and Vice Principal Strong Woman find themselves in a dilemma as they try to cover up Strong Woman’s pregnancy.
However, it soon transpires that the Noël turd is incompatible with the modern world, causing outrage after he shares a series of offensive tweets, which he later blames on the sleeping drug Ambien – a clear parody of Rosanne Barr’s infamous firing from her own sitcom.
The episode sees the return of Christmas poo Mr Hankey, who is once again trying to spread a little festive cheer. And in fairness, it is genuinely quite surprising that it’s managing to survive in 2018, a time where making a joke about something horrible is now deemed nearly as bad as the horrible thing itself.Ī still from South Park’s Dead Kids episode. ‘How has this show not been cancelled?’ is the sort of question someone who’s never seen South Park might ask. But even for the famously controversial South Park this seems like a particularly daring subject to make light of. This is, of course, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s satirical takedown of gun violence in the US, highlighting the absurd truth that school shootings have now become commonplace. “What’s up Stan’s mum’s ass?” asks a bemused Cartman. It’s only Stan’s mum Sharon who is deeply horrified by it all, slowly losing her mind as everyone else in the town seems to hold the reoccurring massacres in the same regard as a failed maths test. The teachers and students carry on as if it’s completely normal because, in America, it is. South Park’s 22nd season opens its first episode, Dead Kids, with the sound of gun shots ringing throughout the show’s primary setting of an elementary school.