Recap / South ParQ Vaccination Special

Original air date: 3/10/2021

The residents of South Park are all clamoring for the COVID-19 vaccine. When a new militant group arrives in town and tries to stop the boys from getting their teacher vaccinated, the foul-mouthed misadventures kick off.

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This special contains examples of:

• Aborted Arc: Almost everything about "The Pandemic Special" but the pandemic itself. That episode ends with South Park being engulfed by forest fires and people growing moustaches after having smoked Randy's weed. No mention is ever made of these events in this special. The South Park police similarly are nowhere to be seen, besides Sgt. Yates' cameo in the end. And Mickey Mouse's vendetta against Randy has been dropped as well; amusingly, the bat from Wuhan can be seen among the dozens of cameos at the end, but Mickey himself does not appear.
• Accomplice by Inaction: Even if Kyle and Stan didn't participate in pranking Mrs. Nelson, she still holds them just as responsible for Cartman's prank, since they did know about it, but didn't warn her. Even Cartman, who caused the prank along with Kenny, calls Kyle on this.
  Cartman: Silence is violence, Kyle. Silence is violence.
• Acquired Situational Narcissism: The elderly are given a vaccine before any other citizen of South Park and rub it in everyone's faces. After everyone gets a vaccine, the senior citizens are forced back into their retirement homes, losing their smug personas for good.
• Adults Are Useless: Many parents hire QAnon supporters as private tutors for their kids after pulling them out of school as a result of Mr. Garrison coming back. This leads to some of the kids being brainwashed and forming Lil' Qties to stop the boys from distributing the vaccines to the teachers.
• Advertised Extra:
  • The commercials made it seem like Wendy, Bebe, and Red were going to have prominent roles, but once the episode aired only Bebe had a brief speaking role, Red appears in the background as one of the Lil' Qties, and Wendy doesn't even have a role.
  • Stephen Stotch is actively shown in the commercials, but in the episode itself he is used for a few gags at best, and is a background character at worst.
  • A commercial shows the Underpants Gnomes claiming to be essential workers, implying that they would have a prominent role in the episode. In reality, they only show up for a quick gag.
• All for Nothing: Just like in the previous special. Mr. Garrison is able to get vaccines for everyone in town, but Mrs. Nelson dies of COVID-19 before getting her own vaccination, thus making Mr. Garrison the 4th-grade class teacher permanently, meaning that the boys' crusade to get the vaccines to the teachers was useless in the end.
• And I Must Scream: The Hollywood Elites turn Mr. White into a giant penis with eyes, no mouth and flowers growing out of the testicles and base. From his expression, it's clear he's in agony.
• Artistic License – Medicine: The vaccines that the boys steal are left out in the open for a day. In reality, the vaccines would become useless after a few hours even in a cold storage unit—unless it was the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which had only just begun distribution when the episode aired.
• Art Shift: The stills from the "Tutornon" ad are drawn in higher quality compared to the regular animation style.
• Asshole Victim: Mr. White gets turned into a giant penis with no mouth by the Hollywood Elites, but given he was a racist conspiracy theorist that caused plenty of trouble in practically every episode he was featured in so far, you can't feel too sorry for him.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Robert White has spent every waking second of his screentime acting like a massive dick, so the outside forces transform him into one.
• The Atoner: Played with. The boys try to give Ms. Nelson the vaccine to apparently make up for the sick prank they pulled on her, but it's mostly so Mr. Garrison won't be their teacher again.
• Author Powers: Trey Parker and Matt Stone are among the ranks of the Hollywood Elite, and they can control the show's animation. The high number of random character cameos seen at the end could also be seen as them doing whatever they want within their own show.
• Author's Retaliation: Bob White spending the episode ranting about the "Hollywood Elites," which includes series creators Trey Parker And Matt Stone. At the climax of the episode, strange things begin happening to the animation, with Bob and Mr. Garrison (and his bodyguard Mr. Service) being transported to a freezing cold landscape and Bob's body being mutilated by a computer cursor that transforms him into a variety of humiliating objects, culminating in him turning into a giant penis with flowers growing on him. Bob claims they must be making fun of him so nobody will take his beliefs seriously.
• Big Bad: Robert is the main antagonist for this episode, being the leader of the QAnon supporters who believe the COVID-19 vaccines should be destroyed.
• Bittersweet Ending: All of the South Park adults receive the COVID-19 vaccine thanks to Mr. Garrison and everything starts returning to normal. However, Mrs. Nelson dies and Stan, Kyle, and Cartman have each decided to end their friendships with the other two due to having drifted apart during lockdown (that and Cartman said Stan and Kyle were involved in the prank on Mrs. Nelson), while Kenny remains oblivious to it as the three begin to share custody of him. Also, the townsfolk have abandoned all sanitary measures, exposing themselves to a potentially more deadly wave of coronavirus.
• Bloody Horror: During the montage being presented as one of the QAnon tutors was brainwashing Craig, some of the images show children being brutally vivisected and harvested for their blood while some of the Hollywood Elites wearing cult-like hooded robes drink the harvested blood.
• A Bloody Mess: Cartman and Kenny decide to prank Mrs. Nelson by staining the back of her dress with ketchup and make her mistake it for her period.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: The kids that form Lil' Qties have been brainwashed by QAnon and while they're not crazy, they are trying to stop the boys from distributing the vaccines to the teachers. Butters also joined Lil' Qties, but for different reasons. See Not Brainwashed and Not in This for Your Revolution for more details.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: When Bob White starts ranting about the Hollywood Elites, his animation starts breaking down. Garrison then makes a deal with the higher-ups to get his job back via reality warping.
• Broken Pedestal: Mr. White finally turns on Mr. Garrison when the latter makes it clear that he is willing to work with the "Hollywood Elites" controlling everything. The Lil' Q-ties have this when they realize that Mr. Garrison is their supposed "chosen one".
• Brutal Honesty: Bebe casually tells Mr. Garrison that Wendy's parents and Bebe herself hates him after explaining why Wendy's parents pulled her out of school.
• The Bus Came Back: Many, many characters from past episodes return in this episode, albeit most of them are in the form of cameos. However, a few more major characters make a significant appearance after being written out of the show.
  • Dr. Alphonse Mephesto (who tells Mr. Mackey to get to the back of the line) and Kevin appear for the first time since "201" (not counting South Park: The Fractured but Whole).
  • Mr. Service turns into Mr. Hat, who Garrison had abandoned in the early seasons and hadn't properly appeared since "201."
• Cabin Fever: The only reason Butters joined The Lil' Qties is that he needed an excuse to leave his house. He didn't care what it was, he just wanted any excuse.
• Call-Back: As a former president, Mr. Garrison is assigned a secret service agent as security. He forces him to wear a speedo instead of pants and calls him Mr. Service, alluding to when he had Mr. Slave. This reference goes further back when Mr. Service is turned into Mr. Hat as part of a reset to the status quo for Mr. Garrison.
• The Cameo: Several characters from previous episodes can be seen during the Dance Party Ending once every adult in town has been vaccinated such as the Visitors, ManBearPig, and Scott Tenorman, just to name a few.
  • The Goth Kids could also be seen in the crowd once Air Israel delivers all the vaccines to South Park.
• Carload of Cool Kids: Spoofed. A group of vaccinated elderly, which Marvin Marsh is part of, teases Stan from their car.
• Character Death: Mrs. Nelson dies of COVID-19.
• The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right: It turns out that something whether or not they are "The Hollywood Elite" is in charge of everything, just like the Whites and the other conspiracy theorists say as reality starts changing when Bob White and Mr. Garrison were just about to strike against them.
• Comically Missing the Point: Mr. Garrison thinks everyone is shooting death glares at him because he's gay, numb to the fact that he ran America as a Nazi-style dictatorship for four years. It's subverted near the end, as Mr. Garrison says that he believed that everyone would just magically forgive him for what he did as President now that he's returned to South Park, eventually realizing how wrong he was and that he just wanted his old life back.
• Comic-Book Time: Par for the course for this series, but Mr. Garrison's Presidency highlights it even further. It is acknowledged in-universe that Garrison had previously been Stan, Cartman, Kenny, and Kyle's teacher before his Presidency. Stan and the others are still roughly ten and in the fourth grade, meaning Garrison would have had to have been their kindergarten or preschool teacher if this was a real timeline.
• Company Cross References: During one of Bob White's conspiracy rants, he mentions a streaming service that launched on March 4th. This would be Paramount+, which is also owned by Viacom (though, ironically, it doesn't stream South Park due to the streaming rights being held by HBO Max).
• Conspiracy Theorist: The QAnon members come up with ridiculous theories about the "Hollywood Elite" drinking the blood of children and the COVID-19 vaccines being used to plant microchips.
• Contemplative Boss: Mr. Mackey assumes this post in front of the window when the boys come to visit him for counseling.
• Continuity Nod:
  • While trying to get his old job as a teacher back, Mr. Garrison explains to PC Principal that he first discovered that he was gay, only to realize that he was actually transgender and got a sex operation change, but later realized this was not right and went back to male. Later on, he states he went through a transition and became the president of the United States.
  • In the Whites' house, a picture in memory of their son Jason, who died in "Season Finale", can be seen.
  • One of the clippings on their conspiracy theory board mentions a "whale on the moon", referring to the events of Free Willzyx.
  • Mr. Garrison asks Thompson if his wife ever got that AIDS test.
  • It's revealed that Raisins went out of business during the pandemic and serves as a hiding spot for the boys when they're on the run from all the adults looking for a vaccine.
  • When Mr. Garrison and Mr. Service are out grocery shopping, a Chinpokomon backpack could be seen.
• Continuity Porn: Many characters from previous episodes appear in this episode, including those who only appeared once. The Dance Party Ending includes a whole crowd shot of characters from older episodes dancing at the party.
• The Corrupter: Robert White and the rest of QAnon are this for the kids that they tutor, manipulating them into believing their insane theories, leading them to try to stop the boys from delivering the vaccines to the teachers.
• Country Matters: The news reporter Chris refers to his fellow reporter Tom as this when Tom tries to defend the Lil' Qties.
• Crazy Enough to Work: Stan thinks that the 2-2-3 rotation for Kenny is so ridiculous ... that it just might work.
• Creator Cameo: Among the images of the "Hollywood Elites" include a picture of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, more specifically their characters in the movie Baseketball.
• Crying Wolf: After Cartman and Kenny prank Ms. Nelson, she refuses to believe them when they call her promising to get her vaccines, thinking it's just another prank.
• Dance Party Ending: The adults in South Park (along with several other minor characters that only appeared once) celebrate their vaccinations for the COVID-19 pandemic with this at the end of the special. During Mrs. Nelson's funeral mind you.
• A Day in the Limelight: After barely being featured in the previous special with no lines, Kenny gets a lot of focus here.
• Deal with the Devil: Mr. Garrison cuts a deal with the "Hollywood Elites" (Trey Parker and Matt Stone) to align with them so he can be liked again. They fulfill it by summoning an airplane from Israel with enough vaccines to inoculate everyone and giving him the credit. Also, Mrs. Nelson, conveniently enough for him, contracts COVID-19 and dies, freeing back up his teaching position.
• A Death in the Limelight: Mrs. Nelson gets a more prominent role in this episode only to die from COVID-19 at the end.
• Demoted to Extra: Randy's role is dramatically reduced from his usual screentime in recent seasons, only making a short cameo in the end of the episode, with the focus of the special firmly placed on the kids and Mr. Garrison.
• Deus ex Machina: It looks like an epic battle is about to start between the boys on one side, and the combined forces of the QAnon members, the Lil' Qties and the people wanting the vaccine on the other, but then the day is saved by the Deus ex Machina summoned by the "Hollywood Elites" and Mr. Garrison, so nobody has to do anything.
• Didn't Think This Through: Mr. Garrison seriously thought that after four years as the guy who started his term as President by forcing people he didn't like to give him oral sex and finished it by destroying the chance for a full-blown cure to COVID-19 and end the pandemic months ago, that he could just slip back into his old life as if nothing changed. The residents of South Park are quick to let him know that's not the case.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • Stan, Kyle, and Cartman have friendship troubles and only agree to stay together for Kenny, treating him like their child and working out how to share Kenny over the week.
  • Their fighting also resembles political debates where the undecided (Stan) are shamed because their reluctance to side with the weaker but more rational party (Kyle) just makes it easier for the moronic loudmouth (Cartman) to screw them all over.
  • The Walgreens is set up like an exclusive club, with a bouncer, rave music coming from inside and people trying to look cool enough to get in.
  • When the boys steal some of the vaccines and are deciding what to do with it, a group of people gathers outside the house they're in, all of them begging for the boys to "give them a shot", with some of them looking like they're auditioning for a talent show.
• Dragon Ascendant: Mr. Garrison's main supporter, Robert White, takes his role as Big Bad once Garrison is no longer president.
• Dropped a Bridge on Her: Mrs. Nelson's death. There's no previous Foreshadowing that she even got infected with COVID-19, nor that it was going to be fatal.
• Easily Forgiven: At the end of the special, everyone forgives Mr. Garrison for what he did as President when he calls Air Israel to give them vaccination shots, knowing how much they needed them more than anything else for the entire special.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Cartman is one of the most (if not the most) bigoted and ignorant characters in the show, but even he sees how stupid QAnon's beliefs are.
• Everyone Has Standards: Even Clark Malkinson, Scott Malkinson's dad, thinks Mr. Garrison was a terrible president and a horrible teacher—the same guy who belittles his son out of insecurity.
• Everything Is Racist: In the "everything is homophobic" variant, Mr. Garrison assumes he's getting dirty looks and overall unpleasantness from the town because of his sexuality. He is oblivious to their disgust of his Presidency.
• Extremely Protective Child: A variation. The Lil' Qties, having been brainwashed into believing that vaccines are harmful, form a militant group dedicated to protecting Mrs. Nelson from being vaccinated, to the point of engaging the Boys in an all-out brawl when they attempt to deliver the vaccines.
• Fan Disservice: Mr. Service being forced to wear a thong, with his genitals prominent in side views and his butt very prominent from behind. The main "disservice" comes from how clearly uncomfortable he is with this situation.
• First Law of Resurrection: At the end, it's revealed that Towelie is still alive despite his apparent death in the Season 23 finale.
• Flipping the Bird: The elderly woman in the opening scene flips everybody off when she gets to get her vaccine first. Another elderly woman does this to Mr. Mackey after hopping on her husband's motorcycle and leaving.
• Forced Transformation: Bob White is edited in various ways by the "Hollywood Elite" in an attempt to silence or discredit his raving about their control over everything. In the end, he's turned into a giant penis with flowers growing out of it. Mr. Service is also turned into Mr. Hat.
• The "Fun" in "Funeral": Priest Maxi throws a party to celebrate that COVID-19 is over in South Park during Mrs. Nelson's funeral. Everyone at the funeral joins in and forgets about Mrs. Nelson's death completely.
• Funeral Cut: Mrs. Nelson starts coughing just as she is about to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Cut to her funeral.
• Greater-Scope Villain:
  • The "Hollywood Elites" (including Trey Parker and Matt Stone) turn out to be 100% real and controlling everything. Much like the Member Berries, Mr. Garrison tries to fight them but ends up becoming their puppet.
  • Randy could also be considered this. While he only appears at the end of the episode, the pandemic would not have happened in the first place if it wasn't for his actions in the previous episode.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Chris the news reporter is so envious of everyone receiving a vaccine, that after trying and failing to convince the Bouncer to let him in and get his shot, he starts getting angry during his later news reports, and verbally lashes out on his colleague, Tom.
• Guilt by Association Gag: Mrs. Nelson holds all four of the boys responsible for Cartman's cruel prank, and the other students agree, since they call them names in the hallways.
• Harmful to Minors: Mr. Service attacks and kills a female QAnon member in front of Craig, who is clearly disturbed by the scene.
• Heel–Face Turn: Mr. Garrison is back to his happy-go-lucky self, meaning he broke free of the Member Berries' influence. Subverted when he's willing to ally with pedophilic child murderers to restore his status quo.
• The Hero: Mr. Garrison, of all people, becomes this in the end where he distributes COVID vaccines throughout the town.
• He's Back!: After spending 4 seasons and "The Pandemic Special" being a Trumplica, Mr. Garrison returns here as his old self and becomes a teacher again. He even says this when he arrives in the town.
• Ignored Epiphany: Mr. Garrison thinks that the town is acting hostile to him because of his sexuality and not because of all of the horrible things he did as President.
• Incurable Cough of Death: Just as the boys bring the vaccines to the town, Mrs. Nelson starts coughing and hacking, and the very next scene shows her funeral service. For once, justified since a heavy cough is a prominent symptom of COVID-19 in real life.
• Insult Backfire: When Mr. Garrison insults QAnon to the Whites' faces, Bob White assumes it's just a coded message supporting QAnon.
• Irony: The various QAnoners in the show all get their "clues" from misinterpreting Mr. Garrison's insults, only for Robert White to radicalize Mr. Garrison right back.
• Jerkass: The senior citizens, who mock the people who are denied a vaccine. Although it's only temporary.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • Clark Malkinson, who is prone to belittle his son Scott out of insecurity to the point where he makes fun of him for having diabetes, is right to say that Mr. Garrison is a horrible teacher and the worst president America's ever had. He even says that he doesn't want Scott to go back to school because of Mr. Garrison, stating that he'll completely screw up everyone's kids.
  • While Cartman is clearly just dragging Kyle and Stan down with him so he and Kenny don't get all the blame, he's right to call out Kyle for trying to take the moral high ground and distance himself from Cartman's prank on Mrs. Nelson, pointing out that Kyle knew about the prank beforehand, but did nothing to stop it, even though he could have.
• Job's Only Volunteer: Mr. Garrison returns to town and applies for his old job as fourth grade teacher. PC Principal doesn't want to rehire him because of everything he did as US President over the previous seasons. Unfortunately, because no one else wants to be a teacher unless they get the COVID-19 vaccine first, he ultimately has no choice but to give Garrison the job.
• Karma Houdini:
  • Mr. Garrison gets off scot-free after being president and committing a lot of atrocities after making a deal with "child-murdering pedophiles" to help with the vaccines for the pandemic.
  • Likewise, Randy has gotten away with causing the pandemic and is last seen selling his latest marijuana special.
• Laser-Guided Karma: The elderly being forced back into their retirement homes at the end of the episode. It's hard to feel bad for them given that they spent the whole episode mocking the people who had yet to receive their vaccinations.
• Lighter and Softer: While definitely still not without its dramatic moments, this episode is generally much lighter and considerably more surreal than "The Pandemic Special".
• Locked Out of the Loop: Stan, Kyle and Cartman end their friendship, but decide to not tell anything to Kenny so he doesn't become sad. The boys decide to "share custody" of Kenny and hang out with him on a one-on-one basis so he doesn't suspect anything.
• Manipulative Bastard: Gerald emotionally manipulates Kyle into getting Sheila and him COVID-19 vaccines.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": The Fourth Grade class when Mr. Garrison returns as their teacher after Mrs. Nelson quits. The Lil' Qties have this again when it's revealed that Mr. Garrison is the alleged "chosen one" of the QAnon movement they've been brainwashed by and were just fighting for.
• Meaningful Name: Mr. White's family heavily supports Garrison so the episode can make jokes about how much the Whites love the former President, reflecting Trump's support among white Americans.
• Mistaken for Pedophile: The QAnon Shaman asks Scott if he knows what pedophilia is and offers to show him, prompting Scott to call his dad for help.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Cartman says this nearly verbatim when his prank results in Mr. Garrison becoming their teacher again.
• Never Trust a Trailer: Promotional videos for the episode made it look like there would be a huge conflict between the boys and the other kids (mainly Wendy, Bebe, and Red) and that the Stotches and the Underpants Gnomes would play a big part in the episode. In the actual episode, only Red is shown to be at odds with the boys (and even then she doesn't have a very prominent role), Bebe only has a brief speaking role, Wendy doesn't have a role at all, and the Stotches and the Underpants Gnomes are only used for quick jokes. In fact, most scenes shown in the trailer never even showed up in the episode.
• Not Brainwashed: Unlike the other kids, Butters hasn't been brainwashed by Qanon's rhetorics.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: Butters joined Lil' Qties as an excuse to get out of his house, and instead of trying to stop the boys, he merely waves an American flag during the scuffle.
• Not So Above It All: Kyle is genuinely the only one who wants to get the vaccines to the faculty members of South Park Elementary so Mrs. Nelson will continue to be their teacher (Cartman wants to make a profit out of them, Stan wants the boys to use them on themselves, and Kenny simply wants to be with his friends). That is, until Gerald calls Kyle on the phone and emotionally manipulates him into getting Sheila and him some vaccines. Afterwards, he tries to steal some vaccines and replace them with soda.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Kyle and Cartman bickering about the supposed problems with their "broship" throughout the beginning of the episode is not that different from their usual relationship. But then Kyle and Stan start bickering about it, signifying that there really is a serious problem with the group.

• Pet the Dog: Clark Malkinson shows genuine care for his son's wellbeing, refusing to let him be taught by Mr. Garrison because he rightfully sees the man as a terrible teacher who will mess up his students.
  • Stan, Kyle, and even Cartman all treasure their friendship with Kenny and try to work out an arrangement that keeps him happy.
  • The boys are trying to make amends with Mrs. Nelson for the prank Cartman and Kenny pulled on her by getting her a vaccine. Subverted as they are only doing it so she will continue to be their teacher and not have Mr. Garrison be their teacher again.
• The Plot Reaper: Mrs. Nelson's death ensures that Garrison could get his job back after his Deal with the Devil.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: Apparently, Adrenochrome is sourced from the blood of children.
• Puppet Permutation: Mr. Garrison's new sidekick, Mr. Service, gets forcibly transformed into Mr. Hat.
• Rage Breaking Point: After being seen as little more than a boring fill-in for Mr. Garrison, forced to adapt to new social distancing regulations, denied a vaccine because her job is considered insignificant and humiliated by her students one too many times, Mrs. Nelson has an emotional breakdown, quits her job and storms out of class.
• Replacement Goldfish:
  • At the episode's end, Cartman seems to have adopted Clyde, Jimmy, and David from "You're Not Yelping" as his new friend group.
  • Mr. Service also essentially functions as a replacement for Mr. Slave for Mr. Garrison for the duration of the episode, since Mr. Slave broke up with him when he (Garrison) had a sex change operation. By the end of the episode, Mr. Service is transformed into Mr. Hat, essentially starting the entire cycle all over again.
• Ripped from the Headlines:
  • Several of the QAnon members seen in the special were actual participants in the Capitol insurrection, namely Jake Angeli, the "QAnon Shaman".
  • Teachers indoctrinating pupils with QAnon theories is a legitimate concern.
• Sadistic Choice: PC Principal really doesn't want to rehire Mr. Garrison as the fourth-grade teacher after everything he did as president. Unfortunately, because no one else wants to apply for the job unless they get a vaccine and the only other option is to deny the kids an education, he reluctantly does it.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: All the seniors get their vaccines first (including Marvin Marsh), and rub it in the faces of everybody else.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • Mr. Mackey comes very close to quitting his job after being harassed by an elderly couple riding their motorcycle in the school parking lot and failing to receive a vaccination shot several times.
  • Mrs. Nelson quits after Cartman and Kenny prank her by tricking her into sitting on ketchup and making her mistake it for her period.
• Selective Obliviousness: Mr. Garrison spends most of the episode unwilling or unable to acknowledge his Presidency is why people hate him. He even shrugs off The Whites, his only supporters in the supermarket, the same couple who were the only ones who defended him in "Splatty Tomato." He doesn't even seem to notice that their son, a former student of his, isn't present in the classroom.
• Self-Deprecation:
  • Cartman admits to Ms. Nelson that jokes about periods are immature and cheap for guys to make a few scenes after the show dedicated a scene to period jokes.
  • On Mr. White's corkboard, one of the Hollywood Elites depicted is a portrait of South Park's creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker wearing their outfits from their mediocre film that was also made fun of in "Passion of the Jew", Baseketball.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: The boys successfully get the vaccines to the school for the teachers, but Mrs. Nelson develops COVID-19 and dies before she could get one.
• Shout-Out:
  • Mr. White getting turned into various bizarre forms by the Elite (the animators) can be seen as a vulgar homage to the classic Warner Bros short Duck Amuck, where Daffy Duck keeps getting turned into weird outfits by the unseen animator AKA Bugs Bunny.
  • As stated above, Parker and Stone mock themselves by appearing in their Baseketball outfits.
  • Cartman gives Kenny an iPad with Trolls headphones and tells him that he can watch Madagascar 3, to keep him occupied. Also counts as Product Placement.
  • Part of Mr. White's conspiracy involves him seeing a Super Bowl ad for a streaming service launching on March 4. He's referring to Paramount+, which actually did launch on that date.
  • The name "Lil Q-ties" is a nod to the French film Cuties, which was also meant to condemn paedophilia but executed its message in the most alienating and misguided way possible.
  • The "One Shot" scene is a reference to Hamilton.
  • During the post-funeral celebration, some of the characters such as Dick Dastardly and Muttley can be seen dancing in a similar way to the Peanuts gang during their play rehearsal in A Charlie Brown Christmas.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: The news reporter Chris is seen frequently cursing a blue streak and telling off his partner Tom live on television over not being able to receive a vaccine.
• Special Edition Title: South Park is changed to South ParQ on social media for this special.
• Status Quo Is God: Zigzagged. On the one hand, Mr. Garrison returns to South Park and becomes the fourth-grade teacher again after Mrs. Nelson quits her job because of the prank Cartman and Kenny pulled on her, and then gets promoted to the position of teacher permanently after she dies of COVID-19 at the end of the episode and even get Mr. Hat back after he was absent for years. On the other hand, the boys break up as a friends group due to having drifted apart during lockdown, but have agreed to "share custody" of Kenny. This latter point ends up being the backbone of South Park: Post Covid.
• Stylistic Suck: The "Tutornon" ad is full of this and Bad "Bad Acting".
• "Super Sentai" Stance: The boys (minus Kenny) does this before engaging a fight with the Lil' Qties.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The Hollywood Elites are this to the Super Adventure Club from "The Return of Chef." Both are elite, pedophilic groups that use children to extract substances for immortality. Marlocks for the Super Adventure Club and Adrenochrome for the Hollywood Elites.
• Take That!:
  • The COVID-19 vaccine distribution process is mocked for its complexity as well as the questionable decisions on which groups of people get priority access.
  • QAnon for their ridiculous theories and beliefs.
  • Donald Trump supporters for refusing to accept Joe Biden won the election fairly and continuing to put Trump on a pedestal, even when he insults them directly to their faces.
  • The opening disclaimer mocks Content Warnings about sensitivities, quoting the "sensitive content" warning seen on Disney+'s airings of The Muppet Show, with the exception of the last line which states that like The Muppet Show, the special should not be watched by anybody. Given that this is South Park, the warning appears totally insincere.
  • At the media, for their Double Standard referring to the people who stormed the Capitol as “terrorists” while referring to the BLM rioters as “heroes”, showcasing how both sides, regardless of their beliefs, should be called out on their violence and the media doesn’t get to pick and choose labels.
• Tempting Fate: Cartman declaring that the Boys' "broship" can survive anything when they manage to reach school with the vaccines...only for Mrs. Nelson to die before she can receive them, resulting in Mr. Garrison becoming their teacher permanently and shattering their friendship as a result.
• Teen Hater: Parodied. Elders act like rebellious teens after getting their shots:
  Mr. Mackey: Think my life doesn't matter!? I show you what matters. [packing up his books] Counselors matter. That's what matters. Let's just see how your God damn school functions without a God damn counselor! [the sound of a motorcycle is heard outside] Oh, God dammit. [walks up to the window] Hey! Hey, you damn old people! [an elderly man is making drifts with his motorcycle in the school's parking lot, while an old woman looks at him] Stop doing donuts in the school parking lot!
• This Is Gonna Suck: After Mr. Service kills Craig's QAnon tutor, Craig says that the rest of 2021 will be just as bad as 2020.
• Too Much Information: One of the adults trying to cut the vaccination line informs the bouncer that he has a compromised immune system because of genital warts and will show them if asked to.
• Unseen No More: This marks the first time South Park has shown George Clooney, as previous episodes only briefly acknowledged his existence and the movie had the real Clooney play an Expy of himself.
• Visual Pun: Mr. Garrison returns to South Park via bus, and exits without all of his presidential attire he wore throughout the past four seasons.
• Wannabe Line: Parodied. The "club" happens to be a Walgreens with COVID-19 vaccines, and the ones waiting in line are people in the lower vaccine priority groups.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Mr. Garrison's new assistant Mr. Service is introduced in this episode, only to be suddenly turned into the Mr. Hat puppet at the end of it.
• We Used to Be Friends: In the episode's end, Stan, Kyle, and Cartman decide to end their friendship due to having drifted away by the events of the pandemic, and agree to share custody of Kenny as the only friend each of them has left.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Alejandro, the little Latin-American boy that the Whites adopted in "Season Finale", is nowhere to be seen. His adopted younger "brother" isn't anywhere to be seen either, which is odd, considering that he was seen alongside the Whites in "Basic Cable".
• What the Hell, Hero?: Stan does this to Kyle when he discovers that, after all of the latter's talk about how the vaccines will be given to the teachers as planned and the others need to stop being selfish, Kyle was trying to sneak some vaccines away to give to his parents.
  • Likewise, after Cartman's prank causes Mrs. Nelson to have a meltdown and the other boys are held just as responsible, the other students all curse at them and call them harsh names as a result.
• Would Hurt a Child:
  • Mr. Service tackles five-year old Crystal White to the ground under the command of Mr. Garrison.
  • The so called Hollywood Elites kill, rape, and torture children from around the world for adrenochrome.
• Xtreme Kool Letterz:
  • The Boys' made-up organization "Kommunity Kidz" using a "K" instead of a "C" and ending the word Kids with a "Z" instead of an "S". Even the boys admit it made them sound cooler.
    Stan: Holy shit, dude. That was pretty easy!
    Cartman: Yeah, bros! Kommunity Kidz spelled with a "K". Gets 'em every time.
  • Later on, several of the other school kids form a rebellion against the Boys' charity called "Lil' Qties", which Cartman admits to sounding way better than what they came up with for their own cause, complimenting the apostrophe after "Lil" and the usage of "Q" instead of "cu-".
    Cartman: Lil' Qties? With a "Q" and an apostrophe after the "L"? That's way better than Kommunity Kidz, you guys. I told you, we're getting lazy.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Just when it seems that Mrs. Nelson is going to obtain her own vaccine and be on good terms with the boys again, she is revealed to have contracted COVID-19 and dies without even getting her own vaccination, with the heavy implication that Mr. Garrison made a deal with the higher powers to kill her so he could get his old job back.
• You Keep Using That Word: The QAnon members are quick to call anyone who isn't on their side pedophiles. The member that tutors Scott starts their lesson by asking him if he knows what a pedophile is and the scene immediately cuts off, leaving it ambiguous if QAnon even know what pedophiles are.

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