Recap / South Park S 22 E 9 Unfulfilled

Original air date: 12/5/2018

The citizens of South Park are enjoying all the perks of being a company town when the Amazon Fulfillment Center moves in. Everything is just swell until the contradictions inherent in capitalism threaten to bring the entire system down.

Tropes

• Artistic License: The residents of South Park not getting their Amazon orders as a result of the workers of their fulfillment center going on strike. If an actual strike took place at only one fulfillment center, more than likely another center will handle orders in its place.
• Big Bad: Jeff Bezos is the main antagonist.
• Big Brother Is Watching: Jeff Bezos is using Alexa to spy on its customers and listen in on their conversations.
• The Bus Came Back: Mr. Slave.
• Call-Back:
  • Steven tried to sell Butters to Paris Hilton. Butters, trying not to be sold, started working as a coal miner, singing "Sixteen Tons". Come this episode and we have Steven suffering with the daily grind while Tennessee Ernie Ford's version of "Sixteen Tons" is playing on the background.
  • Cartman mentions the events that caused the boys to drift apart (Stan moving to a farm, Cartman having anxiety etc.), causing the boys to participate in the bike parade together.
• The Dragon: Mayor MacDaniels caves in to Jeff Bezos out of cowardice since Bezos threatened to terminate her Prime membership if she did not quash the Amazon worker strike. She then hands over command of South Park over to Bezos.
• Lampshade Hanging: Several changes in the show in recent years are acknowledged.
  • Randy and several other characters calling Josh a socialist or Marxist lampshades how a certain Vocal Minority have thrown similar accusations toward Stone and Parker for the show's changing direction (for the record, Matt Stone and Trey Parker have identified themselves as libertarian).
  • Cartman also lampshades how the show barely focuses on the four boys as a whole anymore, especially since Stan now lives in Tegridy Farms, Cartman has anxiety and hardly anybody talks to Kenny.
• Shout-Out: Jeff Bezos is basically a Talosian from Star Trek.
• Stating the Simple Solution: The reporter points out Josh could just open the box he's trapped in, but Josh explains his organs are so compressed that opening it would kill him.
• Status Quo Is God: Pretty much everyone except Cartman has stopped using Buddha Boxes.
• Take That!: The episode is one towards Amazon and CEO Jeff Bezos for their focus on providing swift and cheap delivery for customers at the expense of their workers' well-being.