After hearing the massive economical gains companies get by tapping in the Chinese market, Randy tries to expand his weed business to the East Asian country; however, that goes south very quickly. Meanwhile, Stan forms a death metal band with Jimmy, Kenny and Butters called Crimson Dawn as a way to vent his anger over moving away from South Park; he immediately gets in touch with a local businessman that offers the opportunity to make their own biopic a la Rocketman or Bohemian Rhapsody, but Stan quickly realizes that much of their real story must be altered to appease the Chinese censors.
Tropes:
- Actually Pretty Funny: The Chinese censor laughs at some of Stan's writings and wisecracks, but quickly composes himself.
- Anachronism Stew: The clip of 1984 depicts Empower Field at Mile-High instead of the old Mile-High Stadium. note
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Stan was able to figure out his dad killed Winnie-the-Pooh by seeing him covered in blood and honey.
- Bad Boss:
- The Chinese censors and Xi Jinping are this to major American corporations forcing them to be respectful to China's Communist Party and culture to ridiculous lengths or else they'll completely forbid their products or services from reaching Chinese customers.
- Mickey Mouse has one of Disney's own characters, Winnie-the-Pooh, banned from appearing in any new media and ultimately sets out to execute him because Winnie is considered offensive to Xi in China.
- Banned in China: Referenced In-Universe throughout the episode, with Stan's Biopic being continually edited by on-set Chinese government officials.
- And then South Park in real life got banned from China because of this one episode.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Xi Jinping is the Big Bad while Mickey Mouse and Randy Marsh are carrying out Jinping's rule out of cowardice and for profit.
- Big Eater: Winnie-the-Pooh as ever, though unfortunately it costs him his life as Randy lures him to his death with a pot of honey, and Pooh enjoys it so much he doesn't notice Randy until it's too late.
- Bittersweet Ending: Kyle and Cartman return from the ICE detention center and Stan refuses to have his integrity compromised by China's censorship any longer. However Randy brutally murders Winnie-the-Pooh just so he can make a deal with the Chinese to sell his weed in their country, sacrificing his integrity in the process. Not to mention the kids Kyle and Cartman met during their time at the center are implied to still be there.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Finger Bang, now joined by Butters on guitar and Jimmy on drums, briefly returns when Stan decides to change the biopic to focus on them.
- As is Mickey Mouse, who's just as foul-mouthed and angry as he appeared in 2009.
- Call-Back: Stan reforms the "Fingerbang" band founded by Cartman back in "Something You Can Do With Your Finger".
- China Takes Over the World: This episode makes it out that China now owns major American corporations, as they relinquished control of their content to China simply because they have a higher population than America and Europe combined and is therefore incredibly profitable. Stan mourns that a strong majority of Hollywood movies have to be approved by the Chinese Communist Party, and so they're importing censorship and silencing free speech in the United States.
- Cliffhanger Copout: After being left locked up in the detention center at the end of the last episode, an ICE bus returns Kyle and Cartman to South Park without any explanation.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Mickey Mouse of course. And for Randy Marsh, if bombing South Park to maintain his monopoly wasn't enough, he finally embraced this trope by this episode when he killed Winnie the Pooh for a trade deal.
- Crapsaccharine World: China, despite having a booming market and being an attractive place for Western investors and businesses, is satirized for practicing numerous traits of a dictatorship where innocent people are thrown in prison for criticizing the PRC's government, as well as thrown into re-education camps where the conditions are extremely unsanitary and exhausting. Also, it is shown that many materials made in China are produced by prison labor. They've also exported their censorship into the United States by bullying American companies (especially movie studios) into following their rule so that their products are made available on the market for the billions of Chinese people. This is Truth in Television.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Winnie-the-Pooh gets brutally garroted by Randy as Piglet watches in absolute horror.
- Did Not Think This Through:
- Randy attempts to sell his produce in China without checking whether marijuana was illegal there.
- Furthermore, his plan seems to have been to fly to China with a suitcase full of weed and ask random strangers if they know "Any money people" who could set up a supply chain.
- Dirty Communists: The Chinese Communist government are portrayed extremely negatively throughout the episode to say the least. Their cruelty towards their own populace, the hellish prison camps, and China's growing meddling in American media are all on display here.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Even Eric Cartman is against letting the Chinese censors influence his band's biopic movie, even if it means less money or no movie at all.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: Winnie-the-Pooh getting strangled to death by Randy with his blood splattering around.
- Feedback Rule: There is feedback coming from the speakers when Stan steps up to the mic to introduce his band at the fair which adds to the awkwardness of the scene.
- Hellhole Prison: After getting caught with all his weed, Randy is sent to a Chinese forced labor camp in which he is forced to work in a sweatshop making toys, he witnesses brutality from the guards as one of the guards smacks a prisoner across the face with his rifle, and he is forced to pledge to the Communist Party of China under threat of electric cattle prods in the rain.
- Hypocritical Humor:
- Randy accuses Stan of not caring about their family when the latter protests having to wear a Tegridy Farms t-shirt during his concert... which Randy is skipping out on so he can fly to China and try to spread his business there.
- A Chinese official laughs at Stan's joke about knowing how Hollywood writers feel, until he realises it's a joke at his expense.
- Hypocrite:
- The producer mentions that the PC Babies were on board with everything the Chinese demanded, despite crying about everything else. Most likely a Take That! towards the PC culture, which whines about any perceived slight America might have but completely ignores all of the atrocities that happen in China.
- Randy keeps stating how people need to get some "tegridy" but sells himself out by killing Winnie to get a deal with China.
- Innocuously Important Episode: Randy’s trip to China? Caused the COVID-19 Pandemic, which is the plot line that the next season revolves around.
- Karma Houdini: The episode ends without Xi Jinping and Randy ever needing to face any repercussions for the ongoing censorship or killing Winnie-the-Pooh. As for what future episodes have to say, though...
- Kick the Dog: Right after Mickey insults Thor, he calls Winnie-the-Pooh "a fat, diabetic bear" and says that if the Chinese don't want him, then he doesn't either.
- Kill the Cutie: Poor Pooh.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
- When Mickey asks who Randy is, he's told that he's from South Park. He asks if he owns that and is answered with "Not yet".
- Fingerbang is mocked for being outdated, with the producer asking if they're kids from the 90s. Stan and Kyle awkwardly look at each other.
- Like Father, Unlike Son: Both Randy and Stan are offered the opportunity to make a deal with the Chinese government that would make them rich but also force them to compromise their values. While Randy gleefully takes the opportunity to make lots of money, Stan ultimately rejects the Chinese government even if that means staying stuck at the farm, refusing to betray his ideals.
- Pet the Dog: Mickey Mouse is as much a jerk as before, but he does give Randy a genuine compliment on his marijuana.
- Political Overcorrectness: The Chinese government, which uses military force to keep creative people in line. Topics that are considered taboo include Winnie-the-Pooh, the Dalai Lama, organ transplants, homosexuality and referring to any non-Chinese country as "free" (though the episode does demonstrate that's not entirely true anyway). It's little wonder the PC babies weren't upset by the Chinese government - next to nothing is allowed past them.
- Pun-Based Title: The title is a pun on "Banned in China".
- Psychopathic Manchild: The Chinese censors, who treat a strong majority of Stan's brainstorming for a movie like slander against Chinese politics with one of them ripping his ideas into shreds.
- Sell-Out: Randy, Mickey Mouse and the producer of Crimson Dawn are all willing to compromise on values of liberty and creativity for the sake of getting rich off China.
- Series Continuity Error: Butters claims he doesn't play the drums despite being the drummer for Faith+1 in Christian Rock Hard. Could be handwaved as him having not played in a long time (his exact words are that he doesn't play), but still worth noting.
- Shout-Out:
- Randy's murder of Winnie-the-Pooh is nearly identical to a similar scene in No Country for Old Men.
- A lot of Disney-owned characters show up.
- Stan venting his anger through death metal quickly calls to mind Aggretsuko.
- Stan's metal band being named Crimson Dawn could be a reference to the above-mentioned film Red Dawn (2012), where the nationality of the bad guys was changed from Chinese to North Korean, likely to avoid the Chinese government's ire.
- The return of Fingerbang echoes the Live Aid performance from Bohemian Rhapsody.
- Special Guest: Dying Fetus lends their music for Stan's band.
- Stealth Pun: Randy lures Pooh into a dark alley with a literal honeypot.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Randy learns the hard way that marijuana is still very illegal in China and gets arrested once the airport security discovers his product in his suitcase. How he actually managed to get out of America in the first place is anyone's guess.
- Take That!:
- The Chinese government gets a negative portrayal, showing the cruelty they display towards their own populace, the hellish prison camps they put dissenters in, and their meddling in American media.
- Disney is mocked for being willing to let China meddle in their content (including banning Winnie-the-Pooh note ) so they can take advantage of the economic benefits of the Chinese marketplace. The same can also be said with how much of a commercial giant Disney has become by constantly buying properties of other companies, as shown with Disney, Marvel, and Lucasfilm characters all working under Mickey's thumb. When he asks if he owns South Park, one of his employees answers, "Not yet, sir."
- Bohemian Rhapsody gets it for the same reason as Disney as well as what is perceived as a cliché plot structure.
- The big budget and "soulless" revamp of Finger Bang is a possible shot at the Disney Live-Action Remakes.
- Towards the PC Culture. Despite progressives constantly bringing up America's past history with abuse of and lack of rights towards minority groups as well as the country's current transgressions, they are completely silent or even capitulate to China, who currently does many of those same actions on a larger scale.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Winnie-the-Pooh, alongside Piglet, is very kind, soft-spoken, and doesn't utter a single swear in the entire episode or do anything dickish, something which is extremely rare in South Park. He just wants some honey and was willing to share some of it with Piglet. Sadly, this also means that the price for his pure-heartedness was his life.
- Weight Woe: Xi is said to be very sensitive about his appearance since comparing him to Winnie-the-Pooh made him interpret that as a means of fat-shaming (something Cartman also hates).
