Recap / South Park S 25 E 4 Back To The Cold War

Original air date: 3/2/2022

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused Mr. Mackey to begin acting like he did in the 1980s. Meanwhile, Stephen and Linda begin to project their feelings of the situation onto Butters' dressage competition.

Tropes

• A Day in the Limelight: The Boys only briefly appear in this episode. Aside from Butters, this episode focuses on his parents and Mr. Mackey.
• An Aesop: Once again, nostalgia is played as being not all it's cracked up to be, as Mr. Mackey's mother tells him that the era of the Cold War was not good at all, and shouldn't be trying to get back to. She also points out that the core of nostalgia itself is the fact that people who want to relive that past are people who hate the fact that they're getting old.
• Anachronism Stew: A Freeze-Frame Bonus reveals that Mr. Mackey's computer is running Linux. If his room hasn't been touched since the 80s, this would be impossible since the Linux kernel was first released in 1991.
• Artistic License – Sports: Butters' pony competition is referred to as dressage. The arena is set up for a showjumping competition, which is what happens in the episode.
• Bait-and-Switch: At the beginning of class, Mr. Garrison talks about the current hard times. Initially, you assume that he's talking about the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, but in actuality, he's talking about his love life again.
• Black Comedy Rape: Butters' horse constantly mates with other horses (which is noted by him as not being consensual).
• The Bus Came Back: Mr. Mackey's mom returns after last appearing in "Child Abduction is Not Funny". This is the first time she actually speaks, however.
• Call-Back:
  • In the finale of Season 20, the Member Berries were shown trying to influence Vladimir Putin by getting him to "'Member the Cold War?" It seems after all that time, they finally succeeded.
  • Mr. Mackey's DARE sticker has the slogan "Drugs Are Bad".
• Chekhov's Gag: There is a recurring gag where Butters' horse Melancholy gets an erection, with the second time resulting in him having sex with another competitor's horse. Melancholy would later violate the Russian horse at the last second, resulting in Butters winning the contest.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Mr. Garrison mentions his relationship with Rick, which was first brought up in "Pajama Day".
  • This is the second time PC Principal's full name (Peter Charles) has been mentioned; the first was in "Board Girls".
• Cool Old Lady: Mr. Mackey's mom seems like a kind lady who cares about her son, even keeping his room the way it was. She later helps Mackey realize what he's doing is wrong and gives him a much-needed talk to help him move on from his nostalgia trip.
• Hollywood Hacking: Parodied, Mr. Mackey hacks into NORAD by inserting a floppy disk into an old computer and using BASIC commands to convince them to launch the missiles. Both Mr. Mackey and his mother treat the situation as if he was playing a video game.
• International Showdown by Proxy: Parodied. The Stotches treat Butters' dressage competition as this just like they did for the Olympics during the Cold War.
• It's All About Me: Mr. Garrison is offended after Wendy explains the class is worried about Vladimir Putin invading Ukraine and not his relationship with Rick.
• Misplaced Retribution: Because of Russia's actions, Stephen and Linda encourage Butters to defeat a fellow dressage competitor who is of Russian descent.
• Near-Villain Victory: Mr. Mackey hacks America's missiles and nearly bombs Russia out of paranoia. He only stops because his mother talks him down.
• Nostalgia Filter: Mr. Mackey becomes nostalgic for the '80s Cold War years and gets a bizzare enjoyment out of the idea of a war between the United States and Russia.
• Out of Focus: None of the four boys get any focus or lines only appearing in the beginning in the classroom before disappearing completely.
• The Quiet Ones: The Russian family. They never speak to anyone, not even to each other when they're at home. Vladimir Putin also only utters "Da... da" at the end of the episode after hearing Mr. Mackey's speech.
• Ripped from the Headlines:
  • This episode was made days after Russia's military began to invade Ukraine as well as the worldwide increase in concerns of a nuclear war. Notably, it is the first scripted episode of any series to reference the Russian invasion.
  • If one pauses when the microfilm featuring PC Principal's resume is on screen, one can see critical race theory as one of the subjects he taught in the past.
• Sanity Slippage: Russia's invasion has caused Mr. Mackey to slip back into a Cold War / The '80s mindset.
• Saw "Star Wars" Twenty-Seven Times: Mr. Mackey tells to PC Principal that he saw The Hunt for Red October about 200 times.
• Serious Business: To say that Butters' parents are taking the dressage competition seriously is an understatement, as they treat it as a legitimate Cold War-era international sporting event that would decide the fate of the United States.
• Shout-Out:
  • Mr. Mackey's room is full of pop-culture references from The '80s, having posters of Duran Duran's Rio, Michael Jackson wearing the Thriller outfit, John Rambo, Miami Vice, Max Headroom and the old MTV and Pepsi logos. He also has Garfield and The Smurfs plushes, figurines of E.T. (wearing 3-D glasses), a California Raisin and a Tyrannosaurus Rex from Dino-Riders, Pac-Man wall stickers, the Atari 2600, and a D.A.R.E. program sticker. Interestingly, they're the actual celebrities and products instead of the No Celebrities Were Harmed versions the show used to do years before.
  • Mr. Mackey hacking into NORAD is based on WarGames.
  • As he was hacking into NORAD, Mr. Mackey ran a script to spam "THE RUSSIANS ARE NUKING US!" in an infinite loop using the BASIC programming language.
  • The final scene is a parody of the ending to Rocky IV, with a boxing referee showing up followed by Putin giving a side eye to his men (referencing Mikhail Gorbachev staring down one of his men). Mr. Mackey then drapes the U.S. flag on his shoulders and gives a speech saying if he could change, then the Russians could change, which parodies Rocky's speech to the Russians at the end of the film.
• Shared Family Quirks: Mr. Mackey's mom has "m'kay" as her Verbal Tic, just like her son.
• Skewed Priorities:
  • Mr. Garrison is more concerned about his love life than his students' concern of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
    Mr. Garrison: Now I don't know what you've heard and what you haven't, but Rick was wrong, okay? He's the one who needs to apologize.
    Wendy: We're not worried about that. We're worried about Putin.
    Mr. Garrison: Putin? It was just a little noise when I pulled out. Nobody was pootin’, okay?
  • Butters' horse would rather defecate and mate with other horses instead of competing in dressage. However, the horse's libido is what allows Butters to win the competition.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Mr. Mackey's mom looks very identical to him, with a very large head and a very skinny body.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Mrs. Stotch wants Mr. Mackey to know they definitely aren't there to mess with the Russian pony or anything.
• Take That!:
  • This episode does not shy away from mocking Vladimir Putin for his nostalgia for the Soviet Union and the Cold War as well as suggesting his actions are due to erectile dysfunction due to his age.
  • This episode could also be taking jabs at people believing World War 3 could occur due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
  • The Stotch parents' attitude towards the Russian family could be this to Americans who discriminate against Russian-Americans because of Vladimir Putin's actions during the invasion of Ukraine.
  • Much like the Member Berries episodes from Season 20, nostalgia is conflated with humanity's worst tendencies such as xenophobia and paranoia.
  • There are a couple mentions of Erewhon being something that causes diarrhea when consumed; Erewhon Market is a luxury supermarket chain, with all seven locations in Los Angeles County - it sounds like someone on the South Park staff had a bad experience with their food.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Vladimir Putin shows his bare chest throughout the episode, just like in the live-action clip that introduces him during the sitcom-esque intro at the beginning.
• Waxing Lyrical: Mr. Mackey says at the end something from the appropriately named song "Russians".
  Mr. Mackey: In the immortal words of Sting: "We all share the same biology, regardless of ideology!"