Original air date: 6/3/1998
The South Park Dodge Ball team winds up going to the Dodge Ball Championships because of Pip's amazing throw when his Berserk Button (being mistaken for French) is pressed. Unfortunately, this winds up with them going to the world championship against the Chinese. Meanwhile, Sheila goes on a moral crusade to protect the school nurse who has a dead fetus attached to her head, something the nurse doesn't want.
This episode contains the following tropes:
- An Aesop:
- People with physical or mental disabilities don't need sheltering or protecting just because they're different. They just want to be treated like everyone else, for better and worse.
- Also for the B-story: Obsession is never good, especially when it comes to coaching a children's sports team.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Nurse Gollum's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to the townspeople includes one that's even more awesome when you consider the fact that it's Truth in Television.Nurse Gollum: Did it ever occur to any of you that the last thing I wanted was to be singled out!?
- Berserk Button: Being mistaken for French is this for Pip to the point that he's the ace up the sleeve for the dodge ball team.
- Butt-Monkey: Pip, as always. He's called "French" in this episode despite his British origins, much to his chagrin.
- Call-Back: After Kenny is killed during the Dodgeball final, one of the Chinese commentators says "I haven't seen an American die like that since Abraham Lincoln", and gets a Dude, Not Funny! reaction from his co-commentator, much like how the American commentators in "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride" behaved the previous season.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Chinese Team inflict one on the South Park Dodge Ball team, which is then reversed and inflicted on the Chinese Dodge Ball Team by Pip.
- Dodgeball Is Hell: The basis of the main plot.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Butters is called "Swanson" in this episode, while Annienote is called "Jordan". Of course, this is from the show's old days when a lot of the now-popular students were just living props used to fill in classroom scenes and student gatherings, and Butters wouldn't break out into stardom until a season later.
- Everyone Has Standards: The tall Chinese commentator is willing to laugh at his co-host's racist American jokes and make plenty of his own, but the quip about an American dying like Abraham Lincoln gets a Dude, Not Funny! reaction out of him.
- Face-Revealing Turn: When Kyle first sees Nurse Gollum, he gets over his trepidation upon realizing she's just a normal-looking woman contrary to the rumors about her. Then she turns to face him, revealing the dead fetus on her face, and he screams in horror.
- Gone Horribly Right: South Park Dodgeball Team tries to throw the game, by telling the Chinese to provoke Pip by calling him French so they'll catch the ball and win. Instead, Pip throws it so hard he takes out the entire team.
- Ignored Aesop: When Gollum calls out the townspeople for trying to promote her as Inspirationally Disadvantaged when she just wanted to be treated like any other person, the response suggests that the message didn't quite sink in for everyone:Principal Victoria: Oh my, what an ungrateful bitch!
Sheila: Yeah, the nerve of some people! - Inspirationally Disadvantaged: Parodied and deconstructed. Sheila's efforts at raising awareness of Gollum's condition culminate in an awards banquet featuring an "inspirational" movie about Nurse Gollum's life (mostly a series of photos clearly taken without her consent) and a parade for people with her condition (of which she is the only one in town) complete with dead fetus headbands for the audience. Throughout it all, Gollum is clearly irritated by people trying to put her on a pedestal for her "heroic" disfigurement when all she wanted was to be treated the same as any ordinary person.
- Moral Myopia: According to Chef, it's not okay to make fun of someone for their race, but it is okay to make fun of someone for being from another country.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- Chef's response when he sees how beat up the South Park Dodge Ball team are because of his enthusiasm.
- Also Pip's reaction after he finally snaps from insults and beams Kyle with a dodgeball.
- Only Sane Man: Nurse Gollum. Despite her normality and harmless nature, the kids and even adults still detest her for her deformity.
- Popcultural Osmosis Failure: Cartman doesn't know who Captain Ahab is or how the reference applies to Chef, despite being the one to bring it up in the first place.
- Rage Breaking Point: Pip takes a lot of abuse, though an especially nasty and relentless verbal tirade from Kyle reveals his hidden viciousness in dodgeball, throwing one at Kyle hard enough to bust his nose.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Sheila wanted to help Nurse Gollum because she didn't want her to feel like an outcast for her condition. However, Sheila's celebration of Gollum's condition singles her out anyway because Nurse Gollum is the only person in town with Conjoined Twin Myslexia.
- Sheila stages a parade of "people with Conjoined Twin Myslexia" which consists of only Nurse Gollum.
- Shout-Out: In response to Chef's obsession, Cartman does a two-fer by lifting a line from Star Trek: First Contact.Cartman: So, Captain Ahab has to get his whale, huh?
- Stalker without a Crush: Implied to be the case with the "Pictures of Courage" film, where the photographer (who was implicitly Mr. Garrison) took multiple photos of Nurse Gollum while she was going about her day without her permission and often by violating her privacy. Most of them consist of her glaring venomously at the camera, and the last one features her sitting on the toilet looking mortified.
- They Killed Kenny Again: Kenny is killed by the Chinese Dodge Ball team throwing a ball so hard that the impact of hitting the wall kills him.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Sharon calls up Sheila about Stan trying to stab himself in the head with an ice pick after he hears about Conjoined Twin Myslexia and upon finding out it's Sheila's doing, Sharon tells her to go stand out on a road and get run over.
- Nurse Gollum gives one to the entire town for singling her out due to her condition, which she never wanted in the first place.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Poor Pip. After managing to gain some level of respect for carrying the dodgeball team singlehandedly, he goes back to being hated by everyone once they decide to stop obsessing over the championship game. The fact that he won it all by himself goes unnoticed.
