YMMV / South Park S 21 E 10 Splatty Tomato

• Alternative Character Interpretation: The kids (including Cartman and Heidi) offering to help Kyle find Ike and the President. Was it out of friendship? Or pity? Or guilt for their treatment of him in the previous episodes?
• Angst? What Angst?:
  • Even though Charlotte dumped Butters, you’d think he’d be a little more bothered that his ex-girlfriend may be dead after the last episode, instead of wondering what to eat when PC Principal and Strong Woman take him out to eat at a restaurant. Though given his opinions of girls having turned to "two-faced snakes in the grass", he may see it as Laser-Guided Karma.
  • Kyle does show remorse for his actions having led to the deaths of over a million Canadians, he doesn't dwell on it too much and barely brings it up after his brief talk with Ike.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • Heidi dumping Cartman for good after realizing how abusive the relationship was and how much of a jerk it made her was immensely satisfying.
  • Kyle finally standing up to Heidi after silently enduring much of her verbal abuse for the past few episodes, humbling her with a single Armor-Piercing Response.
• Don't Shoot the Message: The anti-Playing the Victim Card message in this episode comes off as rather shoddy to say the least. Not once does anyone admit that their attitude is the reason Heidi and Kyle acted the way they did or do Heidi's friends show Heidi any sympathy for how Cartman abused her after going back to him (which is the reason she turned against them in the first place). While their retribution was overblown (especially Kyle's), neither Kyle or Heidi's friends receive any punishment for borderline bullying them, with only Cartman, Kyle, and Heidi's actions being taken accountable. The message instead can come across as "Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse justifies not giving said people any support for what they've gone through".
• Harsher in Hindsight: Heidi leaving Cartman at the end of the episode (and nobody showing any negative reaction when he threatens suicide if Heidi leaves him) becomes this after the end of Post Covid Return of Covid. In the future, it's revealed that everyone severed all ties with Cartman. By that time, Cartman has no friends, girlfriend, or even family, spending the rest of his existence miserable, homeless, completely alone, and having absolutely nothing, showing that the horrible and toxic personality he displays on full blast in this episode (as well as the rest of the season) truly cost him everything.
• Jerkass Woobie: Despite the cruel person that Heidi has turned into, she isn't treated as a victim of an emotionally abusive relationship any less. She never really chose to become a Distaff Counterpart of her boyfriend, Cartman, and actually hates what she has turned into. She blames Cartman for molding her into his image and was about to kill him because of it, only to realize it was her own fault because, even if she didn't stop to think about it and explicitly decide "this is what I'm going to do," she kept building off using her role as a victim, eventually culminating in her trying to justify being awful. She decides that she no longer wants to be this trope by breaking up with Cartman and return to her healthy Nice Girl self afterwards.
• Like You Would Really Do It: Seeing as Ike has been portrayed as an Invincible Hero for the past few seasons, did anyone really think Ike would ever be in any real danger?
• Strawman Has a Point: While Mr. White exaggerates the extent it's taken to, he is right that, thanks to political correctness, a growing number of people do completely disregard the viewpoints of white people on the sole basis that they're white.
• The Woobie: Jeez, poor Kyle. Not only is he guilt-ridden for causing The President to nuke Canada, but his adopted little brother, Ike, is very pissed at him^note Ike is Canadian and leaves him. Not only does Kyle spend the entire episode worrying about Ike's disappearance but Heidi mocks him for it. This causes Kyle to coldly give her one hell of an Armor-Piercing Response. Ironically, it's this statement from Kyle that causes Heidi's Heel Realization and allows her to break up with Cartman for good, thus Kyle finally manages to succeed in what he set out to do in "Doubling Down", save Heidi from a mentally abusive relationship.

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