YMMV / South Park S 3 E 1 Rainforest Schmainforest

• Alternate Aesop Interpretation: Is the moral of the story "don't blindly support a cause without preparation?" Or is it "environmentalism and green activism are pointless and useless causes"?
• Alternative Character Interpretation: When the audience members are impressed with the final musical number, have they been swayed to be against saving the rainforest, or are they simply not paying attention to the actual message?
• Americans Hate Tingle: The reaction of Real Life Costa Ricans (including the country's government) to this episode is just about what you'd expect.
• Broken Base: The episode is popular with some fans who consider it very funny, with Kenny's plotline considered a strong point for giving him character development. A lot of other fans hate it for its Writer on Board nature, repetitive criticisms of the rainforest and Costa Rica in general, and feel that its intended moral gets lost and ends up looking like it's mocking activism in general.
• Crosses the Line Twice:
  • Eric saying that "Jews have no rhythm" is a very typical thing of him to do. Stan pointing out that Kyle probably doesn't have any rhythm is when you get a chuckle. Then Miss Stevens asks if "the little Jewish boy" is why their performance isn't liked by the militia with Kyle getting insulted and the hilarity really comes in.
  • The overall handling of the anti-rainforest message. The inhabitants endanger the kids' lives in such a ridiculously over-the-top way, and the episode ends with a Spoof Aesop that is so obviously bad that it circles back to being too hilarious to take seriously. 
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Kelly is considered to be one of the highlights of the episode for her tender friendship-turned-relationship with Kenny, and for being the first character in the show to successfully save his life after his daily death. Though Tammy Warner has her fans, Kenny's relationship with Kelly is cited as being much more wholesome and almost Foreshadowing his Big Brother Instinct towards his little sister Karen in future seasons.
• Funny Moments:
  • The boys insults to the choir causing Mr. Garrison to shout counts as this.
  • Mr. Garrison's note to Mr. Mackey showing his hypocrisy of the choir while the boys are sent to the latter’s office.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • By August 2019, deforestation had escalated to the point that it created a cloud of smog thick enough to make mid-afternoon in Sao Paulo look like nighttime. The already dark joke about destroying the rainforest for the convenience of people who have no business being there looks outright horrifying.
  • Kelly is initially reluctant to having a long-distance relationship with Kenny because she's scared of being broken-hearted. Though this episode ends on a hopeful note for her, Season 13's The Ring proves her fears justified when Kenny gets a new girlfriend. To make matters worse, Kyle calls Tammy "his first real girlfriend ever" in that episode, which if not a Series Continuity Error, implies that poor Kelly has been all but forgotten by the boys.
• Heartwarming Moments: Kenny’s friendship and eventual relationship with Kelly is this.
  • While lost in the rainforest, Kenny cheers up a crying Kelly.
  • In order to make their long distance relationship to work out, they would need to call each other. Before anything can happen, Kenny gets struck by lightning, causing Stan and Kyle to say their catchphrases. Kelly calls them out for refusing to help and gives Kenny life-saving CPR.
• Misaimed Fandom: According to Trey Parker on the DVD commentary, the episode was solely meant to poke fun at misguided activism, and was not meant as an attack on the rainforest. However, this message is not made entirely clear, and so many viewers came away thinking the moral was that caring about the rainforest is wrong.
• Moment of Awesome: Kelly reviving Kenny with CPR.
• Values Resonance: This episode throws some criticism towards activists that can still be applied in today's society. Namely, it's aimed at those who promote what they believe in because it's trendy to do so. However, the intended message gets lost due to the episode implying that all activists are like this.

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