History Recap / SouthParkS18E7GroundedVindaloop

* MediumShiftGag: As Stan takes off the Oculus Rift at the end of the episode, the scene cuts to a short live-action sequence with Kyle, Stan, Cartman, Kenny, and Butters being played by actors.

* DisconnectedByDeath: Subverted when Butters last words to Cartman on the radio is a scream. Cut to Butters in hospital.

* ShoutOut: The Indian operator calls the recall of the headsets a "total recall". ''Film/TotalRecall1990'' dealt with the same SchrodingersButterfly concept of not knowing which world is real.

* AdultsAreUseless: Mrs. Cartman finds her son comatose and unresposive and simply thinks he is ignoring her. Of course, that could be Liane in a simulation, but it is a ''perfect'' simulation of how she would act.

* MediumShiftGag: As Stan takes off the Oculus Rift at the end of the episode, the scene cuts to a short live action sequence with Kyle, Stan, Cartman, Kenny, and Butters being played by actors.

* RealityWarper: Cartman fools Butters into thinking he's capable of it via some basic street magic tricks and making him think he could predict that a nurse is able to enter his room while pressing the nurse call button without Butters noticing so that he can get away with essentially causing Butters to go on a rampage by making him think he's still trapped in virtual reality, setting up the premise of the rest of the episode.

Cartman's latest prank on Butters involves cobbling together a set of shop goggles and headphones and claiming they are an UsefulNotes/OculusRift, causing him to think that his journey through the corridors of South Park Elementary is an excursion into virtual reality, and that he must return to Cartman's bedroom to return to reality. In a second "VR" journey, Cartman manipulates Butters into carrying out a snow clearing job in his place. However, when he tries to get Butters to exit the "simulation", Butters gets carried away with the idea of actions without consequences, and, after going to his house and [[GroinAttack punching his dad in the balls]] for [[TheDogBitesBack the many times he's been grounded]], he steals a car, drives to the bad part of town, and beats up a hooker and tries to steal her money before she stabs him and puts him in the hospital. To maintain the lie, Cartman shows up at Butters' hospital room and claims that his rampage has caused him to become trapped in virtual reality.

However, while waiting at the bus stop with Stan, Kyle, and Kenny, Cartman receives a phone call from Oculus Rift customer service rep Steve ([[OperatorFromIndia who works in a call centre in India]]) claiming that ''he'' is the one stuck in virtual reality. He dismisses it as a prank, but a cutaway to his bedroom shows him in a coma-like trance wearing an Oculus Rift headset. Back in the virtual world, Cartman confronts Butters - who, inevitably, has been grounded by Stephen - over the assumed prank. Kyle then receives a call from a panicked Butters, who says that he's been grounded but that neither he nor Stephen remember why, and that he thinks Cartman might have the answers. An alarmed Kenny arrives and shows Stan and Kyle the near-comatose Cartman surrounded by several days' worth of untouched food, still wearing the headset. Kyle calls Oculus Rift customer service, and Steve tells him that the Oculus Rift headsets are faulty, and someone needs to put on another headset, find Cartman, and persuade him to return.

So Kyle enters Cartman's simulation, goes to his house, and tells him he's been sent to retrieve him... but Cartman says ''he'' has been sent to retrieve ''Kyle''. The two rivals try calling Best Buy to see if they have a record of either of them buying an Oculus Rift, but they are patched through to customer service... and find themselves talking to Steve yet again. They hurry up to Cartman's room, where they find ''Stan'' on the phone to Steve and ''Kenny'' wearing the Oculus Rift headset. Now more confused than ever, they ask Steve which of them called customer service first about their Oculus Rift, and Steve says it was Butters. As the boys head over to Butters' house for answers, Steve calls customer service and ends up talking to ''himself''; the boys' customer service call from within virtual reality has created a customer service feedback loop (or vindaloop, since they are based in India).

Butters tells Stan, Kyle, and Cartman that they were taking turns on the Oculus Rift headset, and that he tried it first and got carried away. As a furious Stephen shows up to punish Butters for having friends over while grounded, Steve's voice comes through Stan's phone, telling him the only way to resolve the paradox he has created is to say whether or not he has been provided with good customer service despite having received no relevant answers to his questions. Stan says "Yes"... and Stephen, Butters, Kyle, and Cartman all vanish. It turns out Stan is the one wearing the headset, and Kyle and Cartman guide him back to the access point in Cartman's room to remove it and return to reality. Meanwhile, Stephen suddenly senses that Butters is no longer grounded, and tells him he is free to go out and play. Finally, Stan returns to Cartman's room and removes the headset...

[[MediumShiftGag Cut to live-action versions of the main quartet.]] Stan tells the other three that the Oculus Rift is pretty cool, but the graphics suck.

* {{Cyberspace}}: The episode begins with Butters wearing an obviously fake "Oculus Rift" headset with Cartman speaking to him through a walkie-talkie to make him think that his journey through South Park Elementary is only occurring in virtual reality, while the other students look at him as though he's lost his mind. Before long, we're left confused as to which characters are in cyberspace and which ones are in reality.[[note]] Even Parker and Stone had trouble keeping track of things as the script for the episode evolved; it started as yet another "Cartman torments Butters" story idea.[[/note]]

* BreatherEpisode: Has no plot relevance to the rest of the season.