History WhamEpisode / SouthPark

* "The Return of Chef". The whole episode is DarkerAndEdgier than any other episode of the series, and is mostly PlayedForDrama. The plot: Chef is transformed into a pedophile by the Super Adventure Club and is KilledOffForReal [[NightmareFuel in a horrific manner]]. Worse, The Super Adventure Club revives him as a cyborg, still as a pedophile.

** "Not Funny": [[spoiler: Lennart Bedrager, the head of Trolltrace, is revealed to not even be Danish, but an American troll seeking to start WorldWarIII as part of [[ForTheEvulz the biggest prank of all]].]]

WhamEpisode in in this series.

* Season 25's "City People" has Liane Cartman get a job as a real estate agent in response to rising rent prices, requiring her to shift some of her attention away from her son. In response, Cartman browbeats her into quitting, and making Liane unable to afford the rent and requiring them to move into a cramped hot dog stand. This also has the effect of severely and possibly irrevocably damaging Cartman's relationship with his mother. The story arc of the Cartmans "living in a hot dog" continues for the rest of the season and most of the next season, with multiple episodes after this one showing the Cartmans still living there and/or feature Cartman coming up with a ZanyScheme to be able to move out of there as part of their plot. While they [[Recap/SouthParkS26E5DikinBausHotDogs do eventually end up moving back to their old house]] (thanks to Butters), it's made pretty clear that Cartman's relationship with his mother will never be the same, as the end of the episode shows Cartman having a VillainousBreakdown and Liane just walks away.

* Season 25's "City People" has Liane Cartman get a job as a real estate agent in response to rising rent prices, requiring her to shift some of her attention away from her son. In response, Cartman browbeats her into quitting, and making Liane unable to afford the rent and requiring them to move into a cramped hot dog stand. This also has the effect of severely and possibly irrevocably damaging Cartman's relationship with his mother. This continues for the rest of the season and most of the next season, with multiple episodes after this one show the Cartmans still living in the hot dog stand and/or feature Cartman coming up with a ZanyScheme to be able to move out of there as part of their plot. While they [[Recap/SouthParkS26E5DikinBausHotDogs do eventually end up moving back to their old house]] (thanks to Butters), it's made pretty clear that Cartman's relationship with his mother will never be the same.

* Season 25's "City People" has Liane Cartman get a job as a real estate agent in response to rising rent prices, requiring her to shift some of her attention away from her son. In response, Cartman browbeats her into quitting, and making Liane unable to afford the rent and requiring them to move into a cramped hot dog stand. This also has the effect of severely and possibly irrevocably damaging Cartman's relationship with his mother. And just like the whole "Tegridy Farms" storyline, the change remains in place in later episodes. Multiple episodes after this one show the Cartmans still living in the hot dog stand and/or feature Cartman coming up with a ZanyScheme to be able to move out of there as part of their plot, and the Cartmans remain in the hot dog stand to this day, with no indication that they will be moving back to their old house, or that Cartman's relationship with his mother will ever be the same.

* Season 25's "City People" has Liane Cartman get a job as a real estate agent in response to rising rent prices, requiring her to shift some of her attention away from her son. In response, Cartman browbeats her into quitting, and making Liane unable to afford the rent and requiring them to move into a cramped hot dog stand. This also has the effect of severely and possibly irrevocably damaging Cartman's relationship with his mother.

* After the boys spent the first 3 and a half seasons in third grade, they enter fourth grade in the episode "Fourth Grade" where they remain for the rest of the series.

* "The Vaccination Special" is much more dramatic than the previous "The Pandemic Special" with long-term consequences. Mr. Garrison returns from the presidency and fights off his worshiping [=QAnon=] supporters, in the process bargaining [[AuthorPowers reality-warping force]] that turns [[spoiler:Mr. White]] into a ForcefulTransformation and turns Mr. Garrison's new servant, Mr. Service, into [[spoiler:the long-gone Mr. Hat]]. Meanwhile, the four boys realize they've grown apart and tragically split up their friendship to venture off with other groups.

* "The Vaccination Special" is much more dramatic than the previous "The Pandemic Special" with long-term consequences. Mr. Garrison returns from the presidency and fights off his worshiping [=QAnon=] supporters, in the process bargaining [[AuthorPowers reality-warping force]] that turns [[spoiler:Mr. White]] into a BalefulPolymorph and turns Mr. Garrison's new servant, Mr. Service, into [[spoiler:the long-gone Mr. Hat]]. Meanwhile, the four boys realize they've grown apart and tragically split up their friendship to venture off with other groups.

* "Tweek x Craig": When South Park's official website requested for Craig/Tweek fanart, the fandom went out into a bust. This episode was, needless to say, extremely surprising.

* "The Big Fix" reveals that Token's actual name is "Tolkien", named after ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' and ''Literature/TheHobbit'' author Creator/JRRTolkien. The Marshes and the audience never knew this and thought it was Token not only because of the similar pronunciation but also because Cartman and Mr. Garrison spelled his name incorrectly.

* "Time to Get Cereal" and "Nobody Got Cereal?" This two-parter reveals that the oft-ridiculed Manbearpig is real, attacking and possibly killing Ned[[note]]He shows up at the end of the season in poor condition but still alive[[/note]], and destroying much of the town in its rampage. The second part has Satan fight Manbearpig, only for Satan to [[spoiler:get KilledOffForReal in the fight]]. On a meta level, it's one of the first times the show has ever taken climate change seriously rather than ridiculing its activists, casting one of the most famous episodes of the show [[FunnyAneurysmMoment in a whole new light.]]

** Butter's sub-plot in this episode can be considered this too. Butters falls for a girl named Lexus, who works at the Raisins restaurant, after she was nice to him (she was only doing her job, though.) Butters spends the rest of the episode obsessing over her, thinking she was his girlfriend, eventually learning the hard truth that she never liked him at all. He then sits in the rain, wallowing in his "beautiful sadness", as he puts it.

* "You're Getting Old" is a subverted example. The last few episodes have been typical ''South Park'' humor, but then this episode comes along. It seems all fun and games, they're going to get better by the end of the episode... [[DownerEnding It doesn't]]. Stan breaks off from his friends, and his parents have divorced]] and it gets worse when the following episode "Ass Burgers" reverts everything [[StatusQuoIsGod back to the way it was]], [[SubvertedTrope defeating the entire purpose of the previous episode]], with one noticeable difference: Stan is fully aware the status quo sucks, and is powerless to change it.

* "You're Getting Old" is another example. The last few episodes have been typical ''South Park'' humor, but then this episode comes along. It seems all fun and games, they're going to get better by the end of the episode.. [[DownerEnding It doesn't]]. [[spoiler:Stan is breaking off from his friends, and his parents have divorced]] and it gets worse when [[spoiler:the following episode "Ass Burgers" reverts everything [[StatusQuoIsGod back to the way it was]], defeating the entire purpose of the previous episode, with one noticeable difference: Stan is fully aware the status quo sucks, and is powerless to change it.]]

* After the boys spent the first 3 and a half seasons in third grade, they enter fourth grade in the episode "Fourth Grade" where they remain as of Season 22.