Original air date: 12/11/2013
Wendy Testaburger’s latest protest (this time, about how Photoshop is used to make female models and celebrities look better on magazines and print material) gets her in trouble when she plays matchmaker with a homely girl.
This episode contains examples of:
- Adults Are Useless: Per usual, Mr. Mackey repeatedly refuses to listen to Wendy's side of the story, even siding with Butters even though the latter (albeit unintentionally) made Lisa Berger upset.
- Baby Don't Got Back: According to Wendy's rant in "The Hobbit" about all the girls' flaws and imperfections, Heidi Turner apparently has a flat butt.
- Blatant Lies: Mr. Mackey threatens to send Wendy to "Jelly School". Of course, Wendy does not fall for it.Wendy: Mr. Mackey, I appreciate the point you're trying to make.
Mr. Mackey: Yuh, you do? Okay, well, I'm not actually on the phone with a... jelly school, Wendy, okay?
Wendy: Yes, I'm... I'm a few steps ahead of that, yes.- Wendy is later interviewed on TV, and a reporter tries to pretend he's in front of "jelly school", but Wendy says it’s just a Dunkin' Donuts.
- Boomerang Bigot: Wendy's method of arguing against body shaming and society's definition of beauty is to resort to body shaming as well. This results in everyone just writing her off as a hater, especially when they hear her doing so without context.
- Breather Episode: Somewhat. Although dramatic, it's far tamer than the previous epic trilogy.
- But Not Too Black: When the girls go to the gym to Photoshop themselves to look better, Nichole is seen drastically lightening her complexion.
- Call-Back: Kanye West from "Fishsticks" reappears calling himself a recovering gay fish.Cartman: Uh oh.
- Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: A variant in that everyone thinks Photoshopped pics are the real things. What kicks off this episode is Butters thinking a picture of Kim Kardashian from a magazine is what she really looks like.
- Comically Missing the Point: Wendy shows Butters a demonstration of Photoshop to show how girls like Lisa can be altered to destroy girls’ self-image, but Butters becomes convinced she really looks like that and falls in love with her, despite Wendy altering the picture in front of him. This then expands to fucking everyone, who act as if the Photoshop images are the real thing, despite interacting with the people with the Photoshopped people who clearly look different from the pictures.
- The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Parodied. Wendy is made a pariah for her protests against Photoshopped pictures.
- Compliment Backfire: Kanye repeatedly tries to convince people that Kim is not a Hobbit, but he keeps drawing similarities to the point not even he is sure she's not one.Kanye: There have been malicious rumors, started at this elementary school, that my beautiful fiancé is a hobbit. That is not funny! And it is not true! All right? Yes, Kim is heavier than most of her pictures show her to be. Yes, she gets her hair lasered off her body. Yes, she has a friend named Gandalf, who happens to be a wizard... (thinks closer about what he just said) I'm sorry. Excuse me for a minute. (gets out his phone and calls someone) Bitch, how you not the Hobbit again?
- Condescending Compassion: What pushes Wendy to move her campaign outside of South Park Elementary is Lisa telling the other cheerleaders during their routine not to take issue with Wendy being understandably gloomy, as it's not her fault no one likes her, which they back Lisa up on.
- Continuity Nod: Butters' love for Kim Kardashian from "The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs" returns. Kim was also murdered by the end of "Scrotie McBoogerballs". Not that it matters.
- A Day in the Limelight: Wendy is the protagonist of the episode.
- Digging Yourself Deeper: Kanye West repeatedly argues against his claim that his girlfriend Kim Kardashian is not a hobbit.
- Downer Ending: Wendy's efforts to expose photo-manipulation for dictating unrealistic beauty standards only serves to make it more popular until she's finally guilt-tripped into Photoshopping herself to look like the exact kind of unrealistic bombshell she was trying to speak out against.
- Easily Condemned: Everyone is quick to believe that Wendy is a hater and treat her like a pariah throughout the episode.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Not only do all of the cheerleaders turn against Wendy, but even Stan asks her to make a photoshopped image just so he can brag about it to his friends.
- The Ghost: Kim Kardashian is often referred and spoken to, but never actually seen or heard in the episode (outside of a small image of her).
- A God Am I: Kanye West reads a Roman à Clef story about Kim Kardashian as a hobbit and himself as God.
- Gone Horribly Right: At the beginning of the episode, Wendy wanted Lisa Berger to gain confidence. When the latter actually does become more confident, she becomes an arrogant bitch who labels Wendy as a jealous hater whenever she tries to explain that Lisa's newfound popularity is for the wrong reasons.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Wendy just wants girls to be happy with themselves despite their imperfections, and it all started because she wanted Lisa to gain confidence in herself. Wendy ends up being treated as a Villain Protagonist, and she ends up failing in her crusade.
- Hourglass Plot: The third act begins the same way as the first, but with Wendy and Lisa’s roles reversed.
- Hypocrite: Everyone calls Wendy a 'hater' for preaching her beliefs, even though they constantly hate on her unfairly and refuse to listen to her side of the story.
- Idiot Houdini: Due to Mr. Mackey's incompetence, Butters ends up getting away with his thoughtless remarks towards Lisa Berger. This is ironic considering how much he gets punished over trivial or nonsensical things.
- Informed Attractiveness: By the show's logic, as long you have a Photoshopped picture of yourself that makes you look more attractive than you really are, people will automatically assume you are that attractive.
- Informed Deformity: Wendy lists the various imperfections of herself, Stan, and other boys and girls, which are not visible because of the animation style. And Jason, who has an obvious physical flaw (a prematurely receding hairline) doesn't get called out for that flaw. Instead, Wendy says he has freckles, which we are unable to see.
- Innocently Insensitive: Butters accidentally hurts Lisa's feelings by calling her fat when she asks him out. He doesn't realize how much this remark hurt her until Wendy calls him out on it.
- Jerkass: The cheerleaders. They call Wendy a hater and treat her like trash.
- Jerkass Ball: Mr. Mackey is at his worst since "Royal Pudding". He takes Butters' side and threatens to have Wendy sent to 'Jelly School'. Granted, this is partly due to continuously hearing tirades from Wendy out of context.
- Let Me Tell You a Story: To make his point, Kanye West reads Wendy a bedtime story of a little hobbit, God and a jelly monster.
- Made Out to Be a Jerkass: Wendy is constantly on the receiving end of this by both Mr. Mackey and her classmates.
- Mood Whiplash: Subverted with the ending credits, which end up being silent to play up the fact that it’s a genuine Downer Ending.
- Nice Girl: Most of the conflict of the episode spurns from Wendy quickly noticing Lisa's down in the dumps and encouraging her to boost her confidence, scolding the other cheerleaders for not being more patient with her being out-of-sync. She also tries to make peace with Butters later in the episode by talking things out and demonstrating how Photoshop can drastically alter the figures of people (which spurns the conflict further, since Butters thinks Kim actually looks like her Photoshopped counterpart).
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Wendy caused the entire episode’s events and most of the drama of this episode is because she Photoshopped the picture of Lisa in an attempt to prove her point on unrealistic beauty standards, but Butters ends up thinking its real... despite having the original photo Photoshopped right in front of him.
- Not Helping Your Case: Kanye constantly argues against the allegations that his wife is a hobbit but constantly contradicts himself by unwittingly bringing up similarities.
- Not What It Looks Like: Every time Wendy tries to preach her beliefs about body image, Mr. Mackey hears this out-of-context and misinterprets it as bullying.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Wendy when Mr. Mackey and the students catch her pointing out everyone’s imperfections.Wendy: God damn it!
- Also Cartman's reaction to Kanye West being the class's guest speaker, remembering the "gay fish" ordeal.Cartman: Uh oh!
- Wendy when Mr. Mackey and the students catch her pointing out everyone’s imperfections.
- Only Sane Woman: Deconstructed. Wendy is the only one who sees a problem with people using Photoshop to improve their body image, but the others refuse to listen to her and completely miss her point, with Mr. Mackey frequently punishing her in return. In the end, she has no choice but to join the rest of the students in Photoshop.
- Right Behind Me: Happens to Wendy, twice:
- The first time is when she tries to explain that the Photoshopped image of Lisa isn't real, and in a moment of frustration, calls her "fat and ugly", just as Lisa passes by.
- The second occurs when Wendy becomes angry at Stan for asking her to Photoshop herself and starts ranting at him, pointing out the various physical imperfections of herself and her schoolmates, including the cheerleaders... just as they happen to walk in and overhear her.
- Rightly Self-Righteous: Deconstructed. Wendy’s very blunt approach to explain the problems with Photoshop only leads everyone to miss the point and think she is "jelly", especially since no-one actually feels insecure when looking at the PSed pictures after getting one too. By the end of the episode Wendy just gives up and conforms.
- Running Gag:
- Wendy being called "jel", "jelly", and a hater.
- Kanye West constantly calling Kim Kardashian to tell him what to say about comparing her to a hobbit, and calling her "bitch" as a term of endearment.
- Shout-Out
- The title is meant to coincide with the release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
- Mr. Garrison confuses Kanye West with Aquaman.
- Kanye West interrupting Pope Francis' "Person of the Year" acceptance speech parodies his infamous interruption of Taylor Swift at the 2009 American Music Awards.
- Silent Credits: Downplayed. After Wendy tearfully photoshops a picture of her and sends it in a mass e-mail, the credits roll in the empty computer lab without any music for a few seconds until the upbeat regular credits music kicks in.
- Sinister Silhouettes: When Kanye West's silhouette appears in the doorway to Wendy's bedroom, accompanied by sinister music.
- Sudden Name Change:
- Lisa Berger was previously known as "Lorraine".
- Annie Nelson originally had the surname of "Faulk".
- Bill (of the Bill and Fosse duo) had the surname "Allen" in "T.M.I." but is referred to as "Billy Turner" here (which was the name of a different character in ‘Erection Day’ and ‘Tsst’).
- Take That!:
- Kim Kardashian is referred to as a hobbit.
- Kanye West returns for another round of ridicule, with him interrupting Pope Francis accepting the Person of the Year award mirroring the infamous "Imma Let You Finish"
incident. - People that take photoshopped images as reality are portrayed as shallow idiots.
- Training Montage: A montage showing the fitness coach pushing the girls to work out hard...in Photoshop.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Wendy blasts Butters for calling Lisa Berger fat.
- Then Mr. Mackey blasts her for doing the same to prove her point.
- Everyone, including Stan, is pulling this on Wendy.
- With Friends Like These...: Bebe is the first of the cheerleaders to push for the routine to be done without Wendy after the Hourglass Plot switch, even explicitly telling her she has a bad self-image and parroting Lisa's Condescending Compassion of her.
- Wrong Insult Offence: Cartman calls out Butters for insulting Lisa for her weight. He should have insulted her for her looks instead.
- You Are Fat: Butters calls Lisa fat when she asks for a date at the cafeteria.
