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Recap / South Park S 1 E 10 Damien

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Original air date: 2/4/1998 (produced in 1997)note 

New kid in school Damien turns out to be the son of Satan, but that doesn't stop the other kids from picking on him. Meanwhile, everyone passes up Cartman's birthday party for a boxing match between Jesus Christ and the Devil.


This episode provides examples of...

  • All Jews Are Cheapskates: Invoked. Cartman opens an Ants in the Pants game instead of the Red Mega Man he wanted. He then calls Kyle, who is Jewish, a "dirty cheap-ass piece of crap".
  • Balloon Belly: Cartman is noticeably fatter in the last scene, having gorged on most of the leftover food from his birthday party.
  • Deal with the Devil: More like bet on the Devil, but the same principle applies. Upon seeing how much muscle and weight Satan is packing in comparison to Jesus, all of South Park switch their bets to him. They pay for it when Satan bets on Jesus and throws the fight, taking all their money to Hell with them.
  • Devil in Plain Sight: Almost literally! Damien doesn't even hide the fact that he's the son of Satan, flames burn in his eyes to the tune of some Ominous Latin Chanting, and he openly displays his magical powers. Everything he does is treated as an Unusually Uninteresting Sight.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness:
    • Butters audibly screams in a female voice akin to Bebe when he falls off the jungle gym that Damien torches, and is later shown surrounding Pip in a circle of kids bullying him, the latter of which is made even weirder by "Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub" - where Butters is properly introduced - showing that he's actually friends with Pip. Meanwhile, his gender was established in the second season episode "Conjoined Fetus Lady", where he is called Swanson.
    • Tolkien screams in Trey Parker's voice rather than Adrien Beard's after he and Kevin Stoleynote  fall off the teeter-totter.
    • This is one of the very few occasions in the show when Satan is shown acting as an outright villainous character, albeit while enacting a scheme that falls very much on the Evil Is Petty side.
  • Easily Forgiven: Jesus forgives the adults for turning their backs on him because, after all, he's Jesus. Damien is likewise quickly forgiven for his various misdeeds towards the other kids as soon as he turns Pip into a firework display, because the other kids just hate Pip that much.
  • Entitled Bastard: Cartman completely loses his shit, ends his birthday party early, and throws everyone out just because Kyle didn't get him the present he wanted (because said present was sold out and Kyle couldn't find it). His guests just shrug this off, however, as this apparently happens every time.
    Damien: Wow. That kid has some emotional problems.
    Stan: Ah, he does this all the time.
  • Evil Is Petty: Satan arrives on Earth and challenges Jesus to a final battle with the future of all mankind at stake... so that he can throw the fight and scam the residents of South Park out of their money.
  • Felony Misdemeanor: In exchange for attending his party, Cartman demanded the other kids follow his present guideline to the letter. When Kyle doesn't get him what he wants...
    Cartman: Oh, and look what Kyle got me. It's a Red Mega... (opens present) Ants in the Pants? Ants in the Pa— ANTS IN THE PANTS?! (slams table)
    Kyle: It's a game, dude. It's really fun.
    Cartman: YOU SON OF A BITCH! (tackles Kyle) YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO GET ME THE RED MEGA MAN, EH! NOW I CAN'T MAKE THE ULTRA MEGA MEGA MAN! (starts slapping Kyle) YOU DIRTY CHEAP-ASS PIECE OF CRAP!
    Kyle: They were all out of 'em, dude!
    Cartman: I HATE YOU! I WANT YOU TO DIE! DIE!! (Kyle screams) That's it! Party is over! Everybody go home! (turns the party switch off, the music and the rides stop) GET THE HELL OUT, I SAID! THE PARTY'S OVER! GET OUT, GODDAMMIT! (the kids start leaving)
    Stan: Whoa, dude! You need to mellow out!
    Cartman: Take your stupid Ants in the Pants with you! (throws game at Kyle, knocking him over)
  • Forced Transformation: Damien turns Kenny into a duck-billed platypus, which he remains as for the rest of the episode due to Jimbo shooting him before Damien has the chance (or inclination) to turn him back.
  • The Friends Who Never Hang: Satan is never seen interacting with his son Damian.
  • Generation Xerox: Bill and Fosse's fathers are shown briefly, and look and act just like their sons, right down to the "that's gay!" catchphrase.
  • Hypocritical Humor: When Jesus calls out the townspeople for changing their bets to Satan winning, Father Maxi condemns them all for turning their backs on their savior. Jesus then points out that he knows Maxi changed his bet too.
  • Impossibly Delicious Food: Stan succumbs to Cartman's selfish demands for a specific Mega Man instead of making it a surprise because Cartman's mother Liane is a supreme chef.
  • I Just Want to Have Friends: Damien.
  • I Warned You: Jesus warned everyone not to bet on Satan. They did anyway and suffered for it.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: Can you really blame Damien for all the trouble he caused after the way the other students treated him?
  • Killed Off for Real: Subverted for Pip who gets shot up into the sky and explodes like a firework. Trey and Matt did originally plan on killing him off, but they realized they needed him to fill in some crowd scenes. Pip would later officially meet this fate in "201".
  • My God, What Have I Done?: While trying to train Jesus, Chef is horrified when he nearly knocks the Messiah out cold.
  • Mythology Gag: During Satan and Jesus' boxing match, the public starts cheering for Satan, but stop when Jesus gives them a stern look. The exact same gag appeared in the original The Spirit of Christmas short, with Santa Claus in place of Satan, and Stan and Kyle representing the public.
  • Letting the Air out of the Band: Happens when Jesus gets a Heroic Second Wind and throws a punch at Satan, which immediately turned out to be ineffectual.
  • Off with His Head!: Jimbo's hunting rifle is so powerful that it blows Kenny's head clean off his body.
  • Oh, Crap!: The people of South Park were at first confident Jesus would win... until they see Satan and their collective jaws dropped at awe of all 320 pounds of raw muscle the Prince of Darkness was packing. Chef even dropped this phrase in verbatim.
  • Ominous Latin Chanting: Parodied. The son of Satan's arrival in town is accompanied by a choir of voices chanting "Rectus Dominus Cheesy Poofs" — which is obviously supposed to be Canis Latinicus for "Ass Master, Cheesy Poofs" can actually be translated as "Straight master, Cheesy Poofs".
  • Punctuated Pounding: "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO GET ME THE RED MEGAMAN! YOU DIRTY! CHEAP-ASS! PIECE OF CRAP!"
  • Pyrrhic Victory: Jesus wins the boxing match, but Satan wins the betting pool.
  • Shout-Out: Stan tries to inspire Jesus by telling him "You know, somebody once said. 'Don't try to be a great man, just be a man'" and then saying it was Jesus who said it.
    Kyle: Did he really say that in The Bible?
    Stan: Nah, I saw it on Star Trek.
  • Skewed Priorities: Satan comes to Earth apparently to fight Jesus in the final battle between good and evil, and all anyone in South Park is concerned about is making money on the outcome of the match.
  • Tantrum Throwing: Cartman ends his tantrum by throwing the Ants in the Pants game back at Kyle.
  • They Killed Kenny Again: Kenny gets turned into a duck-billed platypus early in the episode, though remains otherwise unharmed until Jimbo and Ned gain sight of him after the fight between Jesus and Satan wraps up:
    Jimbo: "Ned, look! There's a rare duck-billed platypus! I-it's comin' right for us!" [shoots Kenny]
  • Throwing the Fight: What Satan does. He knew the townspeople would bet on him because he's the larger and more muscular of the two, so while everyone else changed their bets, he secretly bet on Jesus to win. He drags out the fight until Jesus finally throws a punch and immediately takes a dive. He proceeds to mock the townspeople for falling for this trick.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: Pip was the only boy in school who treats Damien with kindness and befriends him. Damien rewards him by blowing him up and using him as a firework so all the other kids will like him better.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Jesus calling out of the townspeople for betting on Satan to win, and when they claim they're going to change their bets back to Jesus but don't mean it?
    "You're all a bunch of Judases!"
    • Stan gives them what for by asking them what they expected to happen to bet on the Devil.
  • Your Mom: Stan tells him that Kenny saw her drop him off at school and that she is "a real dog". This could be referencing Damien Thorn's mother from The Omen being a female jackal.

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