YMMV / South Park S 1 E 2 Weight Gain 4000

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Did Wendy genuinely think that Cartman was cheating (which she was), or was she acting out of jealousy because she can't stomach the idea of being beaten by a Fat Idiot? She seems to hint at the latter in her "I learnt something today" speech to Mr. Garrison, but quickly snaps back to preaching the former when she has the opportunity to bring him down, which Stan calls her out for.
  • During the climax of the episode, is Garrison using Mr. Hat as The Scapegoat to excuse his actions (and therefore get out of trouble) or is he genuinely delusional? Or is Mr. Hat actually alive, as would be hinted in Chef Aid?
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • While its Played for Laughs, this episode could be interpreted as the earliest example of how Cartman's obsessive personality and lack of foresight causes him to self-destruct and drag others away with him. His excessive consumption of Weight Gain 4000 and his lack of self-awareness for how unhealthy it is for his body not only gets Kenny killed when he breaks the stage with his weight, but also causes him to become morbidly obese to the point of being unable to move from his bed (though he was content with this fate just because he finally got to be on TV). In the movie Return of Covid, this would be Played for Drama when following this same path with nobody to stop him leads him to become a homeless and friendless alcoholic as an adult, earning him the pity of all his friends, even Kyle, who in this episode did nothing but bully him for his weight.
  • Mr. Garrison shoots and kills a kid (granted, it's Kenny, but still) and is still allowed to teach the 3rd grade classroom after his puppet goes through "a lot of therapy", already showcasing how easily people can forgive atrocities in their town. Four seasons later, he will be caught soliciting sex from a minor and finally fired, only to be allowed back in again and relegated to the kindergarten classroom (and he would rise back to the 4th grade two seasons later). Then, eighteen seasons after being rehired, he would casually doom the town by killing the pangolin that held the chance to cure everyone from COVID, only for the townspeople to forgive him again (albeit with some help from the elites) and allowed to teach the 4th grade classroom after his presidency ends. Seems like with or without Mr. Hat, Garrison is a perpetual Karma Houdini.
  • In this episode, Wendy is appalled at Mr. Garrison trying to kill his childhood rival for upstaging him on a talent show, and tries to talk him out of it (with varying success). Not ten episodes later, she would go on to orchestrate the death of her substitute teacher Ms. Ellen over some petty Imaginary Love Triangle. And unfortunately, there was no one to talk her out of Murdering The Hypotenuse then. It seems her inability to do justice in this episode made her fall down the same path he went through as a child.
• Iron Woobie: The "Indian" kids during the play take a beating without striking back or complaining, despite the "Pioneer" kids going berserk on them. A kid that resembles Kevin Stoley even got a concussion.
• Moe: Little Kathie Lee Gifford is absolutely adorable as she sings "If My Friends Could See Me Now", helped by Mary Kay Bergman's non-pitched voice. No wonder she won that talent show.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: The ending of the episode seems to imply that Wendy had undergone Aesop Amnesia for convincing Mr. Garrison not to be a Sore Loser (after he tried to kill Kathie Lee for outdoing him at a talent show), and then going on to expose Cartman (the winner of the essay contest whom she was jealous for) as a cheater at the end of the episode, with Stan briefly calling her out on her hypocrisy. The problem is that Wendy lost because Cartman actually did cheat in the essay contest (and because her teacher knew nothing about dolphins), while Garrison lost because his "Knock Knock" Joke paled in comparison to Kathie Lee "throwing her voice out with two dummies at once", making the comparison feel rather hollow. Wendy actually defends herself against these claims, but only uses the argument that Cartman is a lazy Jerkass and didn't deserve to win.