South Park

The Chinese one isn't even Chinese. Just a deranged white guy who thinks he's Chinese.

Wasn't the Ambien excuse based on Roseanne? IIRC she'd made some really racist tweets and her excuse was being on Ambien.

@Red Mass Token's been around since Season 1. He was not introduced after Chef's death and had been a notable character long before Chef's death.

You also completely missed the point of the Ambien Comments. Though you seem to be missing the point in general with these episodes.

And no South Park is better then those other shows. The #Cancelthesimpsons gag was great.

Edited by Envyus on Oct 11th 2018 at 1:53:36 PM

What WAS the point of this episode? The AV Club reviewer felt it was unclear as well.

And no, I don't get every single reference about American politics and culture all the time.

Also, you could at least spell my name right...

The ambien was not about the company, or politics or culture. It was about someone constantly saying awful things, then blaming it on something he was taking, and making no effort to improve themselves. Rather then taking responsibly for their actions.

Kyle was a pariah, cause he was defending a piece of shit, and people tend to be of the opinion if you defend a piece of shit, you tend to get some of it on you.

I agree it wasn't about ambien, but it WAS about politics, specifically the controversies around Roseanne blaming her racist tweets on ambien, and the Kavanaugh hearings.

The show blended all those topics together to get their point across. The biggest point of the episode is how bad behavior puts the people around you in a difficult position. You can't swear off one of your closest friends that easily but sticking by them doesn't make you look any better. Kyle is utterly broken at the end because he tried to be there for a friend who ultimately betrayed his friendship.

Just this last week both John Goodman and Laurie Metcalf have said that it was very hard on them with the Roseanne fiasco because she had been their friend for 30 years. During all of Mel Gibson's struggles you know who was one of his biggest defenders? Robert Downey Jr, because when HE was having trouble with drugs and staying sober Gibson provided a home and friendship.

As a result it's actually kind of hard to gauge the exact purpose behind the final Simpsons joke. It's too easy to assume it's a condemnation, but given the themes of the episode it could also be a sign of solidarity and friendship. They did #Cancel The Simpsons just as they are doing #Cancel South Park.

If that is solidarity, it is a rather backhanded kind of solidarity at best.

Honestly I just thought the Simpson’s gag at the end was just an amusing Take That to make light on how outdated the characters and gag of that show have become. With Mr. Hankey (a very obvious artifact of Parker and Stones humor from the early days) is welcomed in open arms in the town of Springfield. Its kind of like that joke with Terrence and Phillip from the last season where they are super duper old.

x2 Good point. Especially with the analogy of Rosanne Barr. That is EXACTLY the point the episode was getting across.

the point was yeah the pc babies might be crying over nothing, but if you double down and make excuses and generally act like a piece of shit continiously like mr. hankey or rosanne, you will be ostricized.

But then again the ending seems to want us to sympathize with Hankey, especially given the sarcastic news report which almost sounds like it is accusing the viewer of driving Hankey away.

Yyyyeah, I’m not sure about that as clearly the writers really made Mr. Hankey in the wrong throughout the episode. Especially during that live Christmas show which ended with him calling little babies (who happen to be super PC . . . they are honestly the best part in the episode as I literally died upon seeing them) and attack Kyle, his only friend, who tried to calm them down. Hell, by the end of the episode, I feel more sympathy for PC Principal and Strong Woman with their struggles of raising children out of wedlock than Mr. Hankeu and his attempt at being relevant in 2018. Which is actually a pretty good dichotomy as the former are trying to take responsibility for their own actions from the previous season finale while the latter refuse to take accountability for the things he says, blame all his problems on third party sources and basically does not acknowledge that he is just a piece of shit. Hell there was even a neat call back to his family who basically left him prior to this episode . . . good, he was basically a domestic abuser IIRC from the episode with Mr. Hankey’s family.

So I don’t think it was full on sympathy for Mr. Hankey. Maybe for Kyle as he has no choice but to abaddon his friend that he loved for a long time, as well as the townspeople who watched a hero fallen so hard. Not so much for Mr. Hankey.

Then how do you explain the sarcastic news report?

South Parks News being its usual self.

All that was missing was a midget in a bikini, THAN its vintage South Park style journalism.

Mr. Hankey was not necessarily the hero of the story or a villain, but a pitiable character for their inability to change or do better and, well, rubbing off on Kyle. Him being exiled was also framed as a sad thing the city of South Park is doing to him. At face value the Simpsons gag is suggesting that the show is Mr. Hankey and South Park the show is Kyle, but based on the themes of the episode you can read it as the creators of South Park saying "We get it" or even praising them for sticking by the character.

It kind of reminds me of the 200/201 episodes where a Chalkboard Gag on The Simpsons said "South Park, we'd stand by you if we weren't afraid."

The news report was not sarcastic.

You think that the writers are purposefully trying to invoke Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy via making the show's setting even more cynical, either as a major plot point later on or trying to get the show to end?

I think they might just be doing that.

I really doubt that. The show has always been a dark, satirical comedy with graphic violence and gross-out humor. Mr. Hankey the Christmas poop is one of the oldest characters on the show. Kenny (and other child characters, including last seasons "Put It Down") was frequently mutilated in the most absurd ways possible. About the only way to go darker would be to eliminate the jokes, caricatures and even the satire, making it devoid of any meaning to its extreme material.

The more I think about the episode the more I like it, if only for the final scene between Kyle and Mr. Hankey. It really hammers in just how messed up the situation is, that you can't isolate one person's bad behavior from the people around them (I know some people have criticized Matt Damon's SNL Kavanaugh parody, since Damon was a major figure in the Weinstein circles).

And definitely the meaning behind #Cancel South Park is becoming more clear with them doing a #Cancel The Simpsons. Parker and Stone are known for burning bridges but if they were serious about a meta-attempt to get their show canceled they wouldn't drag The Simpsons into it.

So what IS the meaning behind it, then?

Also, if they want to cancel the show THAT badly, they should just suck it up and do it alright.

Remember that episode where Tweek got an anxiety disorder over Trump? It's a thing now, apparently.

Yeah you just don't get the stuff.

Sad. Yes, I commented it that way for a reason.

The South Park crew rarely do anything at face value. There is always a subversive quality to the characters and stories. A literal piece of shit being put on trial for bad behavior is obviously talking about more than actual dung. Since I don't believe they are actually advocating the cancellation of The Simpsons, it's likely their own hashtag is a parody of useless twitter campaigns "PC Babies don't know what they're crying about." One theory I saw on Reddit suggests they are co-opting the hashtag for their own advertisement, hampering anyone who may want to use it to actually advocate cancelling the show.

The episode was also named "The Problem With A Poo," which is a play off the documentary "The Problem With Apu" criticizing The Simpsons character. The Simpsons itself commented on the documentary via a conversation between Lisa and Marge about how society changes and evolves over time, and what was once a positive, popular thing may no longer be considered tolerable. It was mostly a shrug on their part, which did not go over well, but at the same time they admit they can't go back and change the past.

South Park had a literal piece of shit who said some stupid stuff on twitter get ostracized and kicked out of town, only to be greeted in Springfield by a friendly Apu. To my knowledge Apu has never been treated as a despicable character (by the show itself or in universe), but is a generally positive portrayal of an immigrant, even if playing with stereotypes. Hence why he is the one to welcome Mr. Hankey, suggesting that the people of Springfield are actually more tolerant than the people of South Park.