Remember the old episode “The Simpsons Already Did It”? Well, tonight’s South Park did another thing Fox’s yellow family already did by spoofing
Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. But this time, Comedy Central’s vulgar cartoon
actually did it better than The
Simpsons.
The Overlook Hotel is replaced with a video store (remember those?), which Stan’s father Randy buys in a compulsive
attempt to run his own business. But the
results are much the same as what happened to Jack Nicholson, as the barren
emptiness of the obsolete store, coupled with the ghosts of old patrons, drive Randy insane
on Halloween night. The almost
scene-for-scene parody of Kubrick’s film is spot-on, and the episode hammers
the idea that physical movies are obsolete home with a subplot involving the “Redbox
Killers,” who rob stores for the cash inside of the Redbox machines (which is a
miniscule amount of loose change).
The laughs keep coming in this one, which is a nice rebound
from last week. But there’s also a
twinge of sad nostalgia for the bygone days of renting movies at the local
video store, even though admittedly, the show is right about streaming being
cheaper and easier.
The episode also integrates some more recent pop
culture, including the four main boys dressing up as The Avengers
for Halloween (which makes for some very funny gags) and the iPad (hence, the title). And the way the show incorporates the current
“Gangnam Style” craze is quite clever; I bet there will be at least a handful of
diehard fans who show up at Halloween parties as “Gangnam-stein” this year.
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