South Park, "Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Posers"

Due to events beyond the series’ control, they had more time than their usual six-day schedule to work on this episode. We’ll never know exactly how or if that extra week altered the final product (I entertained the idea that the intro, specially tailored for this episode, might have been added in the extra time). But if there were any changes, they were nothing too spectacular, as this one’s pretty average.

The plot all but ignores the usual gang and focuses on South Park’s four sparsely-seen goth kids (I’d list their names, but since they appear so rarely on the show, not to mention the fact I can’t even remember them after just watching them, I don’t feel like there’s much of a point; the show itself doesn’t even seem that interested in their background). Three of them find out to their horror that one went away to a rehabilitation camp and came back an emo kid, in an Invasion of the Body Snatchers-like plot for emos to take over the world. Since the world at large can’t tell the difference between the two cliques, the goths must do the unthinkable (in their eyes) to fight the emo influence: team up with the vampire kids they crossed paths with before.

All in all, “average” is a pretty apt description. I mean, I laughed at a number of the gags, but not exceptionally hard at any.  And the whole concept didn’t strike me as terribly funny. I think it’s because emo has been around for a while, so they're targeting old news. Then again, there have been several episodes I didn’t find particularly funny on my first viewing, but they ended up growing on me after watching them again. “The Ungroundable,” the last goth-centric storyline, was such an episode, so I won’t rule out coming around on this one, too.

Except for the twist ending, which I won’t give away, but I will say is 1) not funny, 2) very dumb, and 3) was a plot point already used on The Simpsons. Yes, I know the show long ago wrote off stealing from the show as no big deal, but that doesn’t make the joke any less tired, especially when it wasn’t even that funny when The Simpsons did it.