George R.R. Martin is on record speaking against the plot device of a deus ex machina, and yet on tonight’s episode, the author gave us exactly that to resolve the whole Black Friday video game console war brewing in South Park.
Okay, it wasn’t really him, just a caricature voiced by Trey Parker or Matt Stone (I couldn’t quite tell which, but it sounded like every other celebrity who’s appeared on the show in parody). And the solution he offered didn’t wrap up anything, just kicked the whole conflict down the road. All the way to a week after Thanksgiving, to be exact, at least on the show (could this mean the show itself won’t resolve this story until after Turkey Day has passed?).
There’s no resolution here, just lots of posturing and alliances formed between different parties (complete with Bill Gates and a generic Japanese head of Sony appearing as scheming power figures), as well as betrayals within their ranks and, of course, some very gratuitous banging. I kind of want to watch Game of Thrones now, not just to get the references in this episode better, but also because mentally juggling all the factions just on this show put my brain to work just a little bit. Such puzzling plotting sounds quite captivating, and this is just a spoof of it.
Aside from the parody, this one features a few repeating bits showing how to make a running joke without beating the humor out of it. One is Cartman’s scheming in a angry neighbor’s garden. It’s a pretty obvious and a repetitive joke, and doesn’t even try to pretend it’s not making the same one over and over again. And yet I laughed at it every time. Another is the fake Martin’s perceived obsession with male genitalia, which is carried over to the end but changes the joke up just enough each time so it stays funny (its final stop, the choir scene, was some perfect combination of juvenile and brilliant).
Another great moment was the revelation of the true relationship between two people taking part in said banging. Not sure if this was based on a plot point from Game of Thrones or not, though I got a feeling it was just a throwaway gag birthed in Stone and Parker’s dirty minds. The highbrow in me feels a little bad that my biggest laugh of the episode came from this instead of one of the more thought-out bits, but hey, it took me by surprise. It wasn’t as funny or nearly as clever as last week’s out-of-nowhere Elmo doll joke, but the randomness and dirtiness struck a chord with the immature teenager in me.
Okay, it wasn’t really him, just a caricature voiced by Trey Parker or Matt Stone (I couldn’t quite tell which, but it sounded like every other celebrity who’s appeared on the show in parody). And the solution he offered didn’t wrap up anything, just kicked the whole conflict down the road. All the way to a week after Thanksgiving, to be exact, at least on the show (could this mean the show itself won’t resolve this story until after Turkey Day has passed?).
There’s no resolution here, just lots of posturing and alliances formed between different parties (complete with Bill Gates and a generic Japanese head of Sony appearing as scheming power figures), as well as betrayals within their ranks and, of course, some very gratuitous banging. I kind of want to watch Game of Thrones now, not just to get the references in this episode better, but also because mentally juggling all the factions just on this show put my brain to work just a little bit. Such puzzling plotting sounds quite captivating, and this is just a spoof of it.
Aside from the parody, this one features a few repeating bits showing how to make a running joke without beating the humor out of it. One is Cartman’s scheming in a angry neighbor’s garden. It’s a pretty obvious and a repetitive joke, and doesn’t even try to pretend it’s not making the same one over and over again. And yet I laughed at it every time. Another is the fake Martin’s perceived obsession with male genitalia, which is carried over to the end but changes the joke up just enough each time so it stays funny (its final stop, the choir scene, was some perfect combination of juvenile and brilliant).
Another great moment was the revelation of the true relationship between two people taking part in said banging. Not sure if this was based on a plot point from Game of Thrones or not, though I got a feeling it was just a throwaway gag birthed in Stone and Parker’s dirty minds. The highbrow in me feels a little bad that my biggest laugh of the episode came from this instead of one of the more thought-out bits, but hey, it took me by surprise. It wasn’t as funny or nearly as clever as last week’s out-of-nowhere Elmo doll joke, but the randomness and dirtiness struck a chord with the immature teenager in me.
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