South Park, "Titties and Dragons"

Now I really want to watch Game of Thrones.

This whole Black Friday saga rather brilliantly combined so many elements—timeless things like post-Thanksgiving shopping mayhem and stuff more "about now" like HBO’s fantasy series and the newest video game consoles—into a coherent whole. Tonight’s episode concluded the storyline by adding many more twists and betrayals. It worked so well that I wasn’t even watching the show like I normally do, taking it in as comedy; I was actually quite engrossed in it, as if I were watching a great, compelling drama. If a mere parody did that…well, I might just have to check the series out.

It was so compelling that I kind of forgave the fact that it wasn’t as funny as the first two entries in this three-parter. Yeah, there were moments where I laughed, but as sometimes happens, Trey Parker and Matt Stone took the narrative so far that it left less room for humor. And yes, I realize having never seen Game of Thrones, I may have missed some references (I did, however, get the obvious play on the Red Wedding, because frankly, you couldn’t avoid hearing about it somewhere when the show got to the point this summer). But the jokes that had been running through this whole arc were rather played out by now. Especially the fake George R.R. Martin’s wiener obsession, which really had nowhere to go but down after that memorable choir gag from last episode.

As for the newer stuff, I found some humor in seeing a certain nerdy tech icon tattooed in gang-style computer code, although I can’t remember if I actually laughed at it or not. I did laugh really hard at the one-line return of the perverted Elmo doll you may have forgotten about from three weeks ago, placed oh so perfectly in this one's resolving moments. Adding real Black Friday footage to the mall bloodbath was a funny touch, although I’m a little disappointed that the selected film was relatively tame. Some of the more intense fights from this past Thanksgiving weekend would have fit right in alongside the cartoon carnage, and it could have been hilarious seeing the two cut together. I’m still on the fence about the ending, torn between appreciating it as a mildly comical ad-inside-a-show, and hating it as a shameless plug (maybe if it had been funnier...).

I am sure, however, that I loved this episode, and this entire arc as a whole. It was smart, clever, often very funny, and ultimately, surprisingly captivating.