South Park, "The City Part of Town"

South Park doesn’t always need to ruthlessly hit us with its point to make it, nor spell it out with those famous “I learned something today.” monologues from earlier seasons. Sometimes by simply depicting the issue the show makes a strong statement. That’s what happened in tonight’s episode, in a nuanced but very poignant take on a very controversial subject.

After Mr. Garrison’s (who’s now a Presidential candidate, apparently) anti-immigrant rhetoric last week makes the town of South Park the laughingstock of the nation, the townspeople come up with a way to repair their image: gentrifying the run-down part of town. That location consists only of the home of Kenny and the McCormicks, which sees affluent stores, restaurants, and eventually homes the family can’t afford built on top of it. All in the name of attracting a Whole Foods franchise, which the town views as a kind of symbol affirming their high class.

This episode has fun sending up status-obsessed hipster culture and the appropriation of working class local culture as quaint and stylish. There's also some self-referential, self-deprecating humor mocking the show as well as common criticism against it (much is at the expense of City Wok owner Kim, whose position as an outdated stereotyped is acknowledged and mocked). But on the whole, this is one episode where the thematic content surpasses the comedy. And in a good way.

The strongest scenes are live-action commercials for the in-show entertainment and housing development, all but the last of which could pass for actual ads if not for Kenny and his family hovering in the background like ghosts, ignored and detached from it all while going about their poverty-stricken lives. It’s a decent joke, but the reaction it elicits is more like that toward a great political cartoon, which in this case is nailing the point about how gentrification isn’t about improving the lives of those living in an area as much as it’s about turning it into a playground for the wealthy. Several individual lines bolster this stance. And the final melancholy scene between Kenny and his sister is—yes, this is South Park we’re talking about—powerful. It’s one of the few times I can remember genuine emotion on the show, and maybe the only time it didn’t have some dirty or sarcastic angle to it.

This wasn’t just a great episode by itself, but also presents many opportunities for story, satirical, or character arcs in the ongoing plotline this season is developing. While I was skeptical before, now I’m excited to see where this story goes.