South Park, "Naughty Ninjas"

It’s good to see Trey Parker and Matt Stone haven’t lost their nerve after that whole 200^th episode incident. It’s also nice to see a return of the sledgehammer-level subtlety (which is to say, none at all) with which the show treated touchy subjects once upon a time. Between that and the appearance of officer Barbrady (in a major role, rather than just a throwaway gag capacity), I felt like I was watching a holdover from the show’s earliest days, only with the timely subject matter and satire that the show delivers at its best (sometimes recently).

The episode begins with a police incident that convinces the newly-P.C. town that they don’t need a police force. Pushing the police out, however, backfires on their gentrified nouveau-sophistication. And after mistaking the kids’ ninja game in the now-abandoned SodoSopa district for the activities of a certain terrorist group, they really start to regret it.

Although, rather than showing society crumble, the results of kicking out the cops are much more surprising, and revealing. I won’t give any specifics (nor will I give away the most biting line, which is an absolute howler; you’ll know it when you hear it), but it cuts much deeper than the reactionary route they could have gone. But lest anyone think this one is all pro-cop, the dutiful fondness for harassing minorities that the South Park police (sans Barbrady) have shown casually in a few past episodes is a prominent plot point here. Nobody goes unscathed in this one.

The main source of humor, however, was simple stuff derived from misunderstandings, but was no less enjoyable for that. Keeping things easy and going no further than treating a sensitive subject in the most blunt and insensitive manner possible had a certain old-episode charm. For fans still unsure about this whole connected season thing (among whom I count myself), this might take them back to the show’s best years, when it was still, first and foremost, a dirty cartoon. And if you can’t laugh at the simple (but unsurprising) absurdity of Cartman finding a kindred spirit in ISIS, well, you’re watching the wrong show.

The final scene appeared to set up some even more ambitious plotting for the remainder of the season (with hints of some big meta meaning, with which I have a good guess of where the season’s going), but I enjoyed this little break from the continuing storyline. Or at least it seemed like a break from it because, stylistically at least, it felt like watching the show in the 90s.