South Park, "Sponsored Content"

Tonight wasn’t the moment of truth for this season’s continuing narrative experiment, but it looks like that moment will be coming soon.

This one has Jimmy and PC Principal butting heads over Jimmy’s editorial sense at the school newspaper. That might have been an entertaining plot in itself. But from that simple premise, the episode builds on last week’s ending to reveal that everything this season has been part of some nefarious conspiracy involving online and embedded advertising. Also involved are the ousted Principal Victoria and the now Trump-like Mr. Garrison. And Caitlyn Jenner and Hillary Clinton are in the mix, too, apparently.

From here, the season can go either way. All the various subjects without much solid connection invites the thought of another messy conclusion like last year. On the other hand, this year’s interconnectedness has been an improvement over last year (regardless of the quality of the individual episodes). Last year’s episodes were connected by a rather loose thread before hastily trying (and failing) to tie them all together in the season finale. This year, each new episode has continued and expanded upon the main storyline to a degree. Since it’s seemingly already approaching the season's endgame on this third-to-last episode of the year, perhaps they’re also giving themselves the time they need to craft a strong finish. And the ending turn this week’s plot takes is rather interesting.

The episode was more narrative connective tissue than anything else, like the in-between episodes that bridge the ones everyone remembers in a great dramatic series. Sadly, despite the presence of Jimmy’s nemesis Nathan, we didn’t get any of the awful but very funny misfortunes to which he’s often subjected (though it offers some mean barbs at Jenner as consolation). But Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s view that well-meaning gentle and protective attitudes toward the disabled are ultimately condescending and insulting, a consistent theme in all the Jimmy and Timmy-centric episodes in the sow’s history, is as strong as ever. Come to think of it, the fact that this still seems like an edgy point to make suggests they're kind of right about oversensitivity in today’s world.