I suppose it was inevitable that
we’d get an episode like this now that South
Park’s storylines stretch over the entire season. This one’s pure filler, the
type of connective tissue you’d see in a continuing drama series between the
episodes with major plot points that everyone remembers.
Is it any good? That depends on how you look at it.
Last episode’s revelation about advertisements taking human form was spelled out, and the fact that there’s some sort of conspiracy involving PC Principal and ilk was established. None of this really moved the narrative forward, however, and merely set things firmly in place for big stuff in next week’s season finale. The only real new development is that the ongoing gentrification plotline came to its logical conclusion of pricing the South Park residents out of their own town.
That sounds sharp for a split second, but think about it for a moment and it’s a pretty obvious point. Similarly, the running smash cut—in which the characters get distracted by pop-ups and suddenly appear in the businesses of the ads with which they’re bombarded—is a decent gag, and an apt encapsulation of the struggle to maintain an attention span in these always-connected days. But while it might have been fairly cutting edge a decade or so ago, today, it’s an observation that’s been made many times before.
So, the satire was a bit stale and mediocre this time around. As for the non-satire humor, I laughed lightly at one moment with the britches farmer, and one entry on a list of gentrified name gags (which I’m too ashamed of laughing at to point out) made me guiltily snicker. But overall, this wasn’t the funniest episode, either.
To its credit, though, it did its job as buildup. I’m genuinely interested to see where this plotline concludes. I just hope that spending this week fueling our anticipation doesn’t backfire on the show.
Is it any good? That depends on how you look at it.
Last episode’s revelation about advertisements taking human form was spelled out, and the fact that there’s some sort of conspiracy involving PC Principal and ilk was established. None of this really moved the narrative forward, however, and merely set things firmly in place for big stuff in next week’s season finale. The only real new development is that the ongoing gentrification plotline came to its logical conclusion of pricing the South Park residents out of their own town.
That sounds sharp for a split second, but think about it for a moment and it’s a pretty obvious point. Similarly, the running smash cut—in which the characters get distracted by pop-ups and suddenly appear in the businesses of the ads with which they’re bombarded—is a decent gag, and an apt encapsulation of the struggle to maintain an attention span in these always-connected days. But while it might have been fairly cutting edge a decade or so ago, today, it’s an observation that’s been made many times before.
So, the satire was a bit stale and mediocre this time around. As for the non-satire humor, I laughed lightly at one moment with the britches farmer, and one entry on a list of gentrified name gags (which I’m too ashamed of laughing at to point out) made me guiltily snicker. But overall, this wasn’t the funniest episode, either.
To its credit, though, it did its job as buildup. I’m genuinely interested to see where this plotline concludes. I just hope that spending this week fueling our anticipation doesn’t backfire on the show.
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