Grid Effect

One thing about South Park is that I use posting titles that never in a million years would I have thought necessary. And the title isn’t even half of it. I watched last night’s episode during the midnight rerun, so maybe my judgment is off, but I can categorically say that as far as the American landscape is concerned, that was probably the most offensive episode they’ve ever aired.

It really seemed to cover everyone: Latinos, black people, white people, gays, lesbians, abortion, the Patriots, high school melodramas, etc. In a way it all evens out. How can anyone be offended if everyone else is being raked over the coals? No one was selectively persecuted, so getting all in a tizzy over it would seem pointless, Not that anyone is still offended by South Park.

But we personally weren’t all that infatuated with this episode. Even though we said it could be deemed offensive, it wasn’t that. Our sensibilities are delicate, just not when it comes to cartoons. And again, we watched the midnight rerun so maybe our judgment was off. But the only laughs we remember having were Cartman’s throwaway line to the class when chasing down a student who took off, “Look class, just review that chapter of all the sportcaster’s saying Bill Belichick cheating wasn’t a big deal and I’ll be right back”, the subsequent conversation about rich white girls having abortions and the Mr. Garrison’s mouse singing to the moon. While we thought the latter was odd, we love the reference to Fievel Goes West.

The role-model for cheating….According to Broncos fans.

These instances alone made it the second most watchable episode of the five this season. And it’s not that it was inherently bad or anything. It just seems that with such a great premise, the episode didn’t follow through as well as it should have. That seems to be the running theme for this season. For the majority of the time, we felt like we were waiting for a enormous payoff (and you could argue the hallway conversation was it) that never came to fruition.

The whole over-emphasis of the women standing on the tables seemed odd at best and cheap at its worst. I don’t really understand the process to developing an animated episode of television, but was that even worth the legwork? It was like a cross-reference to the Curb Your Enthusiasm mockumentary where Larry David is contemplating getting back into stand-up and the friend he is consulting has some sage advice for him, “Two words: dick jokes”; and the Nip Tuck episode where Rosie O’Donnell’s character pays to have an ear genetically engineered on a mouse.

And while we appreciate the whole parody of Stand and Deliver, it could really be mistaken for about twenty other “teacher infiltrates inner-city school and redeems the students capable of redemption” motif since 1988. In that respect it was probably just confusing for people who haven’t seen that particular movie, and thought they were watching a parody of Dangerous Minds or something.

We’ve seen much worse episodes but we’ve seen plenty better. At this point we’re just waiting for this run of episodes to end so we can quit struggling with something to say about them. Because right now we are running on fumes.

Survivor recap later.