Grid Effect

Sorry for the extrodinarily late post, but the work computer is on the fritz, and I had to wait for lunch to write/post this already week late review of the return installment of South Park. Not exactly an exhilarating excuse, but it’s all I can come up with.

Anyhow, to the topic at hand, this episode left something to be desired. I mean, its not like we haven’t seen an episode of South Park in which cursing was the primary focus. After a certain while it gets old. For those who might not have watched, Cartman discovered tourette syndrome while shopping at a toy store, and naturally decides to mimic the disease for the same privileges. Everyone believes him sans Kyle, and high jinks ensues.

The episode wasn’t a complete letdown. Virtually every scene with Cartman and Kyle was hilarious, then Kyle being forced to apologize to Cartman for calling him a liar (despite Cartman admitting to Kyle in private that he was lying) was probably the pinnacle of the episode. Also, the scene at the therapy clinic with Kyle in complete dismay over the conditions of tourettes victims was funny in the sense Kyle was completely awe struck by some of their confessions was enjoyable.

Maybe I’m just out growing this show, because obviously this wasn’t targeted towards their older audience, but just listening to Cartman curse endlessly didn’t really do much for me. This series has always been about pushing boundaries, but they sort of already did this in the episode where they tallied how many times they said “shit”, just the premise was different. And really, explicit language is a part of every South Park episode nowadays, no need to pretend its still particularly funny or edgy, we’ve all been desensitized.

More Randy would be a great start.

Unfortunately, from the commercials I’ve seen for tonight’s episode, it doesn’t look much better. From what I can tell, it revolves around Randy and a abnormally large bowel movement. While I always enjoy the presence of Stan’s father, this just seems desperate, and like they’re running out of material. This might be a harsh sentiment after just one letdown episode. However, they seem to have been teetering on the brink of irrelevancy for a couple eight episode installments now. So, in the midst of their eleventh season, it has definitely been a good run, but maybe Parker and Stone are on their last legs.

Either way, we’re watching tonight, so I guess it doesn’t matter what our sentiments are. But still, after a season long hiatus, I was hoping for more effort. Like this.