Last night marked the end of the 13th season of South Park. While not the best season ever, it was certainly the best in the past couple of years. Click through to read a short review of each episode from this season.
Episode 1: “The Ring”
Original Air Date: March 11, 2009
Score: 9/10
Marking the start of the season, “The Ring” examined the Jonas Bros. and how Disney used them to sell sex to pre-teen girls. Portraying Mickey as an evil dictator-like leader that set Disney’s plans in motion, this episode was overall extremely funny. Touching on abstinence-only sex education and the ineffectiveness of purity rings, “The Ring” was a great opening to the season. Repeat viewings remain hilarious.
Episode 2: “The Coon”
Original Air Date: March 18, 2009
Score: 7.5/10
Released only a couple of short weeks after Watchmen was released out into theaters, “The Coon” follows Cartman in his attempts to rid South Park of crime. His intentions are cut short by Mysterion, a mysterious crime fighter who seems to be garnering all of the crime-fighting attention. The timing of this episode added to its comedy, given its proximity to Watchmen being released. Christian Bale’s scraggly Batman voice is portrayed perfectly by Cartman, and the opening scene mirrors Watchmen perfectly. Overall, a decent episode, however repeat viewings sour quickly as this is one of the more “serious” episodes.
Episode 3: “Margaritaville”
Original Air Date: March 25, 2009
Score: 8/10
Stan receives a $100 gift from his grandmother and takes it to a bank to invest it. In a parody of the economic climate of the time, his investment is lost almost instantly. Over the course of the episode, the economy collapses and people begin referring to it as a living entity. There are many small subplots and side scenes in this episode, yet somehow it still feels all tied together. There are some scenes of great comedy, such as using a decapitated chicken to decide what to do about the situation. Repeat viewings hold up well, although as the economy has recovered it is a bit difficult to get back in the frame of mind.
Episode 4: “Eat, Pray, Queef”
Original Air Date: April 1, 2009
Score: 10/10
This episode is hilarious based on its storyline alone, never mind the (admittedly childish) humor displayed throughout. Randy and Stan attempt to get queefing banned in South Park, while Terrance and Phillip get knocked off the air by a new Canadian hit series, “The Queef Sisters”. I’m not going to ruin what is quite possibly the funniest moment in all of South Park, so all I will say is this: Road Warrior.
Episode 5: “Fishsticks”
Original Air Date: April 8, 2009
Score: 9/10
Jimmy comes up with the funniest joke in history while Cartman tries to steal the credit. Kanye West fails to understand it, however, and thinks everyone is calling him a gay fish. Much of the episode is spent by West investigating who came up with it, as the joke spreads like wildfire across late night television. The whole episode is capped off with a hilarious parody of a Kanye West song. This episode is great during repeat viewings, and is just as funny the 10th time as it was the first time.
Episode 6: “Pinewood Derby”
Original Air Date: April 15, 2009
Score: 6.5/10
Randy assists Stan in cheating during a pinewood derby race, accidentally discovering alien life in the process. The citizens of South Park come across “space cash” and proceed to negotiate with the rest of the world on how to distribute and use it. This episode felt a bit like filler, almost as if Parker and Stone just couldn’t find anything interesting enough in the news or pop culture to make an episode about. Decent on its first viewing, repeated viewings bring out the flaws, and get less entertaining each time.
Episode 7: “Fatbeard”
Original Air Date: April 22, 2009
Score: 8/10
In this mid-season finale, Cartman mistakes the piracy in Somalia for classic swashbucklers, and misleads some of the kids to head on over to Mogadishu. Depicting the Somalian pirates in a relatively sympathetic manner, this episode generated a fair amount of controversy. As a great conclusion to the first half of the season, Fatbeard holds up well to repeat viewings.
Episode 8: “Dead Celebrities”
Original Air Date: October 7, 2009
Score: 8.5/10
In this premiere of the second half of the season, Ike sees dead celebrities. Billy Mays, Farrah Fawcett, David Carradine, Patrick Swayze, and more make appearances in this episode, although Billy Mays is the primary celebrity that gets focused on. He promotes “Chipotl-away”, which is designed to clean blood out of underwear from people that have eaten at Chipotle. Repeat viewings of this episode are highly enjoyable, as you always seem to notice a new dead celebrity each time. And yes, Michael Jackson (South Park style) also plays a pivotal role in this episode.
Episode 9: “Butters’ Bottom Bitch”
Original Air Date: October 14, 2009
Score: 8/10
Butters buys his first kiss, and decides to open up a “kissing company”. He quickly becomes a pimp, emulating their behavior and style of dress. His troupe ends up visiting a local ACORN office in the hopes of finding low-income housing (making fun of the sting operation that took place earlier this year in an ACORN office). There is also a side-story of a cop going undercover as a prostitute. Repeat viewings are decent, although the first time is certainly the best.
Episode 10: “W.T.F”
Original Air Date: October 21, 2009
Score: 8/10
The boys go to a WWE wrestling event, and get inspired to start their own backyard wrestling group. Focusing more on the drama between wrestlers as opposed to actual wrestling, this episode does a good job exploring how modern day wrestling is more like a soap opera/play rather than a sport. The highlight of this episode is a return to the “they took yer jerb!” line that originally appeared in the Season 8 episode “Goobacks”. Repeat viewings are decent enough, although rapid-fire repeat viewings would likely be too much.
Episode 11: “Whale Whores”
Original Air Date: October 28, 2009
Score: 8.5/10
Exploring Japanese attitudes towards whaling and skewering the show Whale Wars, this episode is quite well done. Cartman’s rendition of the song “Poker Face” is by far the highlight, and by demand Parker and Stone even recorded a full-length version of Cartman singing the whole song. Repeat viewings are rewarding, with Cartman’s singing and a certain repeated line from the Japanese keeping their hilarity no matter how many times you hear them.
Episode 12: “The F Word”
Original Air Date: November 4, 2009
Score: 8/10
Exploring how a derogatory term gained its modern day usage, the boys attempt to get its official definition changed to refer to bikers with loud Harleys. There isn’t much to talk about in this episode, but it was quite entertaining. Repeat viewings maintain the funny, although there are portions of it that can be a bit slow at times. I personally was disappointed that they didn’t cover Gordon Ramsey, given the title of the episode.
Episode 13: “Dances with Smurfs”
Original Air Date: November 11, 2009
Score: 9.5/10
Cartman takes over the morning announcements at school, and essentially becomes Glenn Beck. He proceeds to lead a crusade against Wendy, culminating in releasing a DVD called Dances with Smurfs. This episode was spot on with its portrayal of modern day political commentators, and did a great job of slowly transforming Cartman into Beck over the course of the episode. Repeat viewings are just as hilarious, although if you aren’t familiar with Glenn Beck this episode will mostly fly over your head.
Episode 14: “Pee”
Original Air Date: November 18, 2009
Score: 8.5/10
As the season finale, Pee follows the boys as they visit Pi Pi’s water park. The owner is warned that if one more person pees in the pool, disaster will ensue. Spoofing the disaster film genre, Pee was overall a fairly funny episode. In a season without many gross-out episodes, Pee serves as the nastiest out of an otherwise rather tame season. Repeat viewings are unknown, seeing as it was aired just last night, but I think it will likely have decent staying power.
Overall, the 13th Season of South Park was decent. There were some memorable (“Fishsticks”) and not-so-memorable (“Pinewood Derby”) episodes, but it was still enjoyable. I look forward to the 14th season; I can’t WAIT to see what they come up with next.
Average Score for the Season: 8.4
I lately came across your blog and have been learning along. I thought I would leave my first remark.
Southpark is quite funny but some of the scenes maybe a bit too morbid even for adults.”‘.
south park is quite violent sometimes but still it is a great cartoon:;~