8.8/10. As I noted in my write-up for last season's "Tweek x Craig," there's an odd streak of sentimentality that South Park has picked up in its old age. Once the show of nothing but irreverent adventures and crude humor coupled with social commentary, more and more the show is digging into little scenes, half earnest and half tongue-in-cheek, about people connecting with one another, or showing real emotion in the process.
That only makes it a little less weird to be mildly touched by Cartman bonding with Heidi Turner in "The Damned." The show doubles down on its "social media as your whole life" conceit from last week, making both Heidi and Cartman the equivalent of ghosts, unseen and apart from the rest of the world, as they've been broken off from the online community. The solemn tones about what it means to not have "followers" and about whether "this life ever gets easier" are amusing on the one hand because of the (intended) ridiculousness of the two of them being surrounded by people at the park, trying to wean themselves off social media by engaging in the sorts of social interactions considered normal for decades (and the people pitying them for their loneliness while keeping their faces buried in their phones is a nice touch in that regard). But there's also something a little endearing, maybe even poignant, about these two people who have essentially become outcasts in their society finding solace in one another and comfort in their new way of life.
There's also an odd bit of sentiment in the conversations between Stan and Randy, and between Randy and Butters's dad, about how "things just suck now." Those scenes are Trey Parker and Matt Stone tapping into a very real sentiment among Americans today, who see the country as so divided, and like Randy, wonder how things got this way. Of course, this being South Park, signs point to some global conspiracy involving talking fruit, but still. It's not quite the melancholy of "You're Getting Old," but the show captures a certain feeling of hopelessness and helplessness in the country right now, where our nation is asking itself if things have become too polarized in the United States and if there's anything that can be done to bridge the gaps that divide us.
Much of this sentiment, and the comedy of the episode, lands because of the great vocal performance from Trey Parker within it. Considering how many of the show's major characters Parker plays, it's hard to avoid giving him a great deal of credit for that part of the show's success on a weekly basis, but he does particularly tremendous work here. He sells Cartman's detached but quietly smoldering pain and the comfort of his connection with Heidi (and Parker's delivery of "ho-ly shit" at the end of the episode cracked me up). He sells Stan's despondency at cops and Cartman and the sense everyone's being divvied up into groups. And he sells Randy's anger at the other side of the divide his ensuing confusion when he finds his own loyalties flipping.
And above all, Parker's performance is the linchpin that makes the Mr. Garrison-as-Trump story work. The whole idea is inspired, with Garrison opening the debates by straightforwardly admitting that he didn’t think he would make it this far, that he shouldn’t be President, and that everyone should vote for his opponent, only for Hillary to be too prepared to call him a liar, and the public too enamored with his honesty, for the gesture to actually lose him any support. It’s a great parody of the sense, true or false, that this whole thing was just a lark for Trump that got out of hand, and he doesn’t actually want to be President, but also sharply satiritizes the idea that people appreciate his demeanor and the fact that he’s not like a regular politician, regardless of what he says, by taking that idea to an absurd extreme.
But Parker-as-Garrison takes a premise that would work regardless and makes it soar. His absolute exasperation at his failing attempts to give the election away, his ruefully-expressed contempt for everyone who continues to support him, his defeated tone when he says all these things knowing that they’re not having any effect on his poll numbers, are all delightful and hilarious in their own way. The voice acting is an underrated part of what makes South Park successful, and Trey Parker puts on a clinic in a variety of roles here.
The Trump parody material, however, connects to the bigger theme of the episode and potentially the season – an exploration of whether the things we say, particularly the more hurtful or extreme things, matter. Last week’s episode dealt with this divide, contrasting the way the media and the town treated the prospect of a troll with a grave sense of concern, while Gerald basically saw trolling as just harmless fun. And yet Gerald himself had to take it seriously to some degree, because he revels in and seeks out the public attention skankhunt42 receives, even bragging about it to his son.
Here, however, Gerald sees that his actions are perhaps not so harmless after all. After he once again brags to Ike that Ms. Olengard said she was untrollable and yet he is besting her, he has a moment of shock and panic when his actions lead to her actually committing suicide. Who knows how much of it is guilt and how much of it is a simple attempt at self-preservation, but he freaks out in a bathroom stall, and after some cryptic messages are left for him, deletes all evidence of his online extracurricular activities. Gerald is realizing that his actions really do have consequences, and it makes for an interesting contrast with the local cops wasting their time on investigating why Cartman left social media (with some amusing jabs about how people typically make a huge deal out of that). It's an interesting exploration of the two big trolls in the episode: Gerald and Mr. Garrison, being scared at the thought of what they imagined to be harmless blustering having serious effects in the real world.
Despite the fact that much more is set up than resolved in "The Damned" (the member berry farm, the Danish troll retaliation, the mysterious notes), there’s so much potent comedy and commentary here that it can’t help but stand out as a great installment of the show in this young season. The episode hits a lots of targets here -- social media, trolling, division in the country, the Presidential race – but it’s examining them through the lens of its individual characters, and exploring the effect it has on everyday people, in a way that makes it hard not to feel for these often deranged construction paper cutout characters, and that’s an achievement in and of itself.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-09-29T15:01:00Z
8.8/10. As I noted in my write-up for last season's "Tweek x Craig," there's an odd streak of sentimentality that South Park has picked up in its old age. Once the show of nothing but irreverent adventures and crude humor coupled with social commentary, more and more the show is digging into little scenes, half earnest and half tongue-in-cheek, about people connecting with one another, or showing real emotion in the process.
That only makes it a little less weird to be mildly touched by Cartman bonding with Heidi Turner in "The Damned." The show doubles down on its "social media as your whole life" conceit from last week, making both Heidi and Cartman the equivalent of ghosts, unseen and apart from the rest of the world, as they've been broken off from the online community. The solemn tones about what it means to not have "followers" and about whether "this life ever gets easier" are amusing on the one hand because of the (intended) ridiculousness of the two of them being surrounded by people at the park, trying to wean themselves off social media by engaging in the sorts of social interactions considered normal for decades (and the people pitying them for their loneliness while keeping their faces buried in their phones is a nice touch in that regard). But there's also something a little endearing, maybe even poignant, about these two people who have essentially become outcasts in their society finding solace in one another and comfort in their new way of life.
There's also an odd bit of sentiment in the conversations between Stan and Randy, and between Randy and Butters's dad, about how "things just suck now." Those scenes are Trey Parker and Matt Stone tapping into a very real sentiment among Americans today, who see the country as so divided, and like Randy, wonder how things got this way. Of course, this being South Park, signs point to some global conspiracy involving talking fruit, but still. It's not quite the melancholy of "You're Getting Old," but the show captures a certain feeling of hopelessness and helplessness in the country right now, where our nation is asking itself if things have become too polarized in the United States and if there's anything that can be done to bridge the gaps that divide us.
Much of this sentiment, and the comedy of the episode, lands because of the great vocal performance from Trey Parker within it. Considering how many of the show's major characters Parker plays, it's hard to avoid giving him a great deal of credit for that part of the show's success on a weekly basis, but he does particularly tremendous work here. He sells Cartman's detached but quietly smoldering pain and the comfort of his connection with Heidi (and Parker's delivery of "ho-ly shit" at the end of the episode cracked me up). He sells Stan's despondency at cops and Cartman and the sense everyone's being divvied up into groups. And he sells Randy's anger at the other side of the divide his ensuing confusion when he finds his own loyalties flipping.
And above all, Parker's performance is the linchpin that makes the Mr. Garrison-as-Trump story work. The whole idea is inspired, with Garrison opening the debates by straightforwardly admitting that he didn’t think he would make it this far, that he shouldn’t be President, and that everyone should vote for his opponent, only for Hillary to be too prepared to call him a liar, and the public too enamored with his honesty, for the gesture to actually lose him any support. It’s a great parody of the sense, true or false, that this whole thing was just a lark for Trump that got out of hand, and he doesn’t actually want to be President, but also sharply satiritizes the idea that people appreciate his demeanor and the fact that he’s not like a regular politician, regardless of what he says, by taking that idea to an absurd extreme.
But Parker-as-Garrison takes a premise that would work regardless and makes it soar. His absolute exasperation at his failing attempts to give the election away, his ruefully-expressed contempt for everyone who continues to support him, his defeated tone when he says all these things knowing that they’re not having any effect on his poll numbers, are all delightful and hilarious in their own way. The voice acting is an underrated part of what makes South Park successful, and Trey Parker puts on a clinic in a variety of roles here.
The Trump parody material, however, connects to the bigger theme of the episode and potentially the season – an exploration of whether the things we say, particularly the more hurtful or extreme things, matter. Last week’s episode dealt with this divide, contrasting the way the media and the town treated the prospect of a troll with a grave sense of concern, while Gerald basically saw trolling as just harmless fun. And yet Gerald himself had to take it seriously to some degree, because he revels in and seeks out the public attention skankhunt42 receives, even bragging about it to his son.
Here, however, Gerald sees that his actions are perhaps not so harmless after all. After he once again brags to Ike that Ms. Olengard said she was untrollable and yet he is besting her, he has a moment of shock and panic when his actions lead to her actually committing suicide. Who knows how much of it is guilt and how much of it is a simple attempt at self-preservation, but he freaks out in a bathroom stall, and after some cryptic messages are left for him, deletes all evidence of his online extracurricular activities. Gerald is realizing that his actions really do have consequences, and it makes for an interesting contrast with the local cops wasting their time on investigating why Cartman left social media (with some amusing jabs about how people typically make a huge deal out of that). It's an interesting exploration of the two big trolls in the episode: Gerald and Mr. Garrison, being scared at the thought of what they imagined to be harmless blustering having serious effects in the real world.
Despite the fact that much more is set up than resolved in "The Damned" (the member berry farm, the Danish troll retaliation, the mysterious notes), there’s so much potent comedy and commentary here that it can’t help but stand out as a great installment of the show in this young season. The episode hits a lots of targets here -- social media, trolling, division in the country, the Presidential race – but it’s examining them through the lens of its individual characters, and exploring the effect it has on everyday people, in a way that makes it hard not to feel for these often deranged construction paper cutout characters, and that’s an achievement in and of itself.