25x03 City People

[6.8/10] Well, we’re getting there. This isn’t the most piercing satire of gentrification or of “city people” moving out to small towns, but it has at least a little bite. We keep running into the problem of the show running jokes into the ground. Having the titular city dweller act like chickens and speak in one-word mentions of trendy stuff like cortados and lacroix is mildly amusing, but they just hammer it and hammer it. And god I’m city of the City Wok guy’s mispronunciations.

That said, the show taking aim at mild targets like real estate agents is more amusing. The digs that it’s all about image are, again, not the most clever or incisive observation about the industry. But people leaning back for photos until they crack vertebrae is an exercise in amusing absurdity.

Mostly though, I appreciate the ridiculous back-and-forth between Cartman and his mom. Cartman’s shtick of selling his neighbors’ homes and driving up prices just to get back at his mom is a classic Cartman ploy. I appreciate the psychological throughline of the whole thing, where deep down Cartman just wants him to be his mom’s one and only job. I like the fact that this elaborate scheme gets him back what he thinks he wants, but at the cost of having to move into a little hotdog shack. It works as both a “Be careful what you wish for” type lesson and a commentary on the impact of “city people” moving to smaller towns and changing local economics in one fell swoop. It comes late, but it’s a great cinch to the episode.

Overall, there’s not a ton of laughs in this one, but there’s some! And it feels more focused and clever than the other two installments so far this season, so hopefully they’re righting the ship.