25x05 Help, My Teenager Hates Me!

[7.9/10] This was a lot of fun! The critiques of teenagers are obviously pretty on the nose (see: the use of “bruh) but also funny. I especially appreciate the humor of the four boys having to parent the teenagers, in an amusing flip. I don’t know how old the writers’ kids are, but there seems to be some lived-in flavor to these gripes about the poor bundles of hormones and growing up that are teenage boys.

There's some neat artistic choices in this one, like the decision to show the airsoft rifle competition like a FPS game. I also appreciate the homages to some early aspects of the show, like Stan’s dog and the return of renowned gun nut Uncle Jimbo as a ringer for the dad squad.

Honestly though, I really liked the emotional trajectory of this one. There’s something about the boys just wanting to enjoy this really fun thing they just got into, only to have it ruined by the sullen, ungovernable young adults they’ve somehow been put in charge of. The fact that their dads come in to save the day armed to the teeth with airsoft weapons is a little fractured, but also weirdly sweet, especially when it means the boys go back to having the time of their lives again.

This one does seem a touch indebted to the paintball episode of King of the Hill from friend-of-the-show Mike Judge. But it’s been years and there are worse blueprints to pull from. Putting the South Park perspective on unruly teenagers, mixed with the topsy turvy humor of fourth grades having to manage them, is a winning recipe. More like this one, I say!