[7.0/10] This is kind of a surreal episode to watch after finishing the Leaving Neverland documentary. In a lot of ways, the episode feels almost quaint. South Park gets in its usual brand of celebrity digs -- making fun of Michael Jackson’s musical tics and his plastic surgery and use of the word “ignorant.” But at the end of the day, its big criticism of him is that by acting like a child he neglects his own child.
It’s...honestly a kind of compelling story. The actual take on Jackson feels kind of toothless given the stories told by the subjects of Leaving Neverland, and while the critique is meant to be searing, the “MJ’s a bad dad” stuff gets kind of lost in the usual South Park comic exaggeration. But the other side of the coin is that Blanket’s story is really sad, and as outsized as the show plays Wacko Jacko’s idiosyncrasies, it plays Blanket’s sadness and neglect surprisingly straight. There’s an unassuming bit of heart of South Park sometimes, and making Kyle’s sympathy for and connection with Blanket genuine puts it on display.
(I will say that Cartman becoming a jealous sycophant to Jackson once he realizes it means toys and games and rides is a good bit, and has at least a bit of bite to it.)
The B-story feels equally quaint in some ways. There’s a certain degree of nice comic satire to an ostensibly dedicated, by the book veteran of the police force doubting himself because it turns out the rich guy they’re trying to frame isn’t actually black. It works in concert with the A-story as a dig at people ready to defend celebrities like Michael and OJ and Kobe as just being swept up in a cop conspiracy. But this bit also plays differently in 2019, when our culture has shown a spotlight on police shootings involving young and not necessarily affluent young black men (something South Park itself would address a decade later). That makes some of this material more uncomfortable in its satire than it did in 2004.
Overall, this is just a weird episode to revisit, one I confess that I don’t really know how to rate. (Hence the neutral 7-point score.) The central point about parental responsibility is sound, and there’s some genuine pathos for Blanket here, but some of the comedy plays very weirdly given the events that have transpired, or been uncovered, in the decade and a half since it first aired.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2019-03-15T19:40:18Z
[7.0/10] This is kind of a surreal episode to watch after finishing the Leaving Neverland documentary. In a lot of ways, the episode feels almost quaint. South Park gets in its usual brand of celebrity digs -- making fun of Michael Jackson’s musical tics and his plastic surgery and use of the word “ignorant.” But at the end of the day, its big criticism of him is that by acting like a child he neglects his own child.
It’s...honestly a kind of compelling story. The actual take on Jackson feels kind of toothless given the stories told by the subjects of Leaving Neverland, and while the critique is meant to be searing, the “MJ’s a bad dad” stuff gets kind of lost in the usual South Park comic exaggeration. But the other side of the coin is that Blanket’s story is really sad, and as outsized as the show plays Wacko Jacko’s idiosyncrasies, it plays Blanket’s sadness and neglect surprisingly straight. There’s an unassuming bit of heart of South Park sometimes, and making Kyle’s sympathy for and connection with Blanket genuine puts it on display.
(I will say that Cartman becoming a jealous sycophant to Jackson once he realizes it means toys and games and rides is a good bit, and has at least a bit of bite to it.)
The B-story feels equally quaint in some ways. There’s a certain degree of nice comic satire to an ostensibly dedicated, by the book veteran of the police force doubting himself because it turns out the rich guy they’re trying to frame isn’t actually black. It works in concert with the A-story as a dig at people ready to defend celebrities like Michael and OJ and Kobe as just being swept up in a cop conspiracy. But this bit also plays differently in 2019, when our culture has shown a spotlight on police shootings involving young and not necessarily affluent young black men (something South Park itself would address a decade later). That makes some of this material more uncomfortable in its satire than it did in 2004.
Overall, this is just a weird episode to revisit, one I confess that I don’t really know how to rate. (Hence the neutral 7-point score.) The central point about parental responsibility is sound, and there’s some genuine pathos for Blanket here, but some of the comedy plays very weirdly given the events that have transpired, or been uncovered, in the decade and a half since it first aired.