Review: South Park ‘World War Zimmerman’

Spoilers Below

Cartman thinks that because Token is a black kid he is a threat to humanity. He comes to this realization because the poor kid keeps having horrific nightmares about an outbreak happening and black people everywhere pretty much mowing down everything in its path as a result of the Trayvon Martin case. He tries to play nice with Token, but after a school assembly gone awry Cartman flees school and heads home where he gears up to withstand any such aggression…by looking like Brad Pitt.

Cartman heads to the airport brandishing a hand gun which of course in America means you can get on any flight pretty when it’s ready to take off. He gets on a plane and once in the air he tells everybody on board about an outbreak which causes everyone to pretty much turn on the one black passenger and worst yet causes the plane to crash leaving only Cartman and this random lady alive.  While all of this is going on Mackey’s trying to make sure Token stays calm who oddly enough seems just fine. However, that may change because now the local news is looking for him and Butters knows just where to find him. Cartman heads to the gun store and buys a rifle with pretty much no background check in sight. Better yet, its here he learns about the ‘Stand Your Ground Law’ which allows you to shoot someone who may be threatening you. The law is in only a few states including Florida where George Zimmerman lives. Cartman hijacks and crashes yet another plane and sets out to kill George which should stop any sort of outbreak from happening.

Dressed in all black, Cartman heads to the Zimmerman household which pretty much seems like any other happy honky household. Problem is, the government gets to Zimmerman’s house first. Apparently, ‘Big Brother’ wants Zimmerman to kill Token, but he ends up shooting a black-faced Cartman instead. However, when the government discovers Cartman is white, Zimmerman gets the electric chair which gets everybody off the hook of any sort of outbreak. Back at South Park, Cartman meets up with Token, but weirdly enough Eric draws a circle on the ground and stands inside of it. Cartman tries to resolve his differences with Token by offering up a bro-fist pump, but when Token takes the bait he gets shot by Cartman. Thankfully, Token is OK, but the school is still weary about another outbreak.

I’ve never seen World War Z, but I have heard good things so I’m not sure if I’m missing any obvious story over laps and if I am I apologize. However, this week’s South Park was a bit TOO obvious, and these episodes I don’t particularly care for. Don’t get me wrong, I felt the outrage following the Zimmerman case was so over blown so in that respect, I agree with the show’s writers. However, any South Park where you aren’t completely surprised isn’t a great week of South Park. Just with the episode title alone, I was able to discern that Zimmerman and the movie World War Z were the back bones of this episode. With that I was pretty much expecting a sort of merging of both ideas which yes provided for hysterical ideas (like the mountain of black people climbing the walls).

Similar to last year’s Honey Boo Boo episode, I felt this week’s episode of South Park was TOO expecting and blatantly obvious. The really, really good episodes of South Park are the ones where Matt Stone and Trey Parker walk you down an unbeaten path and smacks you in the side of the head with a shovel. ‘World War Zimmerman’ just doesn’t have the punch…