Review: South Park “Back to the Cold War”

Overview

Nineties nostalgia was all of the rage the last three years, maybe because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, culture will pine for the days of the 1980s. That’s exactly what happens when Mr. Mackey hears about shit going down in Ukraine and opts to launch an investigation into one of the most dangerous equine events known to mankind…dressage.

That’s right, Leopold Butters Scotch is in a dressage competition with the new Russian family in town, however, Butter’s horse is more occupied with fucking the Russian horse than anything else. Naturally, Stephen Scotch and Mackey get a little too inspired by eighties pop culture and attempt to launch an operation that gains the attention of the local military officials. Fortunately, crises are averted but how long will Mr. Mackey go with his keyboard necktie.

Our Take

I would’ve preferred a soundtrack that was a little more eighties hard rock or heavy metal, but other than that, this week’s episode of South Park was ridiculous. Featuring all sorts of horse porn, a dancing Vladmir Putin, and enough eighties action show send ups to shake a stick at, South Park is exactly how you would imagine Matt Stone and Trey Parker to handle such a fragile point in World History.

One of the things I’m really beginning to enjoy is the show’s introduction of new settings and characters over these last few weeks. With Tolkien’s family moving across the street from the Marshes, Cartman living in a hot dog, and now the introduction of a Russian family, the show is continuing to set it’s chess pieces for future conquests. Moreover, characters like Stephen Scotch and Mackey have replaced Randy as the “adult dealing adult issues” character-type that the show relies on when looking to have an episode focus less on the kids. Mackey and his mother offer a slew of possibilities, but I think the Scotches are the funnier option and it continues the potential for any father-son disagreements there may be between Stephen and Butters much in the same way Randy often went at odds with Stan making for hilarious back-and-forth between the duo (in fact, I’m surprised that Butters wasn’t super grounded this week).

I initially thought that Mr. Mackey’s voice was beginning to change at the start of the season as Trey Parker has noted in some interviews that some voices like Cartman get more difficult to portray as he gets older, however, this week I didn’t really notice any changes. If anything, if the voices were to start to change, I would be fine with it. Trey Parker gets nowhere near the respect he deserves as a voice actor, same goes with Matt Stone, South Park continues to be underrated. If this episode doesn’t continue Russia’s war against network 2×2 for airing South Park, I don’t know what will.