Review: South Park “Moss Piglets”

It’s a Jimmy and Timmy episode! With science!

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Jimmy’s oft-recurring nemesis, Nathan, is back with his cohort, Mimsy. This time, they’re scheming to win the science fair with a baking soda volcano that will “get them bitches”, because girls love the kids who win the school science fair, after all. Meanwhile, Cartman’s social experiment on Heidi, feeding her gluttonous fast food disguised as healthy vegan food, has turned Heidi into something of a female Cartman. She’s fat, foul-mouthed and giving Cartman a run for his money as the resident jerk of South Park.

Nathan convinced that he’s got the science fair blue ribbon locked down, goes to mock Jimmy and Timmy for their science experiment. Unfortunately for Nathan, however, it turns out that Timmy and Jimmy have been training “Water Bears”, a scientifically fascinating resilient microbe. Nathan panics, realizing his volcano stands no chance. He tries to sabotage Jimmy’s experiment but killing his water bears.

Heidi, after berating Mr. Mackey for his concern about her health, is forced to be a judge for the aforementioned science fair. More and more, Heidi becomes more Cartman-like; she makes fun of her friends, calls them poor, and offers that wonderful Cartman-brand outrage we all know and love. The two form a united front of horrible selfishness that even starts to weird Cartman out, as Heidi becomes a monster more terrible than Cartman could imagine.

Nathan’s plan backfires as he learns that his plan to poison the water bears has actually mutated them into a smarter form that can do the hokey pokey. Their experiments, in a twist of fate, attract the eye of the US government, who sends in secret agents to support Jimmy and Timmy’s experiment, which they believe may help save mankind.

Heidi’s power grows even stronger, her ability to follow through on her plans declares that she will have the school cut the special ed science fair program, or she will get the school faculty fired for discrimination. Her threat puts even PC Principal on edge.

The saga of Jimmy and Timmy takes another turn for the bizarre, as the agents supporting them reveal themselves to be working not for the US government, but for the NFL, in a hair-brained scheme to train water bears to football fans, who are losing interest in the sport.

But just as the science fair is about to make a breakthrough in training the water bears, Heidi and Mr. Mackey show up to shut down the science fair. The NFL agents respond by holding everyone at the science fair hostage until they complete their work, which provokes Heidi and Cartman into a fight. Cartman tries to protest Heidi’s craziness, but she shuts him down decisively.

In desperate anger, Heidi steals the water bears, getting the whole school to chase after her. The NFL agents try to talk her down with an appeal to her humanity, but Heidi puts their expectations to shame by chugging the semi-sentient water bears. The episode ends with Heidi torturing a battered Cartman with an obsessive snuggle, and the NFL deciding to use Nathan’s baking soda volcano to save football.

Our Take:

This is, without a doubt, the most entertaining episode of the season. While many of the other episodes of this season have gotten bogged down with their weird concepts, “Moss Piglets” is a return to form. We have an amusing character comedy, with Nathan’s scheming and Heidi’s transformation into the new Cartman, combined with an oddball bit of pop culture that gives us plenty of opportunities for witty humor. It’s always fun to see these episodes where even Cartman can’t handle what’s going on, and Heidi provides a hilarious turnabout to the last few episodes about their insane relationship troubles. Really happy to see this come out, let’s hope South Park can finish strong with the next two episodes.