Review: South Park “The Scoots”

Scoot on over.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

E-scooters have invaded South Park and Mr. Mackey is NOT having it. At first, he tries to fix the problem himself, he gathers up the town’s scooters and sends them over the cliff, but somehow they survive and, worst yet, the kids want to use them to ramp up their trick-or-treating game. Instead of getting rid of the scooters, the town decides to just ramp up on the amount of candy all the houses should have and hope for the best. The phones are powered by the kids’ cell phones which means Kenny is the only one who can’t take part in the upgraded festivities because he’s too poor to own a phone.

Eventually, Kenny and Mr. Mackey realize they have a common enemy, the E-scooters, and decide to take matters into their own hands. The dynamic duo teams up to take down the local cell towers thereby rendering the scooters useless and leaving everyone to have to trick or treat the old-fashioned way.

Our Take

Despite the series taking place in LA, clearly, the producers at South Park are taking aim at the increasing amount of douchiness that has risen in today’s youth culture. Not unlike some of the issues brought up in the show’s stellar 19th season, this year, South Park has already taken aim at the increasing wave of political correctness and the rise of vaping as a viable means of feeling important. Likewise, “The Scoots” is an excellent purview on the rise of ride-sharing, more specifically, ride-sharing of motorized scooters in which to get around. Man buns, flannel, the uniform of the Starbucks scriptwriter just begging to Tweet something snarky so that you’ll find it in your heart to respond with some sort of acknowledgment. South Park, NAILS IT.

From a production standpoint, Mr. Mackey was a perfect option to have as the protagonist for the episode. Matt Groening has always taught his disciples lessons in character designs in that characters should be instantly recognizable by their silhouettes. This is true for Bart, Rick Sanchez, and certainly Mr. Mackey’s big head made for an excellent canvas in which to feature a night scene where he’s prancing around stealing scooters. The scene looked outstanding, as did the car chase scenes, the latter of which appeared to get a little extra attention in the animation department because they were really well done.

The originality of the episode, probably not the strong suit here. I saw a lot of similarities to that of “Night of the Living Homeless”, but really that’s a small gripe in what was otherwise a hilarious episode that should be enjoyed by all.