Review: South Park ‘Where My Country Gone?’

 

Spoilers Below:

I can’t handle all of this continuity in South Park. Last season was the first time we ever saw it in the show’s history, and it appears to be back. They managed to make it work before, but can they do it again?

The episode began with Kyle being honored at the White House by President Obama for his speech about Caitlyn Jenner. Watching it at the bar, Mr. Garrison lamented on the over-openness of this country, specifically the abundance of Canadian immigrants that he thinks are ruining the nation. He snapped at some Canadian students at school the next day, and was punished by PC Principal. After confirming his stance by adopting the phrase “Fuck them all to death!”(#SorryNotSorry), Garrison was fired and began rallying for his anti-immigration cause. In response, Canada built a wall to keep Americans out, angering Garrison, who suddenly wanted to see what was on the other side.

Meanwhile, the kids attempted to diffuse the situation by getting Butters to date a Canadian student. While having dinner with the girl’s parents, Butters found out that the Canadians were only moving to America because they had a brash, obnoxious, idiotic (and obviously Trump-like) president that made life in Canada unbearable.

Mr. Garrison went over Niagara Falls in a barrel to see what our neighbors to the north were hiding, only to find a deserted wasteland. When he finally did find a living person – the Trump-esque president – he fucked him to death. Upon hearing the news, the Canadians returned home en masse.

Kyle started to make a speech about what we learned from the experience, but realized everyone was still pissed at him for preaching to them last time, and clammed up. Mr. Garrison then took off for Washington with his new running mate, Caitlyn Jenner.

In Case You Missed It:

1) At 8:11 a.m. every day, all Canadians face east and play Chuck Mangione.

2) The spelling of the Canadian teacher’s last name: Stkrdknmibalz.

3) “HEY, LESLIE, SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!”

4) Maple fever = Love of Canadians.

In a lot of ways, I feel the same way about this episode as I did about last week’s. They both took stances, but not especially extreme, surprising, or creatively-presented ones. Both were smart, but not brilliant. They both featured a topical plot with an even more topical story element added very recently (the clock kid situation.) And because they were a continuation, both involved Caitlyn Jenner.

This is basically what we can come to expect from contemporary South Park episodes. The show isn’t as frequently radical or bizarre as it used to be, but instead seems to take a more obvious point and shout it extremely loudly with a plot built around it. And that’s just fine. There are still some applause-worthy gems that tackle current issues head on, like last year’s “Cis” episode, but they don’t – and can’t – all be that way. It’s unsustainable. Hence the need for episodes like this, or completely non-topical, just-for-fun installments.

There was one surprise though (Editor’s Note: Apparently the Daily News thinks Trump’s rape was “shocking,” but fans know better) and it dealt with Jenner. I honestly didn’t expect the South Park guys to make her appear so hideous. Of course that’s a typical action taken by the series, but given the kid gloves that presented last week’s show, I was sort of shocked. Way to stick to your equal opportunity insults, SP!

As for the humor, like I’ve pointed out in previous reviews, it’s not always about the lines of dialogue constantly being funny, but a combination of some of that and the absurdity of the satire being presented as a whole. So while this episode wasn’t hilarious, it was funny enough overall. I am always amused when the show flips the tables to show us an opinion in a different light, and that was excellently executed last night.

It may not have been the edgiest, or the funniest, or weirdest South Park ever, but it was another solid entry into the show’s history books, and it represents back-to-back strong showings for season 19.

Oh, and South Park & The Simpsons are still the only shows that produce songs that make me laugh every time.