Season Review: South Park Season 21

Was there TOO MUCH South Park in 2017?

Its been an eclectic and bizarre season for South Park this year. In the last two seasons, we saw a move towards a more serialized form of storytelling, with expansive season-long arcs more reminiscent of an AMC drama than the episodic silliness South Park usually offers. But, it seems after two seasons of that experiment, South Park has decided to return to its roots, with episodes more absurd and random than anything else. Despite the good intentions of trying to “return to form” that seem to be present here, I think this has been a decision made for the worse, and, coupled with the rot of the show’s age, has resulted in one of the most lukewarm seasons of South Park I’ve seen to date.

South Park has developed, over its long, long run, a sort of satirical universe serving as the comedic shadow of reality. The world of South Park, through episodes like the “Imaginationland” saga and the last two seasons especially, has become vast and rich with its own form of world development. Recurring characters, running jokes, consistent themes are the bread and butter of why I think South Park has done so well for so long. It’s not about being funny, necessarily, it’s about the treat of seeing the “South Park treatment”; witnessing what the eccentric minds of series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone will corrupt real-world events into. So for me to say that this season of South Park hasn’t been terribly funny isn’t really getting to the point of what I think made this season fall short. The show’s comedy has never been that stellar, with some rare cases of comedic brilliance; for instance, “Scott Tenorman Must Die” revealing the grotesque hilarity of Eric Cartman’s psychopathy. The problem is that the show just feels weak; toothless; dare I say, boring? It doesn’t feel like South Park, it feels like a watered-down imitation of the show. It has its gross-out moments, like Randy making out with a homeless Native American man in “Holiday Special“, and its amusing twists, like the portrayal of an old folk home as a badass maximum security prison complete with its own drug trade. But none of it ever elevates above amusement, because it fails to obtain the shock value.

A good South Park joke hits you like a slap in the face or a punch in the stomach. One gasps at the horror and awe of watching a boy eat his own parents, or seeing Jesus with a machine gun mow terrorists down like an action hero. Its a subversive cocktail of trying not to laugh but desperately wanting to, a want that only serves to tickle your funny bone even more. But what happens when we simply aren’t surprised anymore? When you know what the twist is five minutes into the show, and everything goes exactly as expected? This isn’t to say that I think the writers have become lazy or cliched, but shows have a shelf life before they start to spoil, and much like The Simpsons, which has lost so much of its magic simply because its been around longer than the dinosaurs, South Park seems to have run out of juice.

I would also point out that the world has changed an immense amount in the past year or so. South Park is about viewing our world through the lens of madness, but I think real-world events have put South Park to shame. What can one parody when the world already feels like a parody of itself? What can South Park do other than put Mr. Garrison in the white house and be a complete madman? A development which feels less like a creative decision, but an attempt at real-world accuracy.

As for the more nitty gritty reasons why this season hits a down note, there is a distinct impression that the show is spreading itself too thin. Instead of focusing on and exploring one particular gag, we get multiple gags which don’t see enough development. Take “Hummels and Heroin”, for instance, where the whole episode is ham-stringed by the not-funny investigation into the Hummel trade by Marcus Preston, an unfunny newcomer who is never seen again and feels completely pointless. Furthermore, the classic dynamic of Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny has been completely dropped, and there hasn’t really been a suitable replacement to this structure, leaving the show feel rather inconsistent as well.

I adore South Park as the modern American satire. I’ve loved it for years, through its good and its bad, and I can’t help but point out that the show appears to be running out of steam. Perhaps the next season can bring us back to the glory days, but some serious revamping is needed if this show is to dust off its cobwebs and come out swinging. Better luck next time, South Park.