(S12E01) After a routine tonsillectomy goes horribly wrong, Cartman comes face to face with his own mortality.Season Twelve is out of the gate pretty strong. Unfortunately, it seemed to lose momentum towards the end.
Matt and Trey tackle the issue of AIDS...again (they have done so before, such as in the episode mocking Jared from the Subway commercials). They tend to present AIDS as a shock-value joke, but this time their take is slightly different.
Rather than the disease itself, the creators analyze the media treatment of AIDS. The disease has fallen out of favor and is not really in popular culture anymore. Perhaps it's because we better understand and can control the disease, or perhaps it's just an old hat. In either case, it's really not in the spotlight anymore.
I love the psychedelic style of the new intro. The music is the same, but I laughed at the silly angles in which the kids suddenly appeared to say their lines.
The "f" bomb is dropped a few times in this episode. "F**k your ice cream!" "F**k you, Jimmy Buffett!" This is nothing new for the series, but it was still very noticeable.
Butters kissing Cartman was a classic moment, as was Kyle's reaction to learning that Eric was HIV positive. What was up with the cap Cartman wore after he was diagnosed? There was a "P" on it. Was that a baseball reference? I don't think so, otherwise he wouldn't have been wearing a Rockies cap.
The episode was really strong and Cartman's revenge infection of Kyle was harsh (although very typical for his character). I definitely cringed on several occasions (such as the "I'm not just sure. I'm H.I.V. positive" that was beaten to death during the episode), but I found it funny overall. Until the ending.
I'm sorry. The ending was weak. It seemed like a miracle ending they pulled out of the air (which is usually a crutch for poor writing, something I usually don't find in South Park). I think Matt and Trey were saying that more money and attention needs to be given to AIDS in order to find the cure, but it seemed vague and unfocused.
Every seven episodes, Matt and Trey usually allocate one as the "generic" episode which they write and partially animate early on to give themselves a breather in the middle of the season. Due to the timeless nature of the premise (the media treatment of disease), I wonder if this was that episode.
Overall, a good show with some great one-liners. Sadly, it also had a weak ending. Despite that, I look forward to next week's new episode.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-13-2008 @ 1:15AM
Andy Grey said...
It was a reference to Philadelphia with Tom Hanks wearing the hat and clothes when he had AIDS
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3-13-2008 @ 1:18AM
Tom T said...
Pretty sure the ball cap was a reference to Tom Hanks in Philadelphia. The "P" is the Phillies logo.
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3-13-2008 @ 1:40AM
jake said...
i think the joke with the money was that the reason magic johnson has survived for so long is the fact that he has millions of dollars to pump into treatment. The joke was that anyone who has a lot of money can afford to live with aids, which is true. It was clever, but went over too many peoples heads to be really funny.
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3-13-2008 @ 2:04AM
Paul said...
My DVR cut off the last 5 seconds. What was after "and so to honor these boys..."?
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3-13-2008 @ 3:31AM
Rick said...
Jimmy Buffet preformed. Cartman explained how happy he is to be AIDS free to Kyle. After that Kyle decides to break his XBox anyways.
3-13-2008 @ 8:28AM
kip said...
He performed "Cureburger in paradise/ cureburger there I said it twice."
3-13-2008 @ 2:19AM
Blair Mitchelmore said...
I think the money cure, especially when considering the short scene in Africa, is all about how we, as first world nation inhabitants, are able to live with the disease, but the poorer third world nations, where most AIDS victims live, have no such luck because they don't have the wealth necessary to buy the AIDS medicines we use to cope with the disease.
It makes a lot of sense, it's just that the message was said without using a direct pointed speech at the end of the episode as they usually do.
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3-13-2008 @ 6:49AM
fred said...
Well, I didn't feel either that it was a weak ending, nor a miracle one for that matter. Of course it was about the way we in our advanced societies can go on and pretty much ignore AIDS, while people in Africa and such poor country just die every day.
I thought the idea that the cure for AIDS was just money was brilliant, and indeed that scene when the guy comes in his fat SUV all happy to tell people who can't even buy food or have water to just inject themselves with all their cash was hilarious!
This episode was awesome, and had me laughing all the way through!
http://tvoholic.com/episode-reviews/south-park-tonsil-trouble/
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3-13-2008 @ 11:17AM
Oreo said...
"I think Matt and Trey were saying that more money and attention needs to be given to AIDS in order to find the cure, but it seemed vague and unfocused."
You think? It was unfocused and vague? Were we watching the same show.
The point of the episode is if you have the money you will live, if you are poor AIDS will kill you. I thought that was so obvious that it brought the whole episode down a little.
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3-13-2008 @ 11:27AM
Joey S. said...
I agree. I think the point was that Magic Johnson continues to live because he has the money to pay for necessary treatment. Because he and other wealthy people can survive with HIV/AIDS, the media just kind of ignores it. Afterall, a disease is only as important as its impact on celebrities (sarcasm intended). Anyways, it was a very interesting message and with some great jokes. "Are you sure?" "I'm HIV positive."
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3-13-2008 @ 2:55PM
Dan said...
Honestly, I wasn't all that happy with this episode, it didn't really do it for me. I loved the beginning where Cartman has AIDS and Kyle laughs at it, and loved how Cartman injected Kyle, but the rest of the story was a little uncomfortable for me and didn't make me laugh that much. Especially the whole "It isn't funny" part, which felt more like Family Guy than South Park. It could have also been a commentary on the recent Las Vegas clinic problem where they gave people Hepatitis, but it didn't cause the normal South Park panic. All in all, I am happy to have South Park back, but hope the episodes are better than this one, which only had two or three laugh out loud moments for me.
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3-13-2008 @ 3:13PM
Peku said...
Wow, Kyle sure did look like an asshole in this episode.
Just 24 hours ago I thought that South Park wouldn't be returning until the summer (I thought I read that on Wiki), so I was pleasantly surprised to see a new episode out this morning.
"I'm/We're not just sure, I'm/we're HIV-positive" is the funniest line I've heard in a while and Kyle getting pissed off about AIDS not being funny was, along with Cartman giving him the disease, the high point of the episode for me. I just couldn't stop laughing during that bit, AIDS sure is funny...
Great episode. Yeah, the ending wasn't the strongest in the history of the show, but I can live with it.
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3-13-2008 @ 3:59PM
Bash said...
I don't get it. Why was the episode weak?
It was repetitive, that's all. I think we're getting used to very critical use of sarcasm by Matt and Trey that's all but still this episode was nowhere as weak as the ongoing "Brian loves Lois" BS episodes on "Family Guy" for instance. And the HIV-positive jokes were pushed to the limit so that Kyle could beat Eric later on when he can't stop that nonsense which was great too.
Anyway... when the Tsunami in Asia hit I gave money to the local AIDS benefit to give to people to Africa. In some countries 25% of the adult population is infected which dwarfs the 275,000 people who died in the Tsunami. The difference? Tourists died in the tsunami.
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3-14-2008 @ 3:58AM
Smiley said...
"when the Tsunami in Asia hit I gave money to the local AIDS benefit to give to people to Africa."
I'm sure the African dictator thanks you for his new gold-plated toilet seat cover.
3-13-2008 @ 4:04PM
ac said...
-The hat with the P is a reference to Tom Hanks in Philidelphia.
-The money cure like what everyone else said was saying that the rich can live their lives perfectly with the disease by throwing their money around for treatment. The poor villages in Africa however are screwed.
-I'm am more than sure about these 2 things. I'm HIV positive. It was a good episode and not a weak ending Brad, stop being so HIV negative!
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3-13-2008 @ 11:47PM
Stigmata said...
the proper term for miraculous events neatly tying up a seemingly unsolvable situation is called "deus ex machina".
and you call yourself a writer!
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3-14-2008 @ 10:28AM
MosquitoControl72 said...
I agree that it was a weak episode. It felt a bit unfocused and really never caught the usual South Park tone or energy.
My guess is that it was a rush job and that Trey never really got caught with a great idea. He kind of liked this one but didn't love it. Almost like he was probably working harder on something else at the time.
No big deal. South Park has episodes like this, although usually they don't focus around the boys, or the boys as much. Just low energy and low passion. Still entertaining.
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3-15-2008 @ 1:04AM
paul said...
I heard Cartman says the words "Even Stevens" which makes me thing "Hmmm..this episode script must have been sitting on the shelf since like 2000 or something"
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3-17-2008 @ 1:29PM
Quack said...
Cartman is emulating Tom Hanks from Philadelphia the movie.
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3-19-2008 @ 5:30PM
jack said...
For the record, the "P" is for Penn, as in University of Pennsylvania (the Ivy League school in Philly). Tom Hanks' character in Philadelphia went there for undergrad and law school, and he wears the hat of his alma mater.
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