Thoughts on South Park Season 20

[Merced]

Season 20 of South Park ended last night and boy oh boy, do I have some thoughts on it. Never have I felt so underwhelmed by something that had such a strong start.

I was part of the people ranting and raving about how a single narrative is fantastic for the show, but this is probably the worst outcome yet. I preferred the way it was handled in season 18, where the consequences of the previous episode carried over, but it was still episodic. What an awful feeling... other than the trolling subplot (which quickly became a mainplot), nothing got resolved. Girls v Boys, Memberberries, PC bros, Cartman... none of it was properly handled. Apparently it was because the writers didn't think Trump would win the election, but damn... I feel like the episodes could've still be handled properly.

I know that Hillary's election was supposed to propel the Girls v Boys plot with Heidi being Cartman's puppet. So many loose ends. I hope they release info on the original plot.

What's your thoughts?

 

[Kephalos]

Sadly, I think South Park's best days are way behind it.

 

[Cellmold]

It was a mess.

They tried to represent an attitude of returning (or longing for a return) to something based in mindless nostalgia through the member berries, but it seems reality may have been quicker to the punch.

The same thing with the online vs offline personas with the trolling & what they might think of as a harsh reality about people's natures (e.g. the discrepancy between what we see ourselves and others as and the reality of how we really act in our reliance on external rules plus social shame to keep us on some straight and socially acceptable path).

This was linked into issues between men and women, men viewing women as manipulative, but desirable sirens who can only lure men to their doom and women viewing men as lying brutes who can only take what they want and then move on covertly to other pastures.

The only conclusion from the end is that reality, as we collectively hunch, is generally unsatisfactory and undesirable, so the old stickler of replacing uncomfortable truths with relaxing lies and what we want to believe wins through.

Perhaps ignorance is meant to be our answer to the difficulty of knowledge? Despite not being able to undo the uncomfortable knowledge that has been seen.

Or they were just fucking around as usual, whatever you'll buy it!

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

I haven't really watched the show since 2012

 

[Cellmold]

I haven't really watched the show since 2012

It's flopping weiners all the way down I'm afraid.

 

[Bush]

Serialization enables Matt and Trey to do two things that they're very bad at: tying up loose ends and running too far with jokes. Thankfully, it looks like they're done with serialization.

The previous two seasons were much, much worse with respect to unresolved plot threads, hurriedly tied together in a way that didn't make sense. Season 19 and ads and gentrification? Well, a throwaway line about how ads are gentrification. Oh, okay; that explains it all. (Then again, 19's finale did give us the wonderful checking privilege and taking names scene.) Season 18's finale was even more garbage because its joke was that the final punchline was underwhelming.

This season's finale did a decent job at tying up all the loose ends, just by connecting everything together as "energy." Because energy is abstract enough to work -- the momentum of hatred, power to go to Mars, Internet just running on electricity, etc. (But they missed the chance to say that they "rebooted" the Internet ) Trump's win threw a monkey wrench in that rocked the boat for an episode or two, but in the end Garrison as President does work so, so goddamn well.

Overall, they also could've done themselves a service by not giving themselves so many loose ends to have to tie together.

But running things into the ground? Going to Mars went from a one-liner to a whole plot in and of itself. So did Randy as Lorde in 18. And in 19, I was hoping that Leslie's "inability to shut up" was just going to stay a running joke about PC Principal's bullying, but they amped it to 11 and made her a sentient ad. Even in 17, they did a three-parter that parodied Game of Thrones, which meant that a third of the season was fully dedicated to a reference that I didn't understand. Usually, even the two-parters in previous seasons feel too stretched out to me. With 10-parters, it's difficult to tell one episode from another.

And their episode-to-episode cliffhangers don't work. At all.

That said, I've been a fan of the show since Season 2, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

I know that Hillary's election was supposed to propel the Girls v Boys plot with Heidi being Cartman's puppet. So many loose ends. I hope they release info on the original plot.

What's your thoughts?

I want to see the original version of the first post-election episode, definitely.

 

[ChocolateMoose123]

Haven't seen the last episode but I think they were really scrambling this season as they were surprised by the election results and they had to change the entire season mid-stream and it was apparent how much trouble they had with it. It looked haphazard.

I'm not sure how well tied their plot points are ever going to be. At least, I never expect them to tie up things in a pretty bow. If it is, they certainly fail.

I'm much happier with the show when I view it as them pointing out or showing certain "truths" rather than providing answers to those things and having a laugh at it all. I don't think it's as deep a commentary as people try to make it out too be but that's my interpretation.


[MENTION=15392]Cellmold[/MENTION] post covers how I saw this season's "message" if there was one.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

It seems like the most common complaint is the structure/format of the latest season rather than the topical nature of the show. I imagine it can be boring writing for the same format for 20 seasons and never changing the formula, but I think this show's strength has always stemmed from it being a satirical, unrelenting window into society's absurdities. Occasional deviations from said formula (i.e. past 2 and 3 parters/arcs) are fine, but all the writers really need to do is tackle whatever current idiosyncrasies are trending and I think they'll be good. Especially in the latest year, there was more than enough crazy shit in the news to warrant sticking to their old formula and still having a decent hit, but I can't fault them for trying something different.

 

[Cellmold]

It seems like the most common complaint is the structure/format of the latest season rather than the topical nature of the show. I imagine it can be boring writing for the same format for 20 seasons and never changing the formula, but I think this show's strength has always stemmed from it being a satirical, unrelenting window into society's absurdities. Occasional deviations from said formula (i.e. past 2 and 3 parters/arcs) are fine, but all the writers really need to do is tackle whatever current idiosyncrasies are trending and I think they'll be good. Especially in the latest year, there was more than enough crazy shit in the news to warrant sticking to their old formula and still having a decent hit, but I can't fault them for trying something different.

They still make me laugh, but this had the smallest amount of them so far. Dancing & singing Danish and the "stank face' got some chuckles, but my taste more than anything.

However I do agree with the sentiment about trying new things, it just seems like they are taking the "let's take the smallest running element jokes to an extreme level" to a conclusion that results in them becoming too big for their boots and, like their own observation in Funnybot, they appear at risk of taking comedy too seriously.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

They still make me laugh, but this had the smallest amount of them so far. Dancing & singing Danish and the "stank face' got some chuckles, but my taste more than anything.

However I do agree with the sentiment about trying new things, it just seems like they are taking the "let's take the smallest running element jokes to an extreme level" to a conclusion that results in them becoming too big for their boots and, like their own observation in Funnybot, they appear at risk of taking comedy too seriously.

Yes. Like SNL, they sometimes drag jokes past their shelf life. It can be tedious sitting through an unfunny 6 minute SNL sketch (my opinion is that the 30 minute format is ideal for sketch comedy because most of the unfunny stuff tends to get trimmed away to meet the time demands), just as tedious as sitting through a running gag that just misses the mark on South Park.

I also prefer Matt and Trey's style when they try to make their own opinion more ambiguous. They tend to grate on my nerves when they try to take a strong stance through their writing.

 

[Mayflower]

I like it so far. I agree they dragged the election arc on too long. At least it's better than last season.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

they dragged the election arc on too long

Fitting though, considering how the election felt for many Americans. Perhaps that was intentional on the writers' parts.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

So it felt like season 3 of Star Trek Enterprise... is the basic sentiment here? Granted, that season really blurs together, although it had some high points. They could've condensed that entire arc, but I understand what they were trying to do. It was very much a post-9/11 story. Even DS9, despite being awesome, is a blur--I can remember a lot, but don;t expect me to remember which episode or season it happened in...the arcs themselves are easy to remember though.

 

[Yuurei]

Season 20 of South Park ended last night and boy oh boy, do I have some thoughts on it. Never have I felt so underwhelmed by something that had such a strong start.

I was part of the people ranting and raving about how a single narrative is fantastic for the show, but this is probably the worst outcome yet. I preferred the way it was handled in season 18, where the consequences of the previous episode carried over, but it was still episodic. What an awful feeling... other than the trolling subplot (which quickly became a mainplot), nothing got resolved. Girls v Boys, Memberberries, PC bros, Cartman... none of it was properly handled. Apparently it was because the writers didn't think Trump would win the election, but damn... I feel like the episodes could've still be handled properly.

I know that Hillary's election was supposed to propel the Girls v Boys plot with Heidi being Cartman's puppet. So many loose ends. I hope they release info on the original plot.

What's your thoughts?

I never liked the "Single narrative." I agree that season 18 did a great job remaining episodic with over arcing themes and consequences but this season was just ..."Eh."
Last season was a little better but I still didn't like it nearly as much as the old episodic style

This season still had a few clever points to make, still had those moments where they would lead you on thinking they were on one side of the argument before doing a complete 180 and pointing out the problems with both extremes. As someone who hates the concept of taking sides, of the "us v them" mentality, I loved that. It let me know that I was not alone my extreme-anti-extremist views.

Even though SP still has some of those clever moments, it hasn't actually made me laugh in a while. I don't mind that they've taken on more of a political satire role, they've done it in the past but it was still funny. These past few seasons haven't been funny at all. They are just...weird.

 

[Ambrose]

I actually started watching South Park way back when they released the first season on VHS, because I never had Comedy Central until this year when my family upgraded to using a cable box, (more like forced to by our cable provider, lol.) This was the first time I got to actually watch South Park again, 19 seasons later. So what did I think of this season?

I enjoyed it, most likely because this new season of South Park felt brand new and strange to me, especially with a story line that has continuity between episodes. I'll admit I enjoyed the story more about the boys vs girls a lot more than the election arc most likely because it focuses on the kids, who are the heart and soul of the show in my opinion. The memberberries were interesting, but it seems like they were setting them up for a huge story line next season, which left me wanting for more, but I guess that's where they were going with it. The troll arc was pretty funny to me, only because it resonates with my internet activities in that when I visit youtube or play World of Warcraft, I read a lot of troll comments so it was something I can relate to and have a laugh at because it's all so real to me. Treating trolling as if it is some kind of art form that can possibly destroy the world by pitting people against each other with a few swift keystrokes is hilariously stupid.

All in all, I enjoyed it, but as I watch reruns and take in the episodes I missed out on, I find myself enjoying the old episodes more, although I'm not exactly sure why. Perhaps it's like I said that I enjoy the story lines from the childrens' point of view then from the adults.