7.5/10. I have to be honest, I meant to write this one up sooner and just hadn't gotten around to it, so my recollection is a little fuzzier here than for some episodes. In short, I liked the idea they were going for with Gerald, that even his trolling is a form of nostalgia and his trying to go back to a time in his youth when jokes and insults could be thrown around for fun and without consequence. There's also some interesting subtext about the divide between Gerald and other trolls, where he doesn't want to achieve anything with his trolling beyond causing trouble for trouble's own sake, and sees any attempt to achieve political or social goes with trolling as antithetical to why he does it.
Beyond that, Heidi's emoji-based identification being the core of the Danish anti-troll process is a neat idea, and I appreciated the storytelling potential from how it helps achieve's Cartman's current goals, but also threatens to topple his new life if his girlfriend finds out he badmouthed the new Ghostbusters movie for sexist reasons, with a lie that only digs him in deeper. (And using The Martian as a metaphor for his calm and then fear was a funny, trademark South Park left turn).
The Member Berries joining together and rolling out in a little RC car was cute, but kind of repetitive (though maybe that was the point). I'm not sure where the show's going with it, but it was fine as a time-filler that might set something up down the road.
I also liked the tension between troll-outing and privacy that the episode explored a little. The way Fort Collins turned into a scene out of Dawn of the Dead once everyone's emails and identities was out there was a nice look at how people like freedoms and protections in place, and only violated against the bad guys, but that's tricky in practice and can lead to a certain amount of chaos. I am, again, not sure where they're going with it, but tying the email decrypting thing into Hillary's email scandal (a twist Mrs. Bloom called) was promise too.
Overall, this was a good episode with a lot of potent, if latent commentary in it.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2016-11-03T21:14:37Z
7.5/10. I have to be honest, I meant to write this one up sooner and just hadn't gotten around to it, so my recollection is a little fuzzier here than for some episodes. In short, I liked the idea they were going for with Gerald, that even his trolling is a form of nostalgia and his trying to go back to a time in his youth when jokes and insults could be thrown around for fun and without consequence. There's also some interesting subtext about the divide between Gerald and other trolls, where he doesn't want to achieve anything with his trolling beyond causing trouble for trouble's own sake, and sees any attempt to achieve political or social goes with trolling as antithetical to why he does it.
Beyond that, Heidi's emoji-based identification being the core of the Danish anti-troll process is a neat idea, and I appreciated the storytelling potential from how it helps achieve's Cartman's current goals, but also threatens to topple his new life if his girlfriend finds out he badmouthed the new Ghostbusters movie for sexist reasons, with a lie that only digs him in deeper. (And using The Martian as a metaphor for his calm and then fear was a funny, trademark South Park left turn).
The Member Berries joining together and rolling out in a little RC car was cute, but kind of repetitive (though maybe that was the point). I'm not sure where the show's going with it, but it was fine as a time-filler that might set something up down the road.
I also liked the tension between troll-outing and privacy that the episode explored a little. The way Fort Collins turned into a scene out of Dawn of the Dead once everyone's emails and identities was out there was a nice look at how people like freedoms and protections in place, and only violated against the bad guys, but that's tricky in practice and can lead to a certain amount of chaos. I am, again, not sure where they're going with it, but tying the email decrypting thing into Hillary's email scandal (a twist Mrs. Bloom called) was promise too.
Overall, this was a good episode with a lot of potent, if latent commentary in it.