[7.8/10] I expect a lot of things from South Park, and Trey Parker and Matt Stone. I expect topical social and political commentary. I expect a lot of potty humor. And I expect a lot of laughs. But what I don’t expect are apologies.
That’s what “Time to Get Cereal” is really -- an episode-length apology to Al Gore and anyone else who saw them making fun of the prospect of climate change. Sure, they still poke fun at Gore for being stuck on his near-miss at the presidency, and make him enjoy being told he’s right a little too much, but at the end of the day, this is as clear and frank a statement from South Park to the effect of, “We were wrong. We’re sorry.” that there’s ever been. That’s really cool and fairly big of the show.
The way it translates into stories is a little more hit or miss. In particular, the B-story, with the local Sergeant chalking up all the Manbearpig attacks to yet another school shooting didn’t really go anywere. It had a few good jokes (“Away from school is the place where children are supposed to be safe!”) but didn’t amount to much. And I haven’t played Red Dead Redemption 2, so a lot of those references totally flew over my head.
Even the Al Gore stuff hit some of the same notes over and over again, but I generally enjoyed it. The smug wine guy talking about Manbearpig was a funny scene. The kids having to do ridiculous things to apologize to Gore were increasingly amusing. And while I’m a little hesitant that the show’s falling back on its usual “it was all an ancient conspiracy” tropes, I do like where it ends, with the show’s version of Al Gore basically saying to the kids, “this is on you now, you’re the ones who have to convince people to believe in something they don’t buy.”
Overall, a striking mea culpa from the show, that left me curious where it’s going to go with this!
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2018-11-10T00:28:47Z
[7.8/10] I expect a lot of things from South Park, and Trey Parker and Matt Stone. I expect topical social and political commentary. I expect a lot of potty humor. And I expect a lot of laughs. But what I don’t expect are apologies.
That’s what “Time to Get Cereal” is really -- an episode-length apology to Al Gore and anyone else who saw them making fun of the prospect of climate change. Sure, they still poke fun at Gore for being stuck on his near-miss at the presidency, and make him enjoy being told he’s right a little too much, but at the end of the day, this is as clear and frank a statement from South Park to the effect of, “We were wrong. We’re sorry.” that there’s ever been. That’s really cool and fairly big of the show.
The way it translates into stories is a little more hit or miss. In particular, the B-story, with the local Sergeant chalking up all the Manbearpig attacks to yet another school shooting didn’t really go anywere. It had a few good jokes (“Away from school is the place where children are supposed to be safe!”) but didn’t amount to much. And I haven’t played Red Dead Redemption 2, so a lot of those references totally flew over my head.
Even the Al Gore stuff hit some of the same notes over and over again, but I generally enjoyed it. The smug wine guy talking about Manbearpig was a funny scene. The kids having to do ridiculous things to apologize to Gore were increasingly amusing. And while I’m a little hesitant that the show’s falling back on its usual “it was all an ancient conspiracy” tropes, I do like where it ends, with the show’s version of Al Gore basically saying to the kids, “this is on you now, you’re the ones who have to convince people to believe in something they don’t buy.”
Overall, a striking mea culpa from the show, that left me curious where it’s going to go with this!