23x07 Board Girls

I’m going to break my own rules here and not include a rating for this one, because I just don’t know what to do with it.

Let’s start with the easy stuff. The new “PC Babies” intro and bumpers are a lot of fun as a spoof of Muppet Babies. The show gets the tone of the spoof just right.

I also enjoy the story about the girls at South Park elementary trying to join the board game club. As someone who occupies a lot of geeky spaces, Cartman’s response is all too familiar, and I like the way the show uses him, as usual, as a bad example here. Cartman complaining about girls “doing it wrong” when he just doesn't like losing or not having things his way is a nice bit of satire. And I like how the show treats him as unreasonable the whole time, with the girls and Stan and others being totally chill about the whole thing. It’s a nice way to satirize someone acting in bad faith.

But that leads me to the other half of the show that I just don’t know what to do with. There’s an interesting conversation to be had about how sincere, empathetic people should deal with people who seem to be acting in bad faith and taking advantage of protections and considerations meant for people who actually need them. “Heather Swanson” is a troll, something this show knows plenty about, and there’s something worthwhile about raising the idea that shitheels will abuse well-intentioned norms and suggesting that as a reason to be nuanced about how we address those people.

But man, trans rights is not the area in which to pick that fight for pretty much anyone, and definitely not this show with its pretty abysmal history on that topic. Sure, there’s something amusing about having a thinly-veiled parody of Randy Savage competing in women’s events and trash talking, but it also plays into harmful stereotypes and contradicts the show’s own message about treating gender issues with nuance.

I understand the show’s attempt to shed light on the notion of bad actors creating difficult situations when we’re too doctrinaire about things, but this whole episodes plays out like one of those idiotic “what is someone claiming to be a female goes into the women’s restroom and hurts women!” hypotheticals. South Park is right when it acknowledges that gender issues can be complicated and require nuance, but it is, at best, faltering when it tries to capture that nuance in the guise of having a man identify as a woman to get back at his woke ex-girlfriend.

That said, it’s satisfying, if nothing else, to have “Heather” trounced when challenged by the titular Board Girls at various board games, and put in the same context as Cartman’s disingenuous complaints. There’s something fun about watching two people, whether it’s Cartman or an off-brand Macho Man Randy Savage, get their comeuppance after trying to take advantage of protections and acceptance meant for people who actually need them. This show just isn’t really equipped to handle the complexities or nuance in this area that it seems to want to acknowledge.