25x02 The Big Fix

[6.3/10] It’s hard to know how to feel about this one. I appreciate the show making fun of jerks like Randy for using POCs as props to market their businesses rather than making real changes. The shtick gets old after a while, a recurring issue with latter day South Park, but the show’s heart is in the right place. I especially appreciate that Tolkein’s dad starts a competing farm to take advantage of the newfound demand to support black-owned businesses rather than let Randy be a useless appendage who capitalizes on his “partner’s” skin color, but doesn’t take his ideas seriously.

I really don’t know how I feel about the twist that “Token”’s real name is actually “Tolkein”. Again, it’s a decently funny gag, even as it gets hammered into the audience over and over, especially with Stan’s shock that he’s the only one in town who didn’t know. But it feels like a dodge from the show itself, rather than owning the original joke they made back in the 1990s and stuck with until now, and turning it around into a true mea culpa or some bit of clever commentary on other shows only including one token POC character. I guess the goal is to turn things back on the audience for laughing, or take some refuge in absurdity with the idea that you’d have to be nuts to make the mistake. I just don’t know if the episode gets where it needs to with the bit.

Overall, this is a definite improvement on the season premiere, but still left me wanting for the incisive and hilarious South Park of old.