[9.5/10] One of South Park’s best and most brilliant episode. It’s great trick is tackling the misguidedness of homophobia through both Butters’ misadventures at the Conversion Therapy Camp and through Cartman’s frantic and ultimately self-defeating efforts to avoid being thought of as gay back in South Park.
It’s the latter that provides the most comedy. While the actual subject of Cartman’s macguffin in this episode is pretty gross, it’s fuel for a great example of Cartman’s maliciousness and ignorance coming back to bite him. The way that his efforts to humiliate Butters backfires, and the extreme lengths he goes to try to prevent people from finding out are great. The specificity of his photography interest and lingo adds some comedic texture, and the abrupt reveal that in the end, Cartman played himself are all outstanding. At the end of the day, this is one of the all-time great examples of Cartman getting his comeuppance.
But it’s Butters’s story that proves more insightful and affecting. For one thing, there’s comedy in the fact that good natured Butters doesn't even realize what kind of camp he’s been sent to. There’s the show’s usual blend of humor and satire in the observational comedy of the camp itself, from the obviously closeted “cured” Pastor Phillips, to the double-meaning of everyone being “confused” or “bi-curious”, to the dark but absolutely cutting gags of the recurring suicides at the camp. It all toes the line between depressing and loony and trenchant perfectly.
Butters’s speech at the end is the coup de grace. His little oratory about the camp counselors being the one who are confused, and suggesting divine approval for how his fellow campers are, is low-key inspiring and sweet for a show like South Park. It’s as frank a rebuke as this show is likely to offer from the mouth of its most innocent character.
Overall, this is one where both plots work like gangbusters, the comedy is on point, and the message is sound and striking. It’s everything we ask for from South Park.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2018-09-11T02:18:39Z
[9.5/10] One of South Park’s best and most brilliant episode. It’s great trick is tackling the misguidedness of homophobia through both Butters’ misadventures at the Conversion Therapy Camp and through Cartman’s frantic and ultimately self-defeating efforts to avoid being thought of as gay back in South Park.
It’s the latter that provides the most comedy. While the actual subject of Cartman’s macguffin in this episode is pretty gross, it’s fuel for a great example of Cartman’s maliciousness and ignorance coming back to bite him. The way that his efforts to humiliate Butters backfires, and the extreme lengths he goes to try to prevent people from finding out are great. The specificity of his photography interest and lingo adds some comedic texture, and the abrupt reveal that in the end, Cartman played himself are all outstanding. At the end of the day, this is one of the all-time great examples of Cartman getting his comeuppance.
But it’s Butters’s story that proves more insightful and affecting. For one thing, there’s comedy in the fact that good natured Butters doesn't even realize what kind of camp he’s been sent to. There’s the show’s usual blend of humor and satire in the observational comedy of the camp itself, from the obviously closeted “cured” Pastor Phillips, to the double-meaning of everyone being “confused” or “bi-curious”, to the dark but absolutely cutting gags of the recurring suicides at the camp. It all toes the line between depressing and loony and trenchant perfectly.
Butters’s speech at the end is the coup de grace. His little oratory about the camp counselors being the one who are confused, and suggesting divine approval for how his fellow campers are, is low-key inspiring and sweet for a show like South Park. It’s as frank a rebuke as this show is likely to offer from the mouth of its most innocent character.
Overall, this is one where both plots work like gangbusters, the comedy is on point, and the message is sound and striking. It’s everything we ask for from South Park.