This is a really great episode. It takes South Park's fondness and notoriety for toilet humour and it actually weaves a quietly poignant dramatic arc through it. It's a really impressive achievement.
The whole running gag of Stan seeing everything around him as shit (music, movies, food, people) would be somewhat of a tiring gag if it was exclusively just a gag. Yet, it's also at the same time about growing up and growing out of love with everything that once had meaning. It's quietly the single most emotionally upsetting episode of the entire series.
It's further supported by Randy's experiences in this episode. Him trying to prove to Sharon that he's a kid at heart who likes this Tween Wave music is hilarious but once again, there's a dramatic core at the center of it all. The final scene between him and Sharon is one of the most shocking (says something considering how provocative the show can be) and honest scenes in the show's entire history and it has the obvious meta angle of Matt Stone & Trey Parker speaking through those two characters at that precise moment. They are themselves getting sick of writing for the show and going through the motions to churn out content week after week.
This episode has a bit of everything. Absurd comedy, drama, poignant reflection and its perhaps South Park's most revealing and devastating episode ever. Excellent episode that leads into the slightly disappointing follow-up episode, "Ass Burgers".
Review by SLionsCricketBlockedParent2020-04-10T11:54:16Z
This is a really great episode. It takes South Park's fondness and notoriety for toilet humour and it actually weaves a quietly poignant dramatic arc through it. It's a really impressive achievement.
The whole running gag of Stan seeing everything around him as shit (music, movies, food, people) would be somewhat of a tiring gag if it was exclusively just a gag. Yet, it's also at the same time about growing up and growing out of love with everything that once had meaning. It's quietly the single most emotionally upsetting episode of the entire series.
It's further supported by Randy's experiences in this episode. Him trying to prove to Sharon that he's a kid at heart who likes this Tween Wave music is hilarious but once again, there's a dramatic core at the center of it all. The final scene between him and Sharon is one of the most shocking (says something considering how provocative the show can be) and honest scenes in the show's entire history and it has the obvious meta angle of Matt Stone & Trey Parker speaking through those two characters at that precise moment. They are themselves getting sick of writing for the show and going through the motions to churn out content week after week.
This episode has a bit of everything. Absurd comedy, drama, poignant reflection and its perhaps South Park's most revealing and devastating episode ever. Excellent episode that leads into the slightly disappointing follow-up episode, "Ass Burgers".