(Used to be titled South Park Season 22 Premiere sucked, but the thread has become more of a generalized Season 22 topic)
If you're anything like me, this 39-second clip probably had you laughing out loud.
The unfortunate thing about the episode is that this was virtually the entire plot in a nutshell. Several school shootings happen, Sharon freaks out, and everyone thinks it's her hormones because she's on her period. The subplot is that Cartman assumes Token hates him due to his vocal distaste for the Black Panther film - he keeps verbally attacking Token, trying to blackmail him and other things only to discover Token doesn't care about Cartman's opinion and actually never saw the film - Cartman doesn't believe this because "All you people saw it, I don't believe you didn't see it." And that's it.
The last few seasons have shown a marked decline in quality... Season 19 was brilliant, season 20 was very good, season 21 was average. Like in the past, the assumption was that "Well, they had a bad season, but next season they could come back and be brilliant" and often that would be the case. But this episode, IMO, was one of the most two-dimensional episodes I have ever seen from the franchise. What should have been the setup gag for the actual story instead became two gags that they hammered on through the entirety of the 22-minute episode.
I was a little surprised to see that IMDB users rated this one an 8.2 - the highest score since late season 19 - but I assume this grade will fall tremendously over time.
The only good thing about this episode is seeing the characters of one of my favourite shows back in action for the 22nd year. Perhaps it's time for South Park to take a few of years off, and instead focus on making one or two very high-quality specials per year. less content per year isn't necessarily bad: it can make what is released feel more special, it also allows for more focus. For example season 16 was one of the worst seasons the series ever had, but when they moved down to 10 episodes per season in 17, they pulled a complete 180 and had one of the best seasons ever... and then 18 and 19 IMO were just as good, if not better. So less content per year doesn't necessarily mean bad things; as those three seasons proved, it can mean more creative things. Why season 20 and 21, it's hard to say - it might be that society has been so ridiculous these past two years that South Park's level of satire already treads too close to reality, and that pushing the bar on it seems too comical for comedy. Another aspect for recent decline is the recent merging of political and pop culture; Matt and Trey could tackle this, but then they'd be repeating themselves and sounding just like everyone else.
The other option is to go back to doing episodes that are independent of pop culture like they used to - although people generally felt South Park is at its strongest when it does comment on current events, so doing that might not be a popular move.
If you're anything like me, this 39-second clip probably had you laughing out loud.
The unfortunate thing about the episode is that this was virtually the entire plot in a nutshell. Several school shootings happen, Sharon freaks out, and everyone thinks it's her hormones because she's on her period. The subplot is that Cartman assumes Token hates him due to his vocal distaste for the Black Panther film - he keeps verbally attacking Token, trying to blackmail him and other things only to discover Token doesn't care about Cartman's opinion and actually never saw the film - Cartman doesn't believe this because "All you people saw it, I don't believe you didn't see it." And that's it.
The last few seasons have shown a marked decline in quality... Season 19 was brilliant, season 20 was very good, season 21 was average. Like in the past, the assumption was that "Well, they had a bad season, but next season they could come back and be brilliant" and often that would be the case. But this episode, IMO, was one of the most two-dimensional episodes I have ever seen from the franchise. What should have been the setup gag for the actual story instead became two gags that they hammered on through the entirety of the 22-minute episode.
I was a little surprised to see that IMDB users rated this one an 8.2 - the highest score since late season 19 - but I assume this grade will fall tremendously over time.
The only good thing about this episode is seeing the characters of one of my favourite shows back in action for the 22nd year. Perhaps it's time for South Park to take a few of years off, and instead focus on making one or two very high-quality specials per year. less content per year isn't necessarily bad: it can make what is released feel more special, it also allows for more focus. For example season 16 was one of the worst seasons the series ever had, but when they moved down to 10 episodes per season in 17, they pulled a complete 180 and had one of the best seasons ever... and then 18 and 19 IMO were just as good, if not better. So less content per year doesn't necessarily mean bad things; as those three seasons proved, it can mean more creative things. Why season 20 and 21, it's hard to say - it might be that society has been so ridiculous these past two years that South Park's level of satire already treads too close to reality, and that pushing the bar on it seems too comical for comedy. Another aspect for recent decline is the recent merging of political and pop culture; Matt and Trey could tackle this, but then they'd be repeating themselves and sounding just like everyone else.
The other option is to go back to doing episodes that are independent of pop culture like they used to - although people generally felt South Park is at its strongest when it does comment on current events, so doing that might not be a popular move.
Last edited by Julius Seeker on Mon Oct 15, 2018 5:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
