The Shrine

(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.

Wow, just watched it and could not disagree with you more.

The school shooting stuff was pretty funny, and an accurate (if somewhat misplaced) summation of how society is viewing school gun violence (I think it has more to do with the news cycle but whatever). The subplot was pretty funny too - at least to me, especially since I also thought Black Panther was pretty lame and scratch my head at all the love it got.

Season 19 was good - but not great. The content and focus was spot on, but they were fairly inconsistent in bringing the kids into stuff believably. Season 20 was rather weak, and it's mainly due to Garrison as Trump (which is funny as a gag but can't carry a season). And that's all s20 really was, a series of gags where some worked and others didn't. Season 21 was more of S20, but a tad more focused on what makes south park good.

That #cancelsouthpark is interesting too. Does that mean they are going balls to the wall for offensiveness this season? I'm pretty confident they are commenting on the upspike of mob mentality, outrage culture and boycotts. If so, it could be one hell of a season if they are aiming to piss people off.

Lol...come on, episode 3 was hilarious. They ragged on both PC culture and people who are shitty.

I've definitely been a bigger fan of the next couple of episodes.

"People think you're a piece of shit" haha.

It was all even funnier when I saw the amount of "news" publications that completely missed the point and praised South Park for "dropping the mic" on the Simpsons.

I don't think many of them grasp ironic humour (in this case, directed against the #CancelSimpsonsOverApu people) or they have somehow not seen any South Park before the clip from the end of last week's episode.

Apparently, Al Jean was forced to comment basically saying: "You guys do realize South Park was defending the Apu character, don't you?"

I've come around on the first episode. I thought it was almost certainly a self-contained episode at the time, but as the season begins to gel it really works as a great introduction to the bigger narrative. How they're dropping recent news into the overall plot which chains together gory and often silly/nonsensical episodes makes this season feel like a good mix of classic, mid-era, and current south park. Each new episode adds layers.

I don't know where I saw it but but some school had a school shooting and resumed classes afterwards, like wtf.

South Park plz stop being accurate about these things lol.

Remember when Columbine was the biggest news story of the year and everyone tuned into coverage about it for days? They made documentaries about it? How things have changed.

Anyway, I’ve enjoyed the last couple of weeks. FILLED with outdated references: Jeff Bezeos as a Talosian, a box whose dialogue is lines from the communist manifesto, and enough musical numbers that it makes me think they have an album coming out soon.

My issue is that the whole season arc still feels Act 1ish, and we’re getting into the season finale. This is kind of similar to last year in that respect. They likely don’t really care, and have more focus on getting out a bunch of different stories in the form of subplots (in regards to the season as a whole).