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South Park 22.10 Review – ‘Bike Parade’
Loading...The theme of this season was #cancelsouthpark. I wrote after episode 1 that Matt and Trey were trying to get canceled by producing a bad and tone def television show. By the end of the season, they had won me over. They brought things back around and ended with the line “How come…everything out there is getting cancelled, but when it comes to us…we just can’t do it?” “I mean, are we supposed to just keep going? Making total asses of ourselves?”
The answer would appear to be “Yes.” Read into the closing line however you want. Whether it was a shot at Donald Trump — a man who keeps going on making a total ass of himself and still can’t get impeached. But hey, at least Mr. Garrison was in handcuffs. — or just a meta statement in the world of South Park. The line perfectly tied up a rather outstanding season that combined all the elements that have made South Park pop culture relevant and long lasting.
The ending felt a bit rush, which makes it a shame that we didn’t get an extra episode (or 2) this season. It was the second two-parter that left you wanting more, but couldn’t give you more due to the 10-episode format. I still had zero problem with tonight’s ending because of how nicely it tied everything together.
When we last left the town, no one was getting what they wanted because of the Amazon strike. The solution? Just smoke a little weed. Hey, it’s a good solution if it’s legal in your state.
Matt and Trey crammed a lot into this episode, which goes back to my criticism of the ending being rushed. As I mentioned last week, they clearly want to continue to do serial episode. This year, they found a nice balance. Not every episode weaved together, but there was enough in each episode that made you feel as if you missed something if you weren’t paying attention to previous episodes.
For example, I’ve seen people complain that the boys just “dropped” their crusade to get the bike parade canceled. Well, yeah. The fulfillment center was re-opened. Just two weeks ago we learned that what happens a week from now doesn’t matter as long as we get what we want right now. This was never about the bike parade being canceled. It was about immediate fulfillment.
My only complaint about that is it could have led to more Cartman being up to no good, but again, because of the rushed ending, there wasn’t a chance for that to play out.
They went hard on the nostalgia this season, which I fully supported. Tonight we got the return of Santa and a Kenny death, although we were missing the famous line.
South Park tried to be insensitive all season. They began the season by saying “don’t freak out over school shooting.” The line, How do you get anything canceled? You bitch about it being insensitive!” Stood out because, like the closer, it encapsulated everything Matt and Trey set out to do when they began the #cancelsouthpark push.
I don’t think I’m giving them too much credit when I say they ended up playing this season perfectly. I had my doubts after the premiere. And not everything this season worked, but on the whole, this was the best season in years.
Oh, and poor Josh. That was a dark ending to his time on the show.
