South Park 23.10 Review – “Christmas Snow”

After last week, which felt like a season finale, South Park needed a strong actual season finale to tie everything together. And they did it.

The episode was a “Christmas Special” in every sense of the word in terms of layout. Every Christmas special is the same. Christmas appears to be ruined by one astronomical force that can’t be overcome. Until a conquering hero finally steps up and saves Christmas, leading to the town rejoicing.

Except, this is South Park. So cocaine and weed were involved. Leave it to South Park to turn Santa into The Grinch. Santa, the man most associated with Christmas (outside of Jesus. It’s his Birthday, after all), is not happy with how the town is acting during Christmas. And when things don’t go his way, he wants to put an end to things.

As expected, Randy and Tegridy Farms were back. Even though Randy’s season was over, every great show needs a Christmas Special. The meta joke about no one liking Mexican Joker was a funny touch, as were the callbacks to previous episodes with Randy trying to get cocaine legalized, weak presents and Santa radioing for help when his red sleigh was down.

Randy being the ultimate hero of the season made sense given how Tegridy’s season unfolded. Randy’s arc was some of the best storytelling South Park has done throughout its history. And this is when they are at their best. Trying to be a strict serial show didn’t work out because South Park thrives on timely jokes, so meticulously planning an entire season around events and certain jokes doesn’t work if “plans change.” This season worked because they can sneak in timely jokes — like the Greta joke to open the episode, which was either worked in late this morning or happened to be perfectly timed — while sticking to the story they want to tell.

Along with working as Christmas Special, South Park managed to provide commentary on the legalization of drugs. Like has been the most cases this season, they didn’t provide a new take. Hey, if the government can regulate the cocaine and make money off of it, it’ll be legal. It’s the same reason alcohol and weed are legal. That’s what makes Tegridy, Tegridy.

I appreciate South Park sticking to its universe and not bring back Mr. Hankey for this episode. But would it have killed them for a Mr. Hankey cameo? There were callback references to Mr. Hankey — Santa’s whole theme of trying to punish the town can be related back to them banishing Mr. Hankey — but no Mr. Hankey. Guess Springfield still has him captive.

Overall, this was an outstanding season of South Park. It got off to a rough start with the Tegridy stuff, but like a good strain of weed, it grew nicely. The second half of the season allowed other character to shine. And the last two episodes managed to wrap everything up nicely.

8.5

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

A funny and cohesive finale for South Park to wrap up a funny and cohesive season. While this season won't be remembered for its political commentary or timely hot takes, it was a throwback to early seasons of South Park while sticking with the serial episodes Matt & Trey have come to fall in love with over the years.