Let’s get right down to business, episodes 1-3 reviews could be found right here.

Season 21 Episode 4

"Franchise Prequel"

This episode was clearly preparing fans for the new South Park video game “The Fractured But Whole” which was released on October 17th. I personally do not think they needed to make an episode this season tying into the new game, so I’m going to review this episode as if it were a standalone and not an advertisement for the game. That being said...it's still pretty good!

The episode follows a now-expanded superhero group “Coon and Friends.” There’s a really great trilogy of episodes at the end of Season 14 all revolving around the BP oil spill and they integrate it with a superhero movie tone, that’s definitely worth watching to help understand this episode. “Coon and Friends” is recruiting new members to the team (who appear in the new video game) and they start to make plans to create a superhero movie franchise, but they run into an obstacle. Butters, who has always been excluded from the group when they play superheroes, takes on his evil persona Professor Chaos and spreads lies and misinformation through Facebook to spread chaos.

With all the news surrounding Facebook being used as a platform to spread misinformation during the 2016 election, I wasn’t surprised to see “South Park” touch on the topic...even bringing Mark Zuckerberg to the town. Initially, his portrayal was extremely confusing to me even though it was absolutely hysterical. In this episode, Mark Zuckerberg is very robotic and his mouth movements don’t match up with the dialogue. He speaks like a final boss on an old kung-fu arcade machine. Apparently, this was lampooning Mark Zuckerberg’s recent “trip to Puerto Rico” via Virtual Reality.

I can’t emphasize how funny I found Mark Zuckerberg as the episode progressed. The absolute confusion most viewers had when seeing his portrayal is adding to the humor, it sort of just makes you go “What the hell?” and you end up laughing even if you don’t understand the context. The fact that it’s not even explained by the end is the icing on the cake, it’s absurd for no particular reason...which is exactly how I like my "South Park." Near the end of the episode he serves a more villainous role and takes on “Coon and Friends” in the middle of town and it's amusing to see that Zuckerberg has just as big an imagination as 9-year olds playing pretend.

There were also plenty of political undertones, especially involving the spread of “Fake News.” In this episode they directly point the finger at Putin, accusing him of stuff that has spread on Facebook concerning the election. Some people will probably get upset with this little political rant on Russia at the end but if someone ISN’T mad at “South Park” then they’re not doing their job.

I liked this episode but it’s definitely one of the weaker ones this season. It felt sort of like they were obligated to make this one because of the game coming out. I’m predicting the video game is going to be better than the last 3 seasons combined so I’m still extremely excited, but I didn’t think it was necessary to make a whole episode kicking off the video game’s story. The games are better left as standalone adventures that don’t directly tie into the episodes, otherwise, it makes the logistics needlessly complicated.

here's some Mark Zuckerberg for your viewing pleasure.

Season 21 Episode 5

“Hummels and Heroin”

OK, so you know how in my last article I said that the 3rd episode "Holiday Special" was exactly what fans think of when they claim to want "classic South Park" back? Well, that applies more to "Hummels and Heroin" than that one, this episode feels like it could've been made back in the classic seasons. It hit all the right beats a "South Park" episode should achieve, and even then they were still able to incorporate real-world issues into the story.

This episode functions as their take on the opioid crisis but the real brunt of the episode and what makes it especially funny is their portrayal of South Park's "Shady Acres Retirement Community." The satire here is that the retirement home has the exact same power dynamics and atmosphere as your stereotypical prison, with drugs being dealt behind the scenes and the "top bitch" ruling over the other residents. The opioids being spread around town are revealed to be originating from the retirement home. The best scene in the entire episode is the montage of daily life at the retirement home with an original rap song "Locked Up In Here" guest-starring Killer Mike performing the vocals.

The side-plot revolves around Stan struggling with the realization that he has been unknowingly helping this drug trade continue by doing favors for his grandfather who lives in the retirement home. The old people at the home like to collect German hummels which they use as a type of currency/power symbol.

A new character named Marcus is introduced and his character is intensely focused on finding the source of these drugs, he becomes personally determined to end this crisis after the beloved entertainer Chuck E. Cheese dies of an overdose at his birthday party. Following this, more costumed entertainers start passing away of overdoses including Swiper the Fox, Spider-Man and Peppa Pig

The episode actually takes a dramatic turn near the end when Marcus confronts Stan at the nursing home. "South Park" is widely regarded as a comedic show but they have proven time and time again that they can hit dramatic beats very well and have them play into the story naturally.

Oh and in case you can't notice from his performance, Marcus is played by the one and only Josh Gad! Fans of "South Park" and Josh Gad would definitely know their history together.

Josh Gad played one of the lead roles in "The Book of Mormon' written by "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. It's nice to see that they're still friendly and that Josh Gad was willing to take a few months out of his time to sit in the writer's room for this season, finally getting to voice a character this week. Another famous comedian that helps in the writer's room for the past couple seasons is Bill Hader who has definitely done a few voices in the past, my favorite being one of these old farmers.

Speaking of these farmers, I was reminded of a behind-the-scenes video with Bill Hader and Trey Parker recording the dialogue for this scene in Season 15 and it's such a joy to see them having so much fun making the show

Season 21 Episode 6

"Sons a Witches"

So here's "South Park" taking on the Harvey Weinstein scandal...sort of...in a way...if you think carefully about it. In Episode 4 Cartman made a quick Harvey Weinstein joke because the episode was made the week the news broke, but it seems like they wanted to tackle it a bit more intricately with "Sons a Witches."

I was really glad to have another Halloween episode, it makes me hopeful that by the end of the season we'll have a long-overdue Christmas special. I'll first talk about the B-plot of the episode that could be hit-or-miss to people and of course, it revolves around the relationship between Cartman and Heidi. Heidi hasn't been present in any of the past 2 episodes so I initially thought they dropped the plotline, but here she is giving Cartman a legitimate reason to be annoyed with her. In the past episodes we're supposed to see Heidi in the right and realize how rude Cartman is being towards her, but this episode kind of flips the tables. Heidi does the stereotypical "girl takes too long to get ready" shtick throughout the episode and it irritates Cartman immensely. While this storyline was funny, it didn't really mean much since Cartman is still in the exact same position by the end of the episode.

Now onto the meat of the episode... the witch hunts. The plotline surrounding the dads of South Park resonates strongly with the news surrounding directors, producers and executives who are being outed as sexual predators in the entertainment industry. Basically, all the dads in South Park like to go on these little retreats during the weeks leading up to Halloween where they can drink, smoke crack and jokingly cast curses on their bosses and their wives. A random member pulls out a real spell book and casts a dangerous spell, turning him into an actual witch who cackles and flies around on a broom. He begins to terrorize the town much to the dismay of the other "witches."

Of course, the dads are only concerned that witches are now going to be getting a bad name...rather than being mad that one of their own is causing havoc in town and kidnapping children. The running joke in the episode is the inability of the dads to use the term "witch hunt," instead calling the situation a "witch-pursuit...thingy." I think this was inspired by Woody Allen's recent quote surrounding the Harvey Weinstein scandal in Hollywood. Instead of expressing sympathy for victims who have come forward, Woody Allen instead worried that now there's going to be a witch hunt against directors in Hollywood.

It's kind of selfish to worry about your reputation and how people treat your friends (who might have acted inappropriately) instead of worrying about the overall problem in the industry! This is clearly where the satire lies this episode, with the dads exclaiming that just because "ONE bad witch is acting up doesn't mean we should blame ALL witches!" Another dad in the group then wants to come clean to his wife about the crack they smoke on the retreats which leads to a witch hunt INSIDE a witch hunt. The witches start to turn against one another despite already being divisive in the town's public opinion...the episode starts to obviously parody "The Crucible."

The final confrontation between the "normal" witches and Chip in the final couple minutes is absolutely hilarious, justifications and excuses running rampant. Their hypocrisies are pointed out by the evil Chip, making the situation even funnier.

I will critique the episode and say that the allegory with the witches could've been made a lot clearer. I think it's easy to confuse just what they're referencing, it could be seen as a portrayal of ANY group with "bad apples" in the mix. I just immediately jumped to Weinstein and Hollywood because of the "witch hunt" comment by Woody Allen and how strong the term "witch hunt" had as a presence in this episode. The episode is wrapped up pretty well after an appearance by the President of the United States.

For the past 2 seasons, the fan-favorite character Mr. Garrison has been making a transformation into a more Trump-like role. By this point he's already in the White House and even briefly appeared in Episode 2 of this season, it's nice to see him in this episode because it shows that even though his character is now the President that doesn't mean he won't return to the town every now and then and just be himself. He still has his character and isn't COMPLETELY absorbed by the "Trump" they've painted on him since Season 19.

Overall I'd rate these episodes very highly, a great return to form. I can't believe there are only 4 episodes left of this season, the time flies so fast. They'll be coming out in two batches, two straight weeks of episodes followed by a break during Thanksgiving followed by the final two episodes...so I'll be posting the articles in the same fashion.

Look for my review on episodes 7 and 8 in a few weeks!