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This is the momentous episode that everybody has been waiting for, the "Matt & Trey's take on #OccupyWallStreet" episode. Even though other shows have taken a shot at the Occupy movement, we were waiting to see what Matt and Trey's take would be like, and this is it...
What I saw was moderately disappointing. It does start off with some interesting stuff about the presidential fitness test though. I appreciated how they snuck in something about not wanting the small percentage of people who failed the test to be singled out due to general fears of disappointment and failure... This is repeated throughout most of the first part and some of the rest of the episode but it usually lacks impact the second time around due to well, us getting the jists of what they were implying in the beginning. I do have to say that this works for getting the plot off the ground and providing some of the Occupy satire but aside from that, the whole presidential fitness test doesn't amount to much.
The other interesting thing that might hook viewers is the seminal focus on Cartman, who is singled out for being the obvious 1% who affected the entire school. I have to admit, Cartman's antics were a bit by-the-numbers disappointing. I mean how many times have you heard him rip on poor people and jews and defend his fatness do it better... (That 9/11 quip was funny but still, could of been done better.) The moment where the dolls start getting torn to bits does up the quality levels a bit (if not for the mystery and the reaction he's getting.) it was kind of interesting to watch his dolls get murdered one by one and to have him react in a fearful way like a horror movie... The addition of the 5th graders and the bait and switch gag worked well for throwing off the audience (including me) to the ultimate resolution of the episode.
Unfortunately that moment is somewhat ruined by the ending which is mainly due to my lack of understanding of it. I mean it's portrayed as if Cartman had somehow manipulated the whole situation (like he did with Scott Trenorman and well, Jenifer Lopez) of "Princess Polly as a murderer" as a way to get rid of his dolls so he can "grow up"... (I don't know how he'd be able to set his own room on fire but, I degress... I mean if Mr. Hat can come to life, maybe Polly Princess can do the same.) Some people may think of that ending as a "character growth" and a "breaking of a character's perception" but I think otherwise (more on that later...) What I do think of it as is an ending reminiscent of Scott Tenorman and other episodes like that... What with it's overly dramatic overtones and the reaction from the people watching it; some people may be expecting for this to be added to Cartman's character in future episodes but I don't think it's going to turn out that way...
The Occupy satire takes up half of the episode and as I said before, it's moderately disapointing. For one, their take on it is muddy; I mean "Sunny" parodied the sudden need for democracy as well as their supposed unitation on one subject when they all had multiple views, plus the backstabbing aspect of it all. This parody focuses on the massive news coverage that has surrounded the Occupy movements as well as the large crowds, the anarchy as well as the police response to it. The reference to Red Robin did surprise me at first but without any explanation (not even a response saying "they've been charging more and it just hasn't been the same before"), it just became a menial backdrop to show how bullshit the Occupy protests are, the newscasting person had some funny moments and the way the 5th graders joined in was funny but it just ended without much resolution, even the police were scared of a riot yet they did nothing to stop it or even respond to it really... I don't know what they were trying to mock with that but I think it went over my head. (Side Note: I did notice they finally acknowledged Anonymous's presence, I'm guessing their years of referencing South Park has finally payed off...)
Ultimately, the long-expected parody/satire we've been waiting for turns out to be a bust. We get some funny moments and some clever satire but this isn't interesting in the least bit; it feels by-the-numbers, which is odd even though they've included some unique stuff in the episode. Something which feels by-the-numbers despite the originality definitely raises the oddity part by 10,000 fold... As something like that should never happen, but it did... For an episode of this caliber, it felt like it had something more to say but ultimately didn't say it.
6.0/10
EPILOGUE: One of the things I detest about episodes like these is that there is usually one reviewer who over analyzes the episode and focuses more on looking for signs then just watching the episode and deciding whether or not he likes it or not... That person usually wants to be teaching philosophy in a college but usually lacks the individuality or the defiance needed to ask those questions... That person is Ryan McGee from the A.V. Club.
That is evident when he describes a review is more than just deciding whether or not it's funny... That a review is a statement and a subjective one at that. I can understand the thing about humor being subjective but he's talking about the plot using complex cinematic techniques and talking about Cartman's plot as if it was changing the face of literacy as we know it. I mean "transcending", "profoundness", he's just an 8 year old kid without a father... And with wrong viewpoints about almost everything...
I mean you go on about how he knew Cartman for 15 seasons and how he had to alter his native state to change himself yet Cartman was not just known for the outlandish viewpoints he incorporated into his persona. (The outlandish stuff came way later in the show's run.) Initially, he was just an 8 year old kid with delusions of grandier, incorrect perceptions of nearly everything (though oddly enough, he was right about most of the stuff such as Token being able to play a bass guitar) and a state of wanting everything that he saw... He was the rare kid that despite insulting his friends, managed to keep them. The talking with dolls thing was his way of connecting with who he created as people like him, people who thought he was cool and awesome... The outlandish viewpoint stuff well... I don't know where he got that but I do know that the current viewpoint thing is built into the show itself, Cartman is not the only one who has this; Kyle, Stan and Kenny has had the current viewpoint thing at one time or another...
The stuff about Cartman wanting to change is somewhat diluted by the fact that there were points where he had the chance, things such as the fat camp (which contains another show of Cartman's character when he eats after he's dejected from the camp), the time he was in Africa, the time where he was in certain moments of isolation and unfamilarity. Those moments allowed him to rethink his life for a second and well, opted to change his life for a minute but I guess the sitcom boomerang comes back around. Cartman wasn't the one who ignored change (well maybe in that Wendy episode) but didn't even have the thought occur in his head that he needed changing, possibly because of her mother smothering him to death. (She was the one who told him he was fat boned after all.)
Additionally, the toys being a major part of Cartman growing up is also diluted by one simple thing, we barely see Cartman play with his dolls in the way that you describe or well, ever... We've had the tea party thing in the first season, we've had a mention of him in the episode where Cartman get's cancer and we've even seen them in an odd game which Cartman plays with Bebe. The way Cartman's plays with the dolls is too inconsistent to support the theory of them being a major part of Cartman's not growing up, I mean it'd be good if we've had more consistent evidence throughout the 15 seasons but there isn't and because of that, it doesn't hold up that much merit.
And what's with this "It’s a trick that South Park could pull off in the way that Lost pulled off a certain trick at the end of its third season. By using audience expectations against them". I mean "audience expectations", what kind of expectations would we have about Cartman. I mean as I mentioned before, he is an 8-year old boy. And the thing about the Lost Season 3 finale doesn't match up with South Park. "Though the Looking Glass" played off the expectation that Jack would be happy when everybody was rescued and that the stuff we were seeing in the flashforwards happened in the past, but it turned out to be the reverse... Cartman on the other hand (except for a few denials of his weight and life.) doesn't have the same kinds of expectations as "Through the Looking Glass". Hell we've seen episodes where he could be either malicious, unaware of what's going on or fully aware of what's going on but not doing it maliciously... It's also noted throughout the 15 seasons that Cartman did not try to be cool until much, much later; he also didn't have a KFC addiction and a even more pissed off temper then ever before, with the speech of a political rebel fighting against authority... So the Cartman we've come to known and love is too inconsistent for us to have "expectations".
It's obvious that nobody can figure out how Cartman's mind works exactly; why he does the stuff that he does... However, this overanalysis of Cartman in this recent episode without an exact knowledge of the 15 seasons only serves to defer Cartman's actions in the past 15 seasons and futher mudel Cartman's character as a whole. I know that you'd like to be taken seriously when reviewing South Park episodes but this type of analysis helps nobody, it's just entertainment.
Also you should really stop looking for signs of change that you were promised. I know that the episode tempted you with change and those signs of change are interesting because it changed the whole dynamic of South Park but we've had these changes before and I predicted that the changes would be reverted after a long time or so... Granted I didn't expect that it'd be reverted in the episode after that but still, we've got had. There is no use searching for any changes after an episode promised you the changes earlier; it serves no purpose whatsoever and only leads to the overanalysis of episodes like this one... Just thought I should let you know Mr. Ryan.