South Park Season 15 Episode 6 – “City Sushi” – Review

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When I heard we were getting a Butters episode, I was psyched, as some of my all time favorite South Park episodes have focused on Butters as the main character–”The Simpsons Already Did It” and “Butters Bottom Bitch” spring immediately to mind. You can’t imagine how disappointed I was after I watched it and realized not only was this a disappointing episode, it was a set-back in a season which started off rough, was beginning to improve and is now back to square one again.

The episode focused primarily on stereotypes, especially the stereotype that most non-Asian people have that the Chinese and Japanese are pretty much the same thing. I was bored of the battle between the two restaurant owners straight away; nothing about that particular storyline really caught my attention, because it wasn’t funny. Seriously, I’ve heard Lu Kim say “shitty” a load of times before, and while it was pretty funny the first time I ever heard it, at this stage it’s just irritating. They just kept beating the same jokes over and over, like the one where they couldn’t understand each others accents. South Park is usually great at playing with stereotypes and poking fun at them, but everything here was just so obvious:  Chinese and Japanese guys fight, try and outwit each other, etc., etc.

The twist of the episode, though, was something I didn’t see coming, and I have to say I was impressed by it.  At first I thought it was stupid, but looking at it after the episode, it was a very clever way of linking both the storylines together while also pointing out that we can focus too much on stereotypes without seeing the true worth (or just truth) of a person…for example that the Chinese guy who runs your local Chinese restaurant could also be a Caucasian Psychiatrist with multiple personality disorders.  Who knew?!

What was the most disappointing aspect for me was the lack of comedy in the Butters storyline. Sure, there were the odd great moments–the psychiatrist coming into Butters’ room, beating him up, and urinating on him was a hilarious homage to Paranormal Activity–and I can’t help but enjoy seeing Butters get the blame for everything like always, but I expected so much more. I know South Park requires a suspension of disbelief, but, seriously, how stupid are Butters’ parents? The fact that they confused children’s playtime with multiple personality disorder and insanity was a bit too much to believe even for South Park. The story just seemed to plod along, relying on the ever crazy psychiatrist to provide the humor, but like the rest of the episode it just didn’t work. Something just seemed missing, and although I love Butters and always will, this felt like a rare miss for the character.

The episode as a whole was pretty underwhelming; it wasn’t very funny, and the story was predictable, aside from the aformentioned twist that raised my opinion of the episode somewhat. Overall I was disappointed with an episode which promised so much but gave so little. I really hope this was just a misstep in South Park’s return to form.

8 Comments

1. 

   jim

   June 4, 2011 at 8:46 am

   bad review. the author must be asian, because this was the best episode of the season.

   Reply
   • 

     Ollie C

     June 4, 2011 at 10:41 am

     Hi Jim, this seems to have been a very polarizing episode among fans, about half the people who watched it hated it and the other half loved it, I didn’t hate it but I was disappointed with it as I didn’t find the whole Chinese storyline funny at all, but obviously some people found it hilarious.

     Its all down to your own opinion really, if you found this episode funny, thats great I’m glad you enjoyed it. I didn’t think it was good personally but again thats my opinion, and I have the right to express it just like you do.

     Oh and I’m Irish by the way, so don’t worry I wasn’t offended in any shape or form by the episode, and considering we’re stereotyped in pretty much every comedy as drunken, fighting, redhaired eejits who live on Guinness and potatoes I wouldn’t want to be easily offended!

     Reply
2. 

   Jamie

   June 4, 2011 at 12:00 pm

   As a white guy who has lived in Asia and seen first hand the racism employed by the people there towards other Asians, this episode was especially hilarious. Add to that, I live in a city where 30 percent of the population are recent Asian immigrants, so I get to see the cultural and linguistic frustrations embodied by this episode first hand on almost a daily basis. This episode was spot on and absolutely hilarious! The ending was surely the weakest part, but this was by no means one of the weaker episodes. Far from it!

   Reply
3. 

   cyril

   June 6, 2011 at 10:51 am

   Ollie, you are correct. This episode was below average. I enjoyed it, but nothing was over the top, and the comedy just sort plodded along. I didn’t think it SUCKED, but I too was a bit let down. But I’m not worried, they’ll pull out an over-the-top episode before all is said and done.

   Reply
4. 

   Siki1991

   June 6, 2011 at 1:24 pm

   Does anyone know from wich movie is scene at the end of the episode(when he dont want to kill a fly)? I am thinking about that all day and cant remember the movie

   Reply
   • 

     Ollie C

     June 10, 2011 at 1:55 pm

     Hi Siki, I believe its from Psycho though I’m not 100% sure

     Reply
     • 

       Erick001bc

       June 18, 2011 at 2:22 pm

       Thank you for that… I was having the same issue.

       Reply
5. 

   niqqerfaqqot

   August 3, 2011 at 3:29 pm

   This episode was hilarious. The matter of Caucasians confusing different types Asians has been around for a very long time. This episode brings that conflict to light and adds extremely funny comedy to it. Also, the plot with Butters and Dr. Janis was one of the funniest story lines that Matt and Trey have ever created. In my opinion, anyone who cannot see the comedy in this episode must be blind to humor. Matt Stone and Trey Parker are known for over stepping boundaries and comically portraying real life issues, and this episode deserves to be recognized for more than just that

   Reply