SOUTH PARK – Viva la México!

Sorry for the delay for this weeks review everyone, broken chargers have a habit of throwing a spanner in the works!

This week South Park went back to the basics that have helped it become one of the most beloved comedies on television and it worked! While the angst and drama of the last few episodes were a nice change of pace for South Park, it was pure joy seeing a traditional South Park episode where kids having fun (or Cartman being a psychopathic maniac) took centre stage.

Any episode that concentrates on Butters is usually great and this was no exception. How great was it seeing Mexican Butters get adopted into a family who basically used him as a slave? His adoptive parents were hilarious throughout, whether describing everyday items for Butters or making him do manual labour because they thought it made him happy. Then we got the icing on the cake, Butters being left outside El Poco Loco where Mexicans belong. Genius!

The episode presented an interesting point about immigrants crossing the border, and what would happen if they all went back home. While the episode didn’t really show how America would be affected without immigrants I think Randy’s Darth Vader style noooooo at seeing the piles of leaves just summed up the possible reaction perfectly, while cracking me up at the same time! To be honest I think the plot of the episode was more about creating a funny situation for the characters rather than making any real point, but I still appreciated the sentiment behind it.

Butters sparking a revolution of Mexicans and inspiring them to return to their homeland was fun to watch while Cartman was his usual self trying to win at any cost. The moment where Cartman tries to kill Butters is brilliant and the whole chase scene after that was exciting, and I loved how Butters outsmarted Cartman, something which I don’t think we’ve seen enough of! Cartman, like Butters, was at the centre of the episodes plot and I will never get tired of Cartman exploiting positions of authoritah! What really helped this episode stand out though was its great one liners, and there were a lot of them, my personal favourite being, “You’ve heard of Mexican salsa, but Mexican pride?” Brilliant line and just one of many sprinkled throughout the episode.

The Last of the Meheecans showed South Park still has its funny bone firmly intact and the episode was a firm reminder of classic South Park. While it wasn’t the most original or fresh episode of South Park, it more than made up for that by being both consistently funny and memorable. So what does this mean for South Park? Are we returning to the classic style episodes, and was “I’m Getting Old”, and “Assburgers” just a temporary shake-up? I don’t think anyone can fully understand where Matt and Trey are planning to take the show but if they manage to produce quality episodes like this consistently then there’s no doubt that South Park should be on the air for a long time to come.