South Park Randy We Need to Do the Test Again

Information technology'southward all there in the opening scene of the starting time episode of Southward Park. Afterward the brief theme song performed by Primus and a gonzo credit sequence, we're introduced to iv crudely animated third-graders—Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, and, of course, the demagogue child-tyrant Eric Cartman—as they sing "School Days," an innocent song from 1907 nearly an older couple looking back on their youth. They're interrupted by Kyle's brother Ike, whom Cartman calls a dildo. "What'southward a dildo?" Stan asks. The boys—with the possible exception of Kenny, who's muffled past his trademark orangish hood—have no answers. But it doesn't end them from throwing the discussion effectually.

In the near 23 years since that pilot debuted on Comedy Central in August 1997, 306 boosted episodes of South Park take aired, most blending the pure and profane in a way foreshadowed by that opening minute. (Of course, the episode's championship, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe," also signaled much of what was to come.) The children are our optics into the baroque, titular Colorado town, which series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone utilize to dissect the world we live in. They're often the smartest people in a reactionary town frequently visited by vapid celebrities. But they're simply 10 years onetime, and South Park consistently reminds us of that, whether it'southward through their love of World of Warcraft, or Stan getting his heart cleaved for the first time, or their inability to empathize words best suited for the bedroom.

South Park, however, aims to be more than kids being kids and unearthing new obscenities (though that was certainly a large role of its early entreatment). The bear witness has been praised and condemned in equal part for its handling of current events and social problems ranging from Scientology to Mainland china to Osama bin Laden to almost anything that'south appeared in the headlines in the past 2 decades. That'due south a result of the show'south famously nimble arroyo, which allows it to produce some episodes in as quickly equally iii or four days. Seemingly no one and nothing has been exempt from Parker and Stone's sometimes savage satire. Look no farther than the Season 9 episode "All-time Friends Forever" to see their nihilistic views on display: Later on Kenny'southward umpteenth death sparks a right-to-die debate that echoed the Terri Schiavo example—the episode aired hours before Schiavo passed away—Kyle declares "Cartman's side is right, for the wrong reasons. But we're wrong, for the right reasons." In Parker and Stone's world, everyone has a point, or perhaps no one has one at all. It's not surprising that Stone once said, "I hate conservatives, only I actually fucking hate liberals."

That approach has non been without controversy. The prove has handled gender issues clumsily since the boys' teacher, Mrs. Garrison, transitioned early in the show's run, and mocked trans athletes as recently every bit 2019. Eric Cartman is racist and xenophobic to his core, and while his ignorance is supposed to be the butt of the joke in many cases, writers dating back to David Margolis in 1999 accept argued the popular character has helped normalize anti-Semitism. South Park every bit a whole has never been practiced at addressing racial problems—the fictional town'due south alone Black educatee is named Token Black, and that'south merely one of the show'south many offenses. That isn't to say that Parker and Stone haven't successfully walked a fine line on sensitive issues on occasion, yet: The Season 11 episode "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson," which was made in response to comedian Michael Richards shouting racial epithets at Black hecklers, featured 42 uncensored uses of the N-word. "With Apologies" was later on praised by the NAACP-continued group Abolish the "N" Word, whose cofounder said, "This prove, in its own comedic way, is helping to educate people nigh the power of this word and how information technology feels to have detest linguistic communication directed at you lot."

On June 24, every episode of South Park arrives on HBO Max, with its warts, genius, and all else that comes with information technology. Revisiting now is sometimes uncomfortable, and occasionally revelatory. Information technology still features the juvenile jokes that slayed teenagers, the high-forehead plots that blew the college kids' minds, and, at its center, the four precocious boys that and so many fell in love with when it debuted in the belatedly '90s. To mark the occasion, The Ringer has ranked our height 40 episodes of Due south Park. We'll practise our best to not use the word "dildo" once more. —Justin Sayles

40. "You Have 0 Friends" (Season 14, Episode 4)

This episode premiered in 2010, manner before Facebook was helping to convince your dumb uncle that government shadow elites are secretly using conflicting technology from another dimension to remotely lobotomize registered AARP members. At that place was a time when Facebook was simply annoying, and the force per unit area to brainstorm living your life online hit communities across America like a tidal wave. In this episode, Stan reluctantly succumbs to that pressure, merely to placate the people in his life. Suddenly, everyone around him begins oversharing inane personal tidbits and demanding daily positive affirmations in the form of likes, comments, and even pokes. Man interactions become commoditized and digital personae become inextricably linked with IRL selves. In addition to being a rather prophetic episode, "You Have 0 Friends" is also really funny. Cartman hosts a Mad Money ripoff TV show that charts the value of Facebook users every bit if they're merely stock shares that can be easily jettisoned without remorse. Randy Marsh awkwardly confronts Stan, asking why he hasn't friended his own father. When Stan gets fed upward and tries to delete Facebook, he gets "sucked into Facebook," a digital realm resembling Tron if it were somehow even less welcoming. There's an unfortunate corporeality of South Park that hasn't aged well ,,, but "You lot Have 0 Friends" hasn't lost a pace. —Matt James

39. "AWESOM-O" (Flavour 8, Episode 5)

What starts as another prank played on Butters turns into a nightmare for Cartman. The idea was simple: dress up every bit a robot called Awesom-O 4000, befriend Butters, and play a joke on him into revealing his deepest secrets. Information technology starts off nifty, until Butters lets slip that he has a video of Cartman dressed up as Britney Spears kissing a paper-thin cutout of Justin Timberlake. Fearful this could go out, Cartman begins spending every waking infinitesimal with Butters, who really believes Awesom-O is an actual robot. On a trip to Los Angeles, a starved Cartman is somehow roped into pitching movies to a studio, and those ideas result in hundreds of new Adam Sandler films. The regime gets discussion of this and kidnaps Awesom-O to reprogram it as a weapon. Eventually the jig is up, all considering Cartman farted and robots technically don't fart. It'south one of Cartman's most ridiculous pranks, and while it might not have been the nearly successful, it did requite us Puppy Dear, a picture show where Adam Sandler falls in dear with a girl but the girl is actually a golden retriever. —Sean Yoo

38. "Raisins" (Flavor 7, Episode fourteen)

After Wendy breaks up with Stan, the boys take him to a juvenile Hooters-like restaurant chosen Raisins, and while I've never been within a Hooters—plain, they serve dandy wings—I trust that the writers of South Park captured the full experience with a sports bar temper and heavily fabricated-up waitresses, who utter what 1 can only assume is the company line: "I'yard so glad you guys came in—anybody in here is such a loser, merely y'all guys seem really cool." From at that place, Butters becomes infatuated with Raisins waitress Lexus, while Stan falls deeper into his post-breakup depression and joins the goth kids. But below the ridiculous, somewhat uncomfortable Hooters gag, in that location's true emotion in this episode—an agreement that's relatable to anyone who'southward e'er experienced the intense emotions that follow a breakup or unrequited love. While trite, the substitution between Stan and Butters toward the end ties the perfect bow on another lovingly absurd episode of South Park:

Stan: Huh? But you lot just got dumped!

Butters: Well, yeah, and I'm sad, but at the same fourth dimension, I'm actually happy that something could make me feel that sad. It's like, it makes me feel live, you lot know? It makes me feel human being. The only style I could feel this distressing now is if I felt something actually good before. And then, I have to take the bad with the good. So I guess what I experience is, similar, a cute sadness.

— Amelia Wedemeyer

37. "Night of the Living Homeless" (Flavour 11, Episode 7)

South Park doesn't punch down every bit much as it punches in every direction. In this Night of the Living Dead parody, the town's growing homeless population is occasionally the subject of the joke—a running gag has Cartman wanting to jump a few homeless people on his skateboard—but the real digs are aimed at the town'south residents, who are frightened by the sudden influx of beggars. The episode begins with the boondocks quango trying to figure out how to brand employ of the homeless (Randy suggests using them for tires, which isn't as well far off what some communities have tried to practise in the not-so-distant past). Soon, the residents are unable to do anything, frozen by guilt and unable to maneuver through the hordes of people who have overrun the streets and public places. The boys eventually visit the neighboring town of Evergreen—which, it turns out, successfully ended its homeless trouble by convincing its beggars to move to South Park. That gives the 4th-graders an idea: The style to reclaim the town is to convince the homeless to make their way to the Los Angeles area. The plan works (thanks to a modified version of "California Love"), and the residents of S Park rejoice. The homeless are out of sight and out of heed, and the boondocks can go dorsum to business as usual, only that ignorance-is-elation arroyo may be one of the prove's nigh damning indictments of all. —Sayles

36. "The List" (Season eleven, Episode xiv)

This is one of the most underrated South Park episodes, in my apprehensive opinion. When the girls create a list ranking the hottest boys in school, Kyle gets depressed when he discovers he'south been voted the ugliest. What seems like your standard elementary school kiddy drama slowly turns into a political story about corruption and lies every bit Stan and Wendy investigate the truth of the voting process inside the Pleases and Sparkles Commission. When Stan and Wendy finally observe the truth and explain it to Kyle, Bebe appears … with a gun. —Jason Gallagher

35. "Fat Barrel and Pancake Head" (Season seven, Episode 5)

The absurdity and downright brazenness that gives South Park its reputation is on full brandish in "Fat Barrel and Pancake Head," the Flavour 7 episode that viciously parodies erstwhile celebrity megacouple Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck. Cartman dresses his paw up as Jennifer Lopez for a cultural diversity day presentation, and performs what is essentially an offensive ventriloquist human action, much to the chagrin of Kyle, who has spent weeks preparing for his ain, more than appropriate presentation on Latinx civilization. As expected, Cartman comes out victorious over Kyle, and is awarded a souvenir certificate to the mall, which he spends on a music video for his hand dressed every bit Jennifer Lopez. Eventually, Cartman's hand replaces the real Jennifer Lopez, both careerwise and in her human relationship with a dumb, lovesick Ben Affleck. However, the real magic of this episode occurs within the last few moments, when information technology's revealed that Cartman'southward hand was never some other Jennifer Lopez, merely instead a out-of-stater named Mitch Conner. Plumbing fixtures to the entire plot, this animated deus ex machina is absolutely nonsensical, but it's also one of the funniest endings in the show's history. —Wedemeyer

34. "Cancelled" (Season 7, Episode ane)

A few months agone, I was watching America's Adjacent Top Model. What a show. But pure reality Tv set cooked up in a mad genius's lab (probably Tyra'due south). Every element of that show is washed upwards to the accented near, to the signal that contestants end upwards looking similar a bad false of actual humans. Spotter literally whatsoever episode and y'all'll encounter what I mean. Then there I was, watching trashy idiot box, thinking to myself, "These people honestly are acting similar aliens. What if we're in a reality show for aliens, man?" It was my great idea, my one thousand thousand-dollar script. Fast-forward a few weeks and Ringer editor Justin Sayles asks me to write about South Park episodes, including this one—a super-aware meta-commentary well-nigh the show itself, guild, and TV culture, that right before it gets too smart dives deep into the dumb end—which is well-nigh Earth beingness a reality Television show for aliens. No idea is original. "Southward Park did information technology" is going to become the new "The Simpsons did information technology." —Mose Bergmann

33. "Kenny Dies" (Season 5, Episode 13)

By Season v, Parker and Stone had grown ill of the prove's longest-running gag: the many deaths of Kenny McCormick. And then they devised a proper sendoff for the orangish-hooded character. The resulting episode is a more often than not tender half-hour, in which Stan grapples with the purpose behind god's plan and Cartman, in hopes of getting a stem-cell research ban overturned, leads Congress in a rendition of Asia's "Rut of the Moment." Unfortunately, Cartman's plan doesn't work (at least for saving Kenny; he does use his aborted fetuses to clone a Shakey's Pizza). Fortunately for the show, all the same, the creators reversed their decision late in Flavor vi and brought Kenny back full fourth dimension. He's died in the evidence only sparingly since—and even revealed the source of his immortality later in the show's run. —Sayles

32. "Gnomes" (Flavour 2, Episode 17)

Great episodes are sometimes really just great moments. "Gnomes" equally an episode is about a group of underpants-stealing gnomes who infiltrate Tweek's bedroom—while Tweek's dad, a monologue-happy proprietor of a minor coffee shop, goes to state of war with Harbucks, a corporate java company that has his balls in a "vise grip" and a "salad shredder." It'southward almost big business organisation and capitalism and underpants. But "Gnomes" as a moment boils down to this:

The image has been used to explain MoviePass, political movements, and Elon Musk's takeover of Mars (Elon Musk used it on himself). It's a bully instance of South Park's knack for apologue, an epitome that succinctly speaks to the harebrained schemes that have defined so much of 21st-century industry—and it'due south, rightfully, the lasting legacy of "Gnomes." I nevertheless don't know what Phase 2 is. Does anyone? Does it even matter? —Andrew Gruttadaro

31. "Christian Rock Hard" (Flavour seven, Episode 9)

Not long after bands like Metallica were getting roasted for complaining almost music piracy, a local garage band in S Park named Moop was going through some artistic differences. Cartman believes so much in his vision that he bets the other members of the band that he can make a platinum-selling album before they do. And what'due south the easiest way for Cartman to do that? By starting his own Christian stone band called Faith + 1 and singing about getting on his knees, pleasing Jesus, and feeling his conservancy all over his face. —Gallagher

30. "Cartmanland" (Season 5, Episode half dozen)

Cartman inherits $1 one thousand thousand from his grandmother and uses it to buy a theme park that but he tin can apply. His conclusion to ban everybody sparks outrageous demand, and when he'south forced to open up the park to the public to pay for security and maintenance workers, he generates massive profit. Cartman's newfound wealth and happiness causes Kyle to lose faith in God and develop a hemorrhoid that virtually proves fatal, up until Cartman loses everything out of impatience and sheer stupidity.

This is i of the near basic bounds of any South Park episode. It's also oddly realistic. Change theme park exclusivity to concert exclusivity, and this isn't far removed from what happened with the Fyre Festival. —Ben Glicksman

29. "Margaritaville" (Flavor xiii, Episode 3)

To understand consumerism and the collapse of the American housing market in the belatedly aughts, many people have turned to Academy Award–winning motion picture The Big Brusk, while others, such equally myself, have sought truth in South Park'due south Emmy-winning "Margaritaville." In this episode, S Park is turned into a biblical setting after a recession strikes its residents, who have come to view the economy as a vengeful god later on Randy Marsh takes information technology upon himself to berate his neighbors for their frivolous spending. This comes afterward one of the episode's highlights, when Randy explains the reasoning of South Park'south economic downturn to Stan, casting blame on materialism and people who've taken out loans to spend on nonessential items, all the while using his Margaritaville-branded blender to set up himself a potable. In the end, Kyle takes it upon himself to solve the town's economic woes, only to run into his credit exist attributed to President Obama. Like most of Southward Park's all-time episodes, "Margaritaville" takes a culturally relevant discipline and presents it in a digestible way using its trademark humor. —Wedemeyer

28. "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" (Season 1, Episode ix)

I tin't begin to explain how incendiary a singing slice of excrement was in 1997. I can remember my entire extended family, crowded in a living room on Christmas Eve, keeling over as we watched a poop bounce around a room (leaving a trail behind him) and sing most "festive buns" and levels of, um, corniness. My uncle cried that dark. Information technology may seem mild now—stupid, even—simply that's the point. Information technology seems that mode in 2022 only because Southward Park has pushed boundaries so far in the intervening years. And it started, in function, with Mr. Hankey. —Gruttadaro

27. "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset" (Season eight, Episode 12)

In 2004, the show went in on Paris Hilton and the celebration of socialite glory culture. Subsequently Hilton arrives in Due south Park, she watches her dog die by suicide, tries to purchase Butters for $200 1000000, and challenges Mr. Slave to a "whore-off" in the middle of boondocks. When later asked about the episode, Hilton said, "I oasis't seen it, merely when people copy you, that's like the about flattering affair." —Glicksman

26. "You're Getting Quondam" (Season 15, Episode seven)

One of the beauties of animated sitcoms is the characters never become one-time, unless the creators want them to. Bart Simpson will forever be 10, and his sisters volition exist 8 and 1. Southward Park has occasionally played with this: At i bespeak in Season 4, the boys enter quaternary grade. Time appears to motion slowly in South Park, only unlike for its peers, it moves.

This Season xv episode tackles the idea of aging in a more philosophical sense. Stan turns ten, and everything starts to sound, look, and taste similar shit—literally. A doc diagnoses Stan with a case of "being a cynical asshole," and after he ruins an outing to X-Men: First Class, they want cipher to do with him.

While yous tin can't stay immature forever, the episode'south B-plot revolves effectually what happens when one tries to. Randy, who grits his teeth and pretends to similar the tween-wave music the kids are enjoying, somewhen begins playing his ain music under the moniker "Steamy Ray Vaughn." He becomes a walking Hard Times punch line: as well oblivious to realize he'due south as well old to be here.

"You're Getting One-time" ends on a lamentable note—Randy and Sharon's divorce and Stan'southward new, dispiriting life gear up to "Landslide"—but I choose to retrieve it for its happy moments, like Duck President. Sometimes, shit just works. —Sayles

25. "Y'all Got F'd in the A" (Season 8, Episode 4)

This gruesome spoof of the 2004 film You Got Served focuses on Butters and his extreme misfortune. After Randy is hospitalized for being served, Stan assembles a ragtag group to avenge his father in a dance-off with kids from Orange County. But he needs a fifth member, and someone suggests Butters, who was in one case a state tap-dancing champion. But Butters refuses to bring together because of a prior incident that haunts him. We get a flashback of his final competition, where he's dancing to the tune of "I've Got Something in My Front end Pocket for You," before his shoe flies off into the rafters and kills eight people—or eleven, depending on how you lot count. Stan and Co. are unable to convince Butters, and instead enlist the help of Jeffy the duck, who injures his leg the solar day of the performance. Butters comes to save the day, but ends up reliving his past horror once again, when he ends upwards killing the entire Orangish County squad the same verbal way he killed all those other people. Past a technicality, Squad South Park wins, and a traumatized Butters is praised as a hero. Someone definitely got served in this episode; we're just not exactly sure who. —Yoo

24. "Towelie" (Flavor five, Episode eight)

Towelie is a prototypical rudderless stoner character. Outside of the distinction of being the first stoner to be a sentient towel, there's no innovation in stoner sense of humour to be found here. He's a dumb character and Parker and Rock direct admit that with the false Towelie merch commercial that aired with this episode. The meta-joke of immediately trying to monetize such a cheaply crafted character seemed to give them the dark-green light for all the low-hanging fruit that is Towelie humor. All that being said, when a towel with a high-pitched voice sheepishly asks "You wanna go high?" it'southward really fucking funny. And it'due south as funny as it is because it'due south so egregiously stupid.

This episode is mostly remembered for Towelie's debut, merely its through line hasn't lost any relevance in the past xviii years. The boys spent the entirety of this episode completely apathetic to every facet of life exterior of playing their new Okama Gamesphere. Throughout all the gun fights, parachuting, infiltration of hole-and-corner bases, and thick exposition, the boys simply practice not care about anything they're doing. They're living out a video game and yet they're besides blinded by their desire to play a video game to enjoy any of it. For all the Guitar Hero wizards with dusty out-of-tune real guitars, this is a gut punch. —James

23. "All Well-nigh Mormons" (Season seven, Episode 12)

South Park is arguably at its best when information technology satirizes organized religion. There may exist no better example than "All About Mormons," in which a devout Morman family unit moves to South Park, befriends the Marshes, and teaches them about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. "All Nigh Mormons" features a singsong story about the roots of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-twenty-four hours Saints, including Joseph Smith's tale of being visited by an affections, his utilize of aureate plates and seer stones to translate another new testament of the Bible, and Lucy Harris'southward suspicion of Smith. Trey and Matt would afterward explore the religion farther in their play The Book of Mormon, which won nine Tonys, including Best Musical. —Wedemeyer

22. "ManBearPig" (Season ten, Episode half-dozen)

"I'k totally cereal" is the defining quote from this episode, in which Al Gore is portrayed equally a rabid man on the hunt for the episode'due south titular creature. Information technology's a not-and then-subtle innuendo to Gore'south climate change work. And like in the mid-2000s, non many people here seemed to listen to him. (Though Parker and Stone would later atone for this in a pair of Season 22 episodes, aptly titled "Time to Get Cereal" and "Nobody Got Cereal?") Elsewhere in "ManBearPig," in classic Cartman fashion, he thinks he finds some gilded in a cave that the boys believe to be housing ManBearPig. Cartman decides to hide the treasure past swallowing it all. Then he shits information technology all out at the finish of the episode. All that's gold in South Park doesn't ever glitter. —David Lara

21. "Fishsticks" (Season 13, Episode 5)

The best South Park episodes unremarkably have some sort of cultural touch on, and "Fishsticks" might have had the most meaning in the show's history. The episode revolves around a joke Jimmy comes up with, with small help from Cartman:

Practise you similar fish sticks?

Yeah.

Do you like putting fish sticks in your mouth?

Yeah.

Well, what are you lot, a gay fish?

The joke goes viral, with every late-nighttime host repeating it on their respective shows. It's also beloved and understood by everyone except one person, Kanye West. In a quest to fully sympathize the truthful meaning of the joke, Kanye goes on a rampage, taking his anger out on people, fifty-fifty killing Carlos Mencia in the procedure. Later on talking with Jimmy and Cartman, Kanye eventually has an epiphany, believing that he is a gay fish. The episode concludes with Kanye embracing his new identity in a music video remixing his song "Heartless," in which he makes love to a fish. The twenty-four hour period subsequently the episode aired, Kanye wrote a web log post that began with, "Due south PARK MURDERED ME LAST Dark AND Information technology'S PRETTY FUNNY. It HURTS MY FEELINGS BUT WHAT Can YOU Look FROM SOUTH PARK!" The post ends with Kanye examining his ain ego and his paradigm. (A twelvemonth later on, on "Gorgeous," he'd rap: "Choke a South Park author with a fish stick.") Who would've ever thought a dumb joke on a testify similar South Park could help modify someone similar Kanye? —Yoo

20. "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers" (Flavour half-dozen, Episode 13)

As much as South Park is, well, Southward Park—crass, gross, stupid—it's likewise a testify nearly kids. Sometimes I almost forget that detail amid all the wildness and social criticism—and also because Kyle, Cartman, Stan, and Kenny have been in fourth class for about 20 years. That'south why episodes like these are and so much fun. "The Return of the Fellowship" lets the kids play make-believe, but it doesn't turn upward the visual style similar Parker and Stone did in later episodes similar "Expert Times With Weapons." Even though I can't entirely relate to the story of returning a cursed porn record, this episode also serves as a special kind of nostalgia point for someone like me, who as a nerdy, LOTR-obsessed kid, would scour the park near the river with my neighborhood friends for the best-looking stick that could be my own Andúril, or some short stubbies to best imitate Legolas's double blades (nobody ever wanted to exist Gimli), to arm myself in imaginary battles. —Bergmann

19. "Major Boobage" (Season 12, Episode 3)

On-screen drug trips always present writers with an opportunity to get deeply weird. Kenny and Gerald's true cat urine-induced psychedelic journeys into a straight rip-off of the obscure misogynistic blithe sci-fi moving picture Heavy Metallic is supremely weird. If you watched this episode having never seen or heard of Heavy Metal, it must accept been a real what the fuck moment for yous. For those of us who had vague memories of Heavy Metal (or at to the lowest degree its trailer) tucked away in our brains, it was too a what the fuck moment. They really invested all this time, money, and production effort into this niche referential joke with its roots xx years in the past? More unbelievable than their commitment to the bit however, is how close the parody is to its source material. They even licensed the utilise of Heavy Metal's theme by (former) Eagles lead guitarist Don Felder (which still rips). Some of Due south Park's greatest successes are just shining a spotlight on something, getting out of the way, and saying "look at how wild this is." —James

18. "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut" (Flavor i, Episode 13)

This episode is one of the earliest and best examples of the show's constant ability to be smart, self-aware, and amusing in a way that evokes a sort of "funny for united states" attitude. Cartman's search for his existent dad uses a classic TV trope with a Rashomon-like story structure, but every time we become a new story shedding new light on the mysterious night of Eric's conception, at that place should be a new shocking reveal or twist bringing usa closer to the truth. Instead of that, what we get instead is a repeated bludgeoning of the aforementioned punch line—the titular fact—about Cartman'due south mom'southward promiscuity. Eric'due south dad could've been Master Running Water, or maybe Chef, but also maybe the 1989 Denver Broncos. While the elements of the slut-shaming in this episode have non aged well, this episode remains allegorical of the way South Park can play with story structures and tropes. —Bergmann

17. "Woodland Critter Christmas" (Season 8, Episode xiv)

Christmas is a tradition unlike any other on South Park, which had already gifted viewers classics like "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" and "Red Sleigh Down" by the fourth dimension Stan stumbled across the woodland critters in 2004. Simply this episode is a truly off-the-rails yuletide story involving the Antichrist, a bunny sacrifice, a kidnapped Kyle, and mountain lion cubs performing an abortion. That it all comes from Cartman's sick mind doesn't make it whatsoever less festive. —Sayles

16. "The Death of Eric Cartman" (Season ix, Episode vi)

Cartman eats all the skin off of every piece of KFC chicken, infuriating Stan, Kyle, and Kenny. The next day the boys decide to completely ignore Cartman and somehow, he ends upwards thinking he has died. At the center of the episode is poor old Butters, who isn't in on the joke and is the merely friend who engages with Cartman. Butters tries using religious themes like heaven and "heck" and amende to help Cartman release his soul from the earth. While Cartman is doing expert deeds, Butter believes he'south talking to a ghost and his parents send him to a doctor's office that runs some extremely unconventional tests. When escaped prisoners subsequently concur the Ruddy Cross hostage, Cartman is inspired to salve the twenty-four hour period with help from Butters. The guys eventually reveal their joke, to the complete daze of both Cartman and Butters, resulting in one of almost priceless moments e'er on the show. —Yoo

15. "Ginger Kids" (Season 9, Episode 11)

This episode shows the range of South Park. It starts with Cartman ripping into kids with red pilus (chosen ginger kids) in an endeavor to annoy Kyle, then transitions into Kyle getting revenge by turning Cartman into an actual ginger kid. The ever-aggrieved Cartman uses that to his reward and creates the Ginger Separatist motility, which aims to abolish all non-redheads. Past the end, the episode turns to horror as the ginger kids begin abducting the others. Ultimately, withal, the episode concludes on a strange note for Cartman: a song nigh unity. —Lara

xiv. "Casa Bonita" (Season vii, Episode 11)

South Park is at its best not when information technology's relying on elaborate plot points or ripped-from-the-headline story lines. Ii unproblematic ingredients often brand for the perfect episode: a story centered on the eternal disharmonize between Kyle and Cartman, and 1 that positions the boys every bit unproblematic school kids who like to do elementary-school-kid things. In the case of "Casa Bonita," information technology ways getting excited about Kyle's birthday party at a beloved Mexican eating place concatenation (a real-life reference from creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who frequented the chain growing upwardly in Colorado).

The trouble arises when Kyle tells Cartman he's inviting Butters, non Cartman. The episode features Cartman's frantic and maniacal efforts to take Butters'south place at the party. It too involves this interaction between Kyle and Cartman, which perfectly encapsulates Cartman's character, or lack thereof. "That's non beingness squeamish. That's but putting on a squeamish sweater," Kyle says, rebuffing Cartman's efforts to ingratiate himself to Kyle.

"I don't understand the difference," Cartman replies. —Nevins

thirteen. "Guitar Queer-O" (Season 11, Episode thirteen)

This episode hits close to home because I was so much like Stan and Kyle. My friends and I would go together to play Guitar Hero, and we as well took then much interest in classic stone music that we all attempted to learn the bodily guitar. So watching this felt similar a direct shot at my friends and me and the rest of Guitar Hero civilisation. Whatever kid who played the game at one point and felt like they were actual rock stars only to realize that they were only playing a silly video game in the end can relate. (Shout-out to Thad, who was introduced in this episode: "He doesn't even demand a system. He tin can play guitar hero acoustically.") —Lara

12. "Trapped in the Closet" (Season 9, Episode 12)

Woo boy. Information technology'south the ultimate heat check from Parker and Stone. Information technology's hard to explain this episode in a sensical and not-litigious way. What's besides hard to explain is how provocative and bizarre it felt when it get-go aired 15 (!) years ago. The episode'due south biggest legacy is how information technology marked the departure of Isaac Hayes, the longtime vocalism of Chef and a Scientologist, from the show. Hayes. Just that doesn't adequately explain all that was going on in this episode. It concluded with Stan yelling "Become ahead and sue me!" as the cease credits rolled with only "John Smith" and "Jane Smith" listed over and over again. Yeah, you actually take to come across it for yourself. —Nevins

xi. "Member Berries" (Season 20, Episode 1)

South Park began experimenting with episode-to-episode continuity in Flavour 18, but Season xx was when that approach coalesced. It proved the show remained in a form of its own when making low-cal of a given moment; more than that, it offered striking commentary on the 2022 presidential election, online trolls, and the dangers of nostalgia.

In classic South Park fashion, "Member Berries" took jabs at most everyone, and introduced a grape-like fruit that tried to brainwash those who ate it into fetizishing the past. Parts of this seemed harmless plenty—"Memba Chewbacca?"—up until the fruit revealed itself to be a hateful and destructive force designed to worsen America'south systemic evils. If you're e'er looking backward, you can't make progress.

At its best, Southward Park says something important in the dumbest possible way. This episode is an encapsulation. Likewise, Cartman draws a vagina with balls on his face, because what else would y'all expect? —Glicksman

10. "Super Fun Time" (Flavour 12, Episode vii)

When I was in the quaternary class we went to Genesee Country Village, a re-creation of 19th-century life, full of adults pretending to exist people from that time. I recollect being pretty convinced—like, "Wow! So that's how a printing press works?!" and "Whoa, no telephones?!" What I never considered was what would happen if I—or someone else in my class; I was too well-behaved for pranks—forced ane of these reenactors to admit the present. That's the premise of "Super Fun Fourth dimension," in my mind one of S Park'due south best, cleanest episodes: A group of Die Hard–esque criminals (who robbed a Burger King) plow a field trip at Pioneer Village into a hostage situation that isn't hands resolved considering the reenactors refuse to break character. It's a elementary yet absurd concept that yields shocking yet hilarious results; multiple employees die while pretending not to know what a door lawmaking is. It'south a bit that never gets former. —Gruttadaro

9. The Game of Thrones Trilogy (Season 17, Episodes 7 through ix)

My favorite genre of Southward Park episode is the "function-playing" kind—when the adults in town act so insane they fit perfectly into the boys' imaginary games. In this epic trilogy, the boys are playing Game of Thrones and the town is preparing for a violent wintertime because Blackness Fri is coming. Will Randy and the protectors of the mall exist able to hold off the savage hoard of Black Friday shoppers? Can Cartman successfully betray every single i of his friends in the garden of his aroused old neighbour? Will anyone survive the Red Robin Wedding? Who will sit on the Iron Thrones of the panel wars, Xbox or PlayStation? And nearly importantly, will George R.R. Martin'south pizza e'er actually come up for real? —Gallagher

8. "Medicinal Fried Chicken" (Season 14, Episode 3)

Randy Marsh, the idiotic everyman of suburban white America, is the fundamental focus of some of South Park's most enduring moments. He functions every bit the slightly exaggerated Florida Man of Colorado, his rudimentary motivations ever leading him to new opportunities to make terrible decisions. This is the episode when Randy intentionally exposes his balls to radiation in order to be eligible for medical marijuana. Does it make sense that Randy'southward balls neat to the size of bean bag chairs? No, just the resulting visual gags are hilariously arresting. Once you've seen Randy shuttling his balls around town in a wheelbarrow or billowy on them like a gleeful kid on a hopping ball, you're not likely to forget those images.

Cartman, meanwhile, spends this episode becoming the Scarface of an illegal clandestine KFC supply concatenation, which is a office that his character seemed destined to play at some bespeak. As Cartman snorts lines of KFC and Randy struggles to fit his enlarged assurance through the dispensary doorway, Parker and Stone somehow manage to make a decently cogent statement against unnecessarily criminalizing substances that aren't definitively harmful. —James

7. The Drawing Wars (Season 10, Episodes 3 and 4)

At that place'due south nothing similar a expert diss track. Exercise y'all remember where y'all were when Drake dropped "Back to Back," or when Pusha-T released "Exodus 23:one"? There's but something about a beef: the electricity in the air, the pettiness, and the way yous can hear the rapper's snarl or smirk through the song. At that place'due south cipher like it. And then imagine the excitement in 2006 when it came to light that 1 animation titan was devoting a two-episode arc to take shots at another. South Park'southward pointed takedown of Family Guy's randomness-instead-of-actual-jokes quality—with the reveal that a tank of manatees write the show by randomly selecting floating word balls—is genius. It's basically like if "The Story of Adidon" had subbed out the line "You are hiding a child" for something like "You are hiding a sperm manufactory that is creating a civilization-hopping ground forces." —Bergmann

vi. "The Simpsons Already Did Information technology" (Flavour 6, Episode 7)

Every modern blithe sitcom is directly indebted to The Simpsons. In this Flavor 6 episode, South Park tackles the inevitable comparisons caput-on. Butters, in his evil alter ego Professor Anarchy, devises a series of schemes to accept down the boondocks: First, he wants to build a device to black out the sunday, something that Mr. Burns famously did. And then, he decapitates the town's statue, which only reminds residents of Bart lopping off Jebediah Springfield'southward head. Subsequently Butters's assistant Dougie points out that his 3rd program—edifice a faulty monorail and running off with the town'south coin—was besides a love Simpsons plot, Butters snaps and begins seeing traces of Matt Groening'due south show everywhere. (One must imagine that Parker and Stone oftentimes feel the same way when creating episodes.) Just even in a homage to the longest-running scripted prime-time series always, the South Park creators are able to show what makes their show so unlike: The episode's A-plot revolves effectually Cartman acquiring "body of water men" (ugh) to help abound a society of sea people in his bedroom aquarium. It's a reference to a classic "Treehouse of Terror" plot that saw Lisa accidentally create a new world in a petri dish. Simply Lisa didn't have to go through the, um, lengths Cartman did to build a new world. When Cartman explains to Butters at the episode's finish that The Simpsons has done everything already, he's right. But The Simpsons has never done information technology like this. —Sayles

5. "The Losing Edge" (Season 9, Episode 5)

"I'm sorry, I thought this was America?!"

Put it on a red lid. Randy Marsh'southward outcry at not existence immune to fight all of the rival-squad dads at his kid's baseball games during their playoff run was instantly iconic. A lament that hit habitation across a certain disaffected subset of white America, information technology's Randy's right to exercise whatever he wants, because he's white and eye class. While Randy embarks on a Rocky-like journeying beyond the baseball game stadiums of Colorado, literally fighting to uphold the American Dream of unrestricted freedom, the boys are shitting on the corking American pastime of baseball game, failing upward in their attempts to out-suck their opponents. Sending upward a litany of sports moving picture tropes while giving us an all-time line and too introducing Kyle's nerdy cousin Kyle, "The Losing Edge" is undeniably one of South Park'due south best. —Bergmann

4. "Imaginationland" Trilogy (Flavour 11, Episode 10-12)

This is Parker and Rock'southward opus. If you put the three episodes together and ran them as a feature moving picture, it'd exist one of the best animated movies ever. An proficient display of topical humor, satire, cultural references, and, crucially, the most contentious and consequential Cartman vs. Kyle battle in the show's history. —Nevins

3. "Practiced Times With Weapons" (Season 8, Episode ane)

A main class in animation, at least past South Park standards. After the boys get their hands on martial arts weapons, they live out their ninja warrior fantasies equally the episode transitions from the testify'southward traditional animation to an anime mode. Trey Parker sang an original track called "Allow'south Fighting Love," and the episode turns after Butters takes a ninja star to the eye and the boys try to pass him off as a dog to avoid getting in trouble. That's it. That's the episode. —Nevins

two. "Make Honey, Not Warcraft" (Season 10, Episode 8)

Information technology's an iconic episode of South Park for its timeliness and ingenuity in incorporating World of Warcraft–way animation. It'due south as well one of the show's dumbest episodes ever while simultaneously beingness a nearly-perfect ode to the world of MMORPGs. In the episode, the boys take it upon themselves to defeat an evil and powerful character who has killed a majority of the players in the game. The powerful forcefulness is a human who has played WoW every hour of every solar day for a year and a one-half. Cartman rallies the gang and comes upwards with a plan to defeat this foe that involves killing approximately 65 million boars, a job that would take more than vii weeks to consummate. In a archetype montage set to Paul Stanley'southward "Alive to Win," the boys somewhen accomplish their goal and in plow, go obese, pimply, Rockstar-drinking machines. And thank you to Randy'southward help in retrieving the "The Sword of a 1000 Truths," the boys defeat this great evil force—just to go back to playing the game they beloved. For how stupid the episode is, Matt and Trey brilliantly mirrored the ethos of WoW while expertly satirizing the false high stakes of the game. While the obsession with World of Warcraft may have subsided for near people, the episode nonetheless resonates with the audience nearly 14 years after its release. —Yoo

1. "Scott Tenorman Must Die" (Season 5, Episode 4)

"Oh, the tears of unfathomable sadness … "

It's been argued that South Park didn't get what it is until this Flavor v episode. Whether that'south true or not, it is clear that no one realized just how sinister Cartman could be until this point.

"Scott Tenorman Must Dice" starts out innocently enough, by South Park standards: Cartman bought some stray pubic hair from the titular red-headed ninth-grader, assertive that's all it took to launch him into puberty. The rest of the boys laugh at him, and he sets out to get his $10 back. One problem: Tenorman is smarter than Cartman. He swindles him out of an additional $6.12 and records a video of him oinking while he begs. Irate, the fourth-grader devises a series of plans to seek revenge—the virtually promising of which is a convoluted scheme that would accept a pony bite off Tenorman'due south penis. Nobody is impressed, including the viewer. And and so Cartman invites Scott to his Chili Con Funfair …

This episode aired on July eleven, 2001. Xix years subsequently, I can clearly remember my teenage cocky'south reaction to its conclusion. I had never seen something that was so shocking and hilarious and twisted all at one time. I couldn't express joy or speak, permit solitary process the depravity. The whole episode, Cartman had been the rube, getting dunked on by someone five years his senior. At its terminate, he reveals that he turned the pony plot into a way to have Tenorman's parents killed by the horse's owner and and then he used their remains to make his chili, which he then fed to Scott. And then he gets Radiohead to show up and mock their biggest fan as he mourns the death of his parents. Really dark stuff, human. Merely also South Park at its best.

"Dude, I recollect it might be best for us to never piss Cartman off again," Kyle says as he takes in what just unfolded. At to the lowest degree someone could muster a thought.

The episode has been compared to Shakespeare'southward Titus Andronicus. Information technology also recalls Game of Thrones' Frey pie. I guess in that regard, South Park is one of the cracking epics of our time. —Sayles

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Source: https://www.theringer.com/tv/2020/6/24/21301038/south-park-episodes-ranked