South Park: Pandemic

South Park is not for everyone. On one level the humor is rude and crude beyond description, with on air depictions of body functions and gay sex sometimes cropping up. But South Park is also the best satirical show on TV bar none.

The most recent episode, Pandemic, is a case in point for the latter. Spoilers follow.

In Pandemic there seems to be an epidemic of Peruvian Pan Flute bands sweeping the world (get it; Pandemic, har har.) The South Park boys decide to cash in and, after talking their friend Craig into coughing up a $100 birthday check for costumes and instruments, show up at the mall (along with two other Peruvian Pan Flute bands) to play for tips and sell cheap CDs.

The “Pandemic” has meanwhile gotten the attention of Homeland Security. The military is therefore ordered to arrest all the Peruvian Pan Flute bands in the country and take them to a holding camp in Miami. Naturally the boys, plus Craig, are swept up in this dragnet, much to their consternation.

When it is announced that all the Peruvian Pan Flute players will be sent to Gitmo for the rest of their lives, the real Pan Flautists beg the military to let them go, as they are the guardians against something called “the Furry Death.” Meanwhile the boys beg the head of Homeland Security to let them go, as they are not really Peruvian or even very good flute players. Concluding that they are some kind of hybrid Peruvian Flute Band creatures, the head of Homeland Security agrees, so long as they agree to take out the country of Peru (not “Peruvian”, as someone suggests.)

So as the South Park boys prepare to invade Peru all by themselves, an attack by giant guinea pigs commences, as seen through CNN video cams and a video recorder used by Randy Marsh, Stan’s father, in the Cloverfield Style. And the head of Homeland Security is seen to be a space alien with no love for our planet.

Go that so far? To be continued.

Let’s see. So far in one half hour episode, Pandemic, (including commercials) the guys behind South Park are poking fun at get rich quick schemes, Peruvian Pan Flute bands, the way Homeland Security deals with threats to Homeland Security, X Files style alien conspiracies, the movie Cloverfield, and their own show, among other things. You guys are always doing stuff like this and winding up in some foreign country or another planet. That’s why no one at school wants to hang out with you guys.”

Is it any wonder why South Park is beloved by connoisseurs of good satire? When one watches something like The Daily Show or Bill Maher, one knows that pretty much only conservatives will be ridiculed. On South Park, no one is safe. South Park, for instance, has mocked just about every religion known to man, including Mormonism, Islam, and Scientology. But South Park has also mocked atheists. No political persuasion gets off. As the guys once said, they may hate conservatives, but they really %4&!* hate liberals.

That’s why conservatives especially like South Park, despite the occasional vulgarity. If what right wingers hold deal get zinged on an episode of South Park, it doesn’t matter. Next week it will be someone else’s turn, like the time Al Gore got mocked for his paranoia about something called “Manbearpig.” And you have to love a show that shows Al Gore to be the clueless buffoon that he is, even if he does have an Oscar and a Nobel Prize.

Source: Pandemic!! Wednesday, Ainitcool, October 21st, 2008