Wow, we’re here already. The halfway point of Season 12. You know what means — Last South Park until October. Good God! Think of all the things that will happen between now and then (Indy, Iron Man, ALL of summer, the start of football, my untimely demise at the hands of an obsessed fan, the creation of an obsessed fan in my own mind, who I try to drive from my brain with self-performed brain surgery)! Wow, that’s a lot. Anyway, let’s get to it.

This week’s South Park doesn’t really have any dangerous keywords to bring weirdos to the site. In fact, there wasn’t too much edge to this episode at all. Sure, many people get brutally murdered, but really, the main point we’re supposed to take away is that historical re-enactment employees suck, and the pioneer times were tough.

The episode begins at the Pioneer Village, where the kids are taking a field trip. The employees all speak in an old timey accent and don’t break character. FOR ANYTHING. The goal of the Pioneer Village is to give the kids a living history of Colorado. But if anyone has actually been to these types of things, you know how awkward and embarrassing they can be. Mr. Garrison forces the kids to choose partners and hold hands until they get back on the bus. Not surprisingly, Cartman has trouble finding a partner. He even resorts to asking Kyle, who states, “I hate you, remember?” I got a laugh out of Cartman’s response — “Jesus, what have I ever done to you?” How quickly one forgets about purposefully transmitting AIDS when they need to find a partner. Luckily for me (though not for Cartman), the only other person without a partner is Butters. Butters is determined to hold Cartman’s hand until they are back on that bus. Pairing these two together provides the biggest laughs of this episode.

The kids tour the town, meeting the blacksmith and the gunsmith and so on. Cartman notices a “Super Phun Thyme” amusement center across the street and literally drags Butters along. While Stan is questioning the townsfolk’s devotion to their craft, police sirens are heard in the background. All of a sudden, a car busts through the gates and several men with guns get out. Stan and Kyle start looking for a phone, but the townsfolk are not being very cooperative. They won’t break character, even after one of their own is shot in the head. Did Trey Parker have a bad re-enactment experience as a child?

Meanwhile, over at Super Phun Thyme, we’re treated to an amusing montage of Cartman having an awesome time while Butters holds his hand. Cartman is singing the song playing under the montage, and it’s funny to see Butters get hit by bumper cars as he runs alongside Cartman’s car. I wanted to enjoy this more, but it felt like familiar territory. Like when Cartman had control of his own amusement park. After Butters pleads for Cartman to go back to the village, he reluctantly leaves Super Phun Thyme only to run into the cops. They think they’ve been busted for ditching. Butters has a breakdown, starts crying, and gives Cartman the weakest punch in the history of the universe. This is the beginning of several kick-ass moments between these two.

In Pioneer Village, we learn that the men with guns are actually robbers who just got away from a big heist at…Burger King. They made out with like, a handful of cash and 4 sacks of burgers. This leads to a great moment when the tech guy asks for his cut, and Franz, the leader (who looks suspiciously like Hans Gruber for no reason other than to remind us Hand Gruber is awesome) hands over some money and a hamburger. The tech guy riffles through the burger like it was cash. Great visual gag.

When Cartman and Butters see an opening to sneak inside, they climb up a traffic light but slip and fall. They’re saved only by their interlocked hands, and when they cut to the wide shot, we’re treated to yet another great visual gag of them hanging above the street. Now that I think of it, there were a lot of great visual gags in this episode.

The rest of the episode deals with the terrorists trying to get the code to some secret escape route, but the townsfolk refuse to break character. There’s not much to note here. The best part is when the work day ends and all the townsfolk break character, answering all the real-life questions the kids had during the crisis. Also, Franz gets the wrap-up speech about how Pioneer Village has a lot to teach us. It’s all very absurd, and kind of funny because it’s so pointless. But I felt that way about this whole episode. It was kinda funny. God bless Butters.

And that’s it for several long months. I was kinda harsh on a few episodes this season, but don’t mistake that for random internet hate crimes. I love South Park and would take their worst episode any day over pretty much any other show on television today.

South Park: Super Fun Time Review: 2 Whoppers out of 5

South Park Season 12 Mid-Point Review: 3 Arbitrary Stars Out of 5

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 3:04 am and is filed under South Park Reviews, TV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.