I'll say this: when the South Park team put their minds to it, they can come up with some fantastic animation. When you watch the crudity of the animation in standard episodes, it's easy to forget that they're pretty damn talented at their craft.
This episode was all over the place. There were the references to the movie Heavy Metal, of course. There was the after-school special theme and the nod to The Diary of Anne Frank. And, of course, at the end was the reference to the Eliot Spitzer scandal. All bits were individually funny but they seemed haphazardly put together like pieces from different puzzles.
I really dug the music of the Heavy Metal animations. It made me want to watch the original movie again. They really captured the essence of the movie: an acid trip with bright colors, psychedelic imagery and lots of tits.
My favorite phrases were "the Breastiary in Nippopolis" and the "Itty Titty Fairies of Mammary Mountain".
Let's face it, the boobs were everywhere. On buildings, on people, on weapons, on vehicles. Hell, they were even on the women. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is the first time the series has shown a naked animated female ass (one that was well drawn to boot).
This episode was also the first time in a while that Kenny was the featured kid of the episode. It got to the point where I was wondering if he even existed anymore. I do find it kind of disturbing that the South Park kids are supposed to be about 10 years old and despite this Kenny is something of a pervert.
The paranoid, fear mongering nature of the Fox News broadcast captured the style of the network perfectly in my opinion. It is also very much like South Park to use something as harmless as cats as an analogy for addiction. I laughed when Gerald Broflovski brought out the cat in the cellophane bag.
The Holocaust analogy and irony of Cartman saving the cats was a theme that was somewhat hammered into the audience, particularly at the end. Naturally, the lesson was lost on him. But if he could learn and grow, he wouldn't be Cartman. It may just be that Cartman likes cats more than people.
For someone who hasn't snorted cat pee in ten years, Mr. Broflovski sure kept a lot of the equipment in his basement. I'm wondering how such an overbearing woman as his wife didn't notice it earlier. Perhaps she was just too absorbed in keeping the children safe.
I thought the show had a good premise but lacked in the execution. The season feels like the creators are losing their steam. Granted, it's tough to top Imaginationland. However, I find that even the mediocre episodes of South Park have more genuine laughs and more heart than the majority of the shows out there.
Brad Trechak
Source: http://www.tvsquad.com