Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
It’s been a weird election cycle and an even weirder season of South Park. After four episodes of tonally inconsistent election coverage, the gleefully offensive series finally started to find its political stride. Surprisingly, that shift has everything to do with our inability to let go of Star Wars.
It feels like South Park jumped on the Trump-bashing comedy bandwagon both too early and too late. Season 19 targeted Trump from its first episode and never really let up, predicting Trump’s rise to power through his offensiveness, which South Park painted as a response to the perceived absurdity of PC culture. That’s basically the cartoon cutout version of what happened in real life, so when South Park returned for Season 20, expectations were high. However, the series coverage of the election this season has been uneven at best and boring at worst.
South Park’s Trump figure, the historically absurd Mr. Garrison, has been attempting to politically sabotage himself most of this season so he won’t be forced to run the country and fulfill his wildly offensive promises. This season has portrayed “Trump” as a bigoted idiot in way over his head and Clinton as a clueless political robot. Both of these portrayals have been flawed, and the show’s comedy has suffered from it (A.V. Club’s Dan Caffrey has wonderfully documented this uneven season). In real life, Trump still seems to want the presidency, and the biggest joke around Clinton is no longer her robotic public persona. But last night, South Park finally found its absurd footing. This episode will likely be remembered for Mr. Garrison’s horribly offensive stand up routine designed to alienate female voters — South Park’s answer to the Trump tape. But it’s “Douche and a Danish’s” conclusion that revealed Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s real thoughts about the election while separating South Park from all the other political commentary that’s happening right now.
Throughout Season 20, the adults of South Park have become addicted to Member Berries, adorable fruits that squeakily remind people of “nice” things from the past. The Member Berries’ increasingly more obscure Star Wars references have been a running joke for a while, but they finally came to a head this episode. At the end of Episode Five, a surprisingly level-headed Randy explains to Mr. Garrison why he’s gotten so much political support:
Though Randy’s argument is mostly about why The Force Awakens sucks, he also says it applies to Mr. Garrison’s supporters. According to South Park, the popularity of nostalgic reboots and a figure that encompasses past American ideals is a reflection of cultural laziness. Or as Randy also says, “It may be fun to go back and recycle the past that we love, but we end up with no substance.”
And there we have it. After five episodes of wishy-washy, confusing political interpretations, South Park has finally taken a stance on the election. But because this is the most ridiculous show on the air, “Douche and the Danish” teased that the connection between Trump and Star Wars was less of a coincidence and more of a conspiracy.
This isn’t the first time South Park has connected Star Wars directly to politics. The 2012 election episode (“Obama Wins!”) focused entirely around a complicated conspiracy that involved President Obama, Disney, Mickey Mouse, the Chinese, and Star Wars. Between the introduction of George Lucas’ beloved series and the continuing references to douches and turds, it’s clear that South Park is rehashing its two decades of election coverage this season. But now that South Park has officially taken a stand rather than merely complaining about how this election is terrible, the show has a chance to once again be politically relevant. Love it or hate it, South Park may finally be back in the game.
[Watch the Season 20 episodes of South Park “Douche and the Danish”]
