South Park's Underrated Episodes
Death, Pip, Follow that Egg & Others That Slipped Through the Cracks
‘South Park’ has made the news time and time again for some of its more notorious episodes such as ‘Trapped in the Closet’ which poked fun at Tom Cruise and Scientology, ‘Best Friends Forever’ which paralleled the debate over Terry Schiavo’s right to die, and ‘Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset’ which took aim at Paris Hilton. And while episodes such as these continue to be quoted and discussed whenever ‘South Park’ offends, other little known classics are continually neglected. The following are the truly underrated ‘South Park’ episodes.
Death – Season 1
In ‘Death’ Stan’s grandpa turns 102 and asks Stan to put him out of his misery. The boys turn to everyone from Chef to Jesus for an answer as to whether assisted suicide is right or wrong. Meanwhile in what could be seen as a precursor to ‘South Park: the Movie’ the parents of South Park protest ‘Terrence and Philip’ because they think it’s corrupting their children. ‘Death’ is a strong, very funny episode which showed early in ‘South Park’s’ run how adept Matt Stone and Trey Parker are at combining toilet humor with social commentary – in this case a running diarrhea joke coupled with a storyline that paralleled parents protesting ‘South Park’ itself.
Pip – Season 4
‘South Park’ is usually at its best when it takes risks as it did in Season 4 with ‘Pip’, an annotated version of ‘Great Expectations’ starring a minor character named Pip. The episode had nothing to do with the town of South Park nor Cartman, Stan, Kyle or Kenny. It was simply a foray into classic literature complete with Malcolm McDowell and an ending which included robot monkeys. Most people probably don’t even remember the episode since it didn’t include any major characters or celebrities but it’s one of the truly underappreciated episodes.
Terrence and Philip in Not Without My Anus – Season 2
Matt Stone and Trey Parker ended Season 1 with a cliffhanger episode about finding out the identity of Cartman’s father. When it came time to complete the story at the beginning of Season 2 it just so happened that the season’s first episode was set to premiere on April Fool’s Day. Parker and Stone couldn’t resist the urge to pull a prank on their fans by airing an entire Terrence and Philip episode in place of the cliffhanger conclusion. Many fans dismiss the episode out of bad memories, disgust, disinterest or the plain fact that its never really replayed on television, but the fact remains that the episode is actually one of the funniest early episodes of the show.
Follow that Egg – Season 9
In a season that included three controversial episodes, ‘Best Friends Forever’, ‘Trapped in the Closet’ and ‘Bloody Mary’, it’s probably pretty easy for a show to fall through the cracks. Even more interesting is that ‘Follow that Egg’ is a pretty shocking episode itself, as it tackles the issues of gay marriage and a gay couple’s ability to raise a child. Mr. Garrison, now a Miss following his sex change operation in the season’s first episode, has evolved from a gay man in denial to an out and proud gay man, to a straight woman, to a homophobic woman. Miss Garrison tries to prove gays shouldn’t be able to marry or adopt children through a study in which her students take care of eggs as if they were babies. ‘Follow that Egg’ is a perfect combination of hilarious and offensive, as the best ‘South Park’ episodes are.
The Red Badge of Gayness – Season 3
One of the top ten funniest ‘South Park’ episodes ever, ‘The Red Badge of Gayness’ follows the residents of South Park as they reenact a civil war battle and under Cartman’s leadership and the influence of Smore Schnapps, precede to revive the civil war and try to bring victory to the glorious south. It’s one of the episodes that defined Cartman’s character through some outrageously funny channeling of General Robert E. Lee and showed the true scope and range of ‘South Park’ as a television show.
