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spongeydee19 · 7 days ago

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The Ultimate Linda Essay

Hey y'all, welcome to my blog. Today, I will provide a needlessly long essay on why the South Park character Butters Stotch's mom, Linda is peak.

I'm so fixated on Linda, shes such a fun character. I've been noticing a lack of Linda, in terms of fan art, love, appreciation, discussion, and so fourth. This is kind of a problem that the Stotches, scratch that, the parents, scratch that, the adults as a whole have, but Linda gets the worst of it.

I will probably discuss why I think the South Park moms are so underrated, but for now, in this tiny compartment, I will deliever an entire blog describing who Linda is, why she is so peak, and why she is overlooked.

Linda Stotch makes her first appearance in the Season four episode, "The Wacky Molestation Adventure", as a background character. She reappears a few more times as an incidental character, until the Season 5 episode, “Super Best Friends”, where she is named “Carol”. Fun Fact, Carol was also the original names of Sharon and Sheila. She first shows off strict behavior later in the season in “How to Eat With Your Butt”, where she grounds Butters for making a silly face.

Linda has her first major role in “Butters’ Very Own Episode”, where she is established as a seemingly happy-go-lucky mother at first, but then becomes mentally unstable and suicidal. This episode marks her most impactful role, where, in a fit of a mental disruption, she nearly drowned Butters in a car after finding out Stephen (originally Chris) was cheating on her with other men. She then almost tried to take her own life. Luckily, Stephen stops her and Butters survived, and the event was seemingly forgotten about after it was resolved. In the Season 6 episode, “Jared Has Aids”, they ground Butters yet again for having liposuction surgery at their house. When Cartman fills for Butters and impersonates him while on the phone with Butters’ parents, he swears at them, making them even more angry. Butters’ parents then beat up their son. In "Asspen", they show a more laid back side, taking Butters to Aspen with the other families. They continued to have a few more appearances in Season 6. In “My Future Self ‘n Me”, Linda and Stephen apologize to Butters for the first time after deceiving him. This marks a significant development for the Stotches; one thing you WILL know about the Stotches is that people HATE them. While it is justifable in multiple cases, it is also hypocritical and tone-deaf in others. As you see here, this is a genuine sign of regret for the Stotches, showing that they CAN feel remorse for their actions. Meanwhile, Gerald (aka Skank Hunt and also a greedy, hypocritical, snobbish motherfucker), Randy (who is sometimes worse than Stephen), and the McCormicks (who just suck completely) get off scot-free. This fandom man.

In the eight episode of Season 7, Linda is apart of the moms who, at first, welcomed the new metrosexual fad, but when their husbands became “whiny little wusses”, they start revolting. This episode marks the first instance Linda was a prominent character without Stephen or Butters. In “Raisins”, she gets a bit more screen time than usual. In particular, she objects to Raisins and tries to convince a girl to do something better with her life with a powerful speech. This is a rare instance where Linda on her own has wisdom. In Season 8, Linda and Stephen are major characters yet again; Linda and Stephen make a deal with Paris Hilton, selling Butters to her for $250 million. In this episode, you can see that Linda is a bit of the more sympathetic and reasonable half, as she objects to Stephen’s decision to sell Butters at first. In the second episode of Season 9, Linda is an engineer for Cartman's drill crew. This marks her second major role without Stephen and reveals a bit about her character. In “The Death of Eric Cartman”, she and Stephen play another major role, where they worry about Butters' state of mind and has him sent to the South Park Institute for Mental Health. However, their most infamous role in this season was “Marjorine”, where Butters fakes his death, causing them to harshly mourn his death, especially Linda.

In Season 11, “Night of the Living Homeless”, Linda has yet another dominant supporting role, where she and Stephen are trapped on the roof of the building with all the other townspeople hiding from the homeless people. In Season 12, Linda gets a bit of spotlight, where she is frightened by Mr. Garrison’s “Penis”. She gets decent supporting roles in “Pandemic” and “About Last Night”, but gets yet another major role in “The Ungroundable”, where Butters becomes a vampire, making him "ungroundable", making Linda very worried for him. Season 14 had this brief stint where Linda was the butt of a joke, revealing that’s she either a gossiper or has yellow teeth. In “Season 15”, Linda gets yet another major role, where she and her husband take Butters to therapy because he they believed they had Multiple Personality Disorder. This is probably the first instance in a long while where they are shown to be entirely stupid. In "You're Getting Old", she attends Stan's birthday party at Whistlin' Willy's, marking an instance where she shows up prominently without Stephen. In Season 16, “Going Native” reveals that the Stotches are Hawaiian. They get a few more prominent roles in Season 17. Starting with Season 19, specifically “The City Part of Town”, Linda is commonly seen as a member of the City Council.

As Randy becomes effectively the main character in Season 21, Linda gets featured more often. In “Franchise Prequel” is a good example, and so are Season 22’s “Dead Kids” and “The Scoots”. In Season 22, Stephen is the main character of a two-parter, and thus, Linda is featured heavily. This continues in Season 23, especially as Linda is a major character in “Turd Burglars”, another storyline about the moms, where she tries to get her hands on Sheila's poop in order to have a fecal transplant. This episode reveals that she is a bit of a bitch, her gossiping side is shown, she is a backstabber, and she will do anything to get her way. Keep note of this. She is also a prominent side character in “Shots”, “Basic Cable”, and “Christmas Snow”. After another appearance in the Pandemic era, she goes back to being a prominent supporting character in Season 25, and she and Stephen even hve another major role in “Back To The Cold War”. Linda Stotch gets yet another crucial role in “South Park: The End of Obesity”, which is another storyline about the mothers of South Park. As with “Turd Burglars”, a new means of becoming more fit has swept the town of South Park, and the envious mothers want in on it. Linda shows a similar personality to in Turd Burglars; she gets with the crowd, sorta like her own son. Linda takes Ozempic with no hesitation. She flexes her newfound body, never missing a chance to strike a pose. She gets addicted to the drug, and like with TB, will do anything to satisfy her fix. She is willing to do crime, such as rob a bank or beat up a truck driver.

We know barely anything about Linda Stotch; we are given backstories for all of the other parents. They go as follows:

Liane came from a family of Cartmans; in other words, they behave exactly like how Eric Cartman does. She was also a crackwhore and had been in multiple magazines. Lastly, “Cartman’s Mom is a Dirty Slut” provides an origin story for her. She is also hinted to have a Freudian Excuse in “Tsst”, where she was implied to have no friends and depends on Cartman to fill in that void.

Sheila Broflovski has a grandmother, a sister, and a nephew. In "It's a Jersey Thing", Sheila reveals that her family lived in Newark, New Jersey, that Gerald impregnated her with Kyle there, and that they moved to South Park two months later.

Gerald Broflovski has an already established background in “Chickenpox”, where Stuart McCormick claims that Gerald was sent through school by "rich parents," though the fact that Gerald had to work at a pizza place with Stuart and attend community college indicates that this is probably not true and is just a reflection of Stuart's jealousy, which is a plot point in the episode. Gerald grew up in South Park, where nobody in town is ever depicted as having more than a middle-class lifestyle other than the Black family, lending more credence to the idea that Gerald earned his own way through college. Gerald also has a brother.

Sharon had a slew of revelations about her prior life. It is revealed in "Die Hippie, Die", that Randy and his wife, Sharon, used to be Hippies, and they met at Woodstock in 1969. Randy and Sharon were revealed to have met in a tree-fort playing Truth or Dare, in "Clubhouses". We see what appears to be a younger Sharon Marsh in “Something You Can Do with Your Finger”. She also appears in a flashback in “Stanley’s Cup” with longer hair.

Randy goes without saying. We basically summarized his origins in Sharon’s section, but there’s way more to discuss. He is effectively at main character status, so there’s basically no need to go over his origins.

Stuart and Carol are relatively deep for undeveloped side characters. In "Chickenpox", it is revealed Kenny’s house was made by Stuart and Gerald Broflovski when they were young. The same episode also revealed they had a falling out. In the episode "Mysterion Rises" it is revealed that Stuart and Carol had been part of a cult worshipping Cthulhu ten years before the series' began. This is precisely why Kenny is immortal.

Stephen Stotch is rather complicated. In "Butters' Very Own Episode", Stephen is revealed to be bi-curious, in that he likes women, but he is seen going to a gay men's bathhouse to perform homosexual activities. During "The Thin White Line" mission in South Park: The Fractured But Whole, as the player approaches a drunk Stephen, he has flashbacks to his mother grounding him and pleads with his mother not ground him in a distressed tone. Based on this it can be inferred that Stephen had a nearly identical relationship with his mother as he has with his son, and his overbearing demeanor is a result of his past. However, in "Butterballs", he seems composed when his mother visits South Park and is oblivious towards her abusive attitude towards Butters. Either Stephen and his mother improved their relationship, or he is aware of her true colors and stays silent out of fear. Stephen and Linda are also revealed to be from Hawaii.

Linda Stotch barely has an origin story. She is from Hawaii, she has a cousin and nieces, and that is the most we ever get from her. Grandma Stotch could be her mother, but given the above, its more likely that she is Stephen’s. However, Nellie has to be Linda’s sister, as they have blonde hair and the same facial structure.

A problem with Linda being underdeveloped is her lack of episodes about her. This is not consistent with other parental figures in SP. Randy and Gerald have multiple. Sharon also gets multiple, including “Spookyfish”, “Crème Fraiche”, and “Dead Kids”. Sheila was a particularly key character in early seasons, and takes center stage in the Movie. Even in later episodes, she is occasionally a main focus, such as “It’s a Jersey Thing” or “Turd Burglars”. Liane has a few in later seasons, such as “Shots!” or “City People”. Even Carol and Stuart had a few, including the aforementioned “Chickenpox” or “Cartman Joins NAMBLA”. Stephen has a few himself, including Season 22’s two parter, “Unfulfilled” and “Bike Parade”, “The Magic Bush”, and multiple storylines involving Randy such as “Sons a Witches”. Even Tweek and Craig’s parents are favoured, as seen in “The Magic Bush”, “Underpants Gnomes”, or “Tweek x Craig”. However, Linda was only ever the main character in “Butters’ Very Own Episode”. Otherwise, she is regulated to storylines involving Butters and/or Stephen Stotch, the moms, or Randy.

Linda Stotch’s important roles include:

Butters’ Very Own Episode

Aspen

South Park is Gay

Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset

Night of the Living Homeless

Die Hippie, Die

Turd Burglars

Back at the Cold War

The End of Obesity

If Linda is important, then Butters, Randy, Stephen, the other adults, or moms are important as well. Linda is more of a fragment of the Stotch family than her own character. Compare that to her husband and son. Butters is a major character while Stephen seems to be a fleshed out figure who makes regular prominent appearances on his own. Linda, meanwhile, will become a main focus if the episode is about the Stotch family, the mothers of South Park, or Randy’s friend group.

However, as a character, Linda has potential. She is particularly known for her insanity. “Butters’ Very Own Episode” and “Marjorine” explore this aspect of her character the most. If she hears tragic news, she will snap. In the former episode, she enters a state of psychosis, where she repeatedly paints the walls of her own home. Later in the episode, she gets the idea of drowning her own son just for him to “not be raised by a sick pervert”. She then attempts to off herself as well. These moments are recipes for interesting stories, proving that she is quite possibly the most unstable character behind Cartman and Mr. Garrison. Linda is also revealed to be an engineer in “Die Hippe, Die”, meaning she is quite smart in some areas. What if she’s an inventor even? I feel like South Park lacks that sort of archetype. We have Dr. Alphonse Mephesto, who is just a mad science that makes genetic creatures rather any inventing machines. Randy is a geologist, but not necessarily an inventor. Linda could easily fill in this role. It’d be rather jarring, since she is otherwise just a housewife, but it would be pretty cool. In a few episodes, Linda is shown to be violent. In her first episode alone, she tried to drown Butters. Later, she has used bats to kill people, robbed a bank, beaten up a truck driver, and so fourth. She is rather cool, compared to her wimpy husband Stephen, who seems to be dumb, traumatized, flamboyant, and child-like.

However, all in all, Linda seems to be a trend-follower. This aspect is quite similar to Clyde, Bebe, or Craig’s personality, as well as Randy and Gerald’s. While the early seasons has her as firmly Stephen’s wife, Butters’ mom, and close friends of the other parents, later episodes seem to experiment with Linda more as the moms become more prominent. Be it fecal transplants or obesity drugs, Linda will be quick to get a hold of a fad.

The other problem with Linda is her relative unpopularity. This might be a problem both Stotches have, but from experience, Linda seems to get the short end of the stick. South Park adults are generally underrated compared to the children, with Randy and Liane being exceptions. But in the rather compacted “Adult fandom”, Linda is the underdog it seems. Behind Liane, Sharon probably has the most fans, being a relative of Stan and Randy, who get way more spotlight. There’s like, evilstrawberry, dustycresent, and you get the rest, even the more... interesting art. Sheila gets less love, but she originally had Randy’s role, and is ingrained into South Park due to the “Kyle’s mom a bitch song”. People love her, and they will proudly draw her in either wholesome or rather “unusual” art. Carol gets less art due to her lesser role, but somehow I found more content about her, likely due to people (including me, lol) finding a boisterous redhead redneck hot and Kenny’s own integral role to the show. I found a lot of Laura Tucker and Mrs. Tweek fans, due to them being the parents of the most popular side characters + having more conventionally attractive designs. Even Sarah somehow got a bit popular in 2023. As for the dads, Gerald is beloved for a slew of reasons and so is Stuart. Stephen Stotch is where it gets interesting, because I’ve met thousands of people who are obsessed with him. It feels like a cult of sorts. It’s kind of like how I’m in this niche but very clearly existent community of Pop fans. Of course, I’m also in this Stotchbase and im even close friends with some of ‘em. This part is where Linda gets somewhat lucky, since these fans seem to love the Stotch family as a whole. Still, she often winds up as the underdog or background character. Speaking of Stephen, even when the opposite happens, where people hate him, they’d rather direct their ire towards just Stephen than Linda. I swear, ppl tend to make hate art towards just Stephen, which is kind of funny. Linda gets in on the action every so often, but Stephen is mostly the one taking the hits. However, I HAVE met Linda Stotch fans, but for some, undiscernible reason, they disappear unlike the other characters’ fans. In 2023, I discovered two Linda Stotch fans from TikTok who fell off the face of the earth. Otherwise, most Linda Stotch fanart is either probably made by me or is requested by me. It’s rare, and I mean RARE to come across an amazing piece of Linda Stotch fanart made by a casual South Park fan.

Overall, Linda Stotch is just underrated. Being a house mom who just goes along what others say really limits her character. If anything, she is treated more like a plot device than an actual character. That being said, Linda has an important role in the show. She had a big role in Butters’ first spotlight episode. She also takes center stage when the moms are involved. She is quite an iconic regular who deserves more love. We need more Linda Stotch fans. We need her to be in a crucial role again. We need to learn about her. Give us something that reveals an interesting detail about her character or past. Give her an opportunity to expand as a character. Liane has a real character arc going on, Sharon has multiple chances at center stage, Sheila is a major character, Carol and Stuart have sporadic development, Stephen has his own storylines, including an arc in Season 22, Gerald is hogging the spotlight almost as much as Randy, Tolkien’s dad has become a major character as of late, Strong Woman had a long story arc, and so on. Linda is like the one female adult character who doesn’t get a sudden burst of development. Again, we have Butters’ Very Own Episode and Die Hippe, Die, but I feel like even Stuart and Carol were dwelled into more, with Stuart’s backstory and Carol’s birthing process with Kenny. Carol actually has less to do nowadays too, but I’ll probably get to her some day. At least she is generally treated more like an actual character than just a prop. Linda also deserves more fans. Again, as underrated the South Park moms are, they at least have fans, fanart, memes, key roles in the show, and so fourth. Linda is a mere extension of Butters and Stephen according to the fanbase. If she receives more fan art, that would be a dream come true. Especially more of the “unusual kind”. Linda is a major character in South Park who has untapped potential, is deserving of more fans and fan art, and is a key element of the show.

Thank you for reading this VERY lengthy document. I have such a big fix on this character, and I’m just so tired of people ignoring her. I am quite literally the only active Linda Stotch fan; compare that to the multiple people who are simping over and/or drawing art of Sharon, Sheila, Liane, Laura, Mrs. Tweek, and even Carol McCormick. Linda is far from my only hyper fixation, but in comparison to her husband Stephen or even a character from another show im obsessed with like Pop from HTF, Linda is definitely underrated and I feel STARVED, Part of me blames that on how underrated the South Parks moms are in general, but more on that later. Peace.

#linda stotch #south park #comedy central #stephen stotch #sp linda #sp stephen #sp butters #butters stotch

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