#there I wrote the episode for you Matt and Trey

[rilu-artblog]

My friend told me to draw this so I did 🫡

[vampirepersay]

The different eras of South Park: this is a short essay I wrote about how different seasons of south park can feel like a completely different show it's not super detailed but I had fun writing it. WC:940 CW: transphobia

I've always felt like different seasons of south park have there own distinctive different vibes so because why not here's in my opinion on the different eras of South Park

Classic south park seasons one

through three. If there's one way to describe these seasons it's tame at least in comparison to what the show would later become. Things that stick out about these seasons would be chef being a prominent character as well as being the boy's mentor in so many episodes. Kenny dying in every episode and so many iconic lines including but not limited to,

“Oh my god they killed Kenny!”

“You bastards!’

“Screw you guys, I'm going home.”

“Sweet”

And many many more, another thing that I feel is such classic south park is the boys behavior in these seasons despite going on wacky misadventures the boys still act their age and that makes the show so much more funny.

I know calling the movie the ending of this era and also saying season three is the ending of this era is contradictory because season 3 still had 12 episodes air after the movie released however they have the same vibe as episode that aired before the movie for the most part so I'm counting them, I will say the episode S3E10 Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery has a noticeably darker sense of humor then the rest of the season however most Halloween episodes do tend to do that so it still counts as classic south park in my opinion even though it along with episodes 6 through 17 of season three are in this weird Gray area.

The golden era seasons

four through eight this is when south park was at its peak in my opinion, while classic south park has its charm and has so many episodes I love I believe the golden era took what was so good about classic south park and made it better they added so many classic characters during this time that are so weird to think about being added in so late into the series such as Timmy,Jimmy and even the goth kids. Another huge change happened to Cartman. I'm of course talking about the fact he went from a stupid spoiled kid to someone that would murder your parents and feed them to you over sixteen dollars and twelve cents.

And now into the reason for my major bias for these seasons Timmy I think Timmy was one of the best additions to south park he is such a fun character and he adds so much to the series that I love so much, make an episode focusing on Timmy and it will instantly becomes one of my favorite and this era had so many great Timmy episodes (S4E3 Timmy 2000,S4E13 Helen Keller! The Musical and so many more), another reason Timmy is such a great character is the fact if it wasn't for him we wouldn't have Jimmy.

The show also wasn't afraid to take risk during this time killing off Kenny for real (or it least for almost 2 seasons),

This led to the show introducing butters or rather taking him from a one note background character to everyone's favorite silly little guy. It's so weird to think about South park without butters in it since he would become such a prominent character after season 5.

As we reach the end of this era there starts to be a decline in quality resulting in episode that I personally can't stand such as (S8E2 ∙ Up the Down Steroid, and S8E4 You Got F'd in the A).

And now we reach the era defined by one “joke” that I can't express enough how much I hate I am of course talking about the transphobia era season 9 episode one to season 12 episode 5 if you are somehow reading this and don't know what I'm talking about in the season 9 premiere

Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina, exactly what you think happens Garrison gets gender reassignment surgery and how do Matt and Trey tray portray this (not that I would expect them to do it in a respectful way in the first place). But these episodes focusing on Garrison can be summed up in one way: trans fem character is trans fem isn't that just hilarious (Matt and trey seem to think so at least).

that isn't to say all episodes in these seasons are bad there are actually some really good episodes that came out at in this era that I love S9E9

Marjorine,S9E12 Trapped in the Closet are just two examples.

Next we have what I would personally consider a south park Renaissance era of sorts while I 100% can understand why someone wouldn't like these seasons I however I love them if it isn't completely obvious from my blog I love the goth kid episode and this era includes the introduction of one of the most underrated minor characters in the series Vampir but that's besides the point. Episodes like

S12E14 The Ungroundable or S13E1

The Ring are hilarious.

As much I love these seasons unfortunately all good things must come to an end in this case the end came with something I don't think anyone would have expected south park to do have continuity between episode and that big change marked the most recent south park era seasons eighteen to season twenty-six (as of writing this). Modern South Park And confession time I haven't watched all of these episodes. I find a lot of episodes in this era boring so I tend to just stick to pre continuity episodes.

AN: I had a lot of fun writing this!

[muttsterion]

Season 6 interviews are so silly lol. Matt, you helped write those scripts where kenny sacrifices himself to save others and helps his friends with their problems. You wrote part of that episode where he gets removed from the series in the most heartwrenching way possible. You continued to make episodes where multiple characters point out that things aren't truly the same with kenny gone. Sir, people love that orange blob because YOU made him so lovable XD

Yes. XD

Matt you and Trey created this orange blob, you did something to gravitate that love towards him. I think Kenny just being set up to die even as a running joke was a big part of where the love came from. Like almost empathy or maybe it made him stand out as someone special cause it's not just that he dies it's that he's still alive even after the fact he should be dead. And then we know every (early) episode there was a point where he was going to die again but he still seems to be a nice happy kid anyways up until that point....and then they added the element of sacrificial hero and I think too just this being mostly covered in an orange parka and we only see his wide almost pleading eyes. Yep that's an orange blob set up to be loved alright. I certainly fell for it. And somehow too he's addicting....once you start loving him you're hooked. Yep M&T you're to blame for this orange blob that peeps just started to care for. XD

[loiswasadevil]

Hi Lois, I wanted to share extra information regarding the co-creators of South Park. I have a very grey but not neutral opinion on the show, so I won't try to tell you what to think about this. Also this is quite long and rambly, so if you'd rather not read it, that's okay!

Matt Stone is Jewish, but his parents didn't really "raise him Jewish" (for lack of a better term) if i remember corrrectly, as they are both atheists (Stone is as well). He is still ethnically Jewish of course, and someone can correct me but he didn't know this until he was 16. He said he did read an awful lot about Judaism and Jewish people, and I don't think their portrayal of the Broflovski family is completely negative. In some respects the firmness by which Kyle defends his identity and family can be nice to see on TV. I digress.

Matt Stone has written a few episodes (or co-written), and he voice acts in almost every episode, but his role overall is largely ideation and helping his co-creator stay on task and see the episode through. He does the important business side of things, and often the ideas that go into the shows are taken from him or are whatever made himself and Trey Parker laugh.

Trey is his co-creator and is not Jewish. He is the one responsible for a lot of the writing past the ideation stage and beyond making sure the plot tracks/things make sense. I feel like it just isn't 100% accurate to say Matt largely spearheaded the show, when the show is moreso about his dynamic with Trey, where Trey is the one with basically full creative control, only (or mostly) answering to Matt's second opinion. Matt defers to Comedy Central in Trey's stead as well, which is still a lot of work but mostly to keep Trey's work in tact.

Since I did go over what is known about Matt's experience being Jewish, I can cover (what I know regarding) Trey's experiences regarding Judaism. He grew up in a largely white, largely Catholic (or just Christian) town. He talked about how there was only one Jewish family in his choir or something? And how bad he felt for the 1 Jewish girl who had to go up and sing Hannukah songs after everyone was done singing Christmas carols. This might seem inconsequential but he chose to say this, though it must have been a bit ago when he was in his 20s so the memory was fresher. As far as I know, he hasn't said a lot else about it.

I think it might have been actually Matt who said this, but either way, one of them also had witnessed physical assault on Jewish peers at their school (I'm leaning toward Matt being the one who said this just because I think Trey just talked about hwo he felt sympathy for the girl in choir being the odd one out).

I will also say in terms of their partnership, Matt is viewed more as the one who has a dark sense of humor while Trey is considered to be the one with "heart." A lot of South Park overall is just the two of them making them laugh, and sometimes especially recently Trey will play off of "whatever Matt is pissed about today" for episode plots, and sometimes episodes feel like the A plot is Trey's idea while the B plot is Matt's, or vice versa... but regardless, Matt isn't the one writing the episodes (and he only co-wrote beforehand). That isn't to say either of them are genuinely anti-semitic, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic... but that isn't to say they aren't actually those things either.

I don't know what they currently think and i can't fully know what they were thinking when they said those things in interviews and whatever else. But we can still look at what is in the show and how people respond to its content, because REGARDLESS of Stone's involvement, if he does more or less in the development process, the show still had an effect on people that many would consider to be negative. I guess the question is how much do Jewish people need to be involved in a creative work for it to be "okay"? Does Matt Stone's involvement absolve South Park of being anti-Semitic or perpetuating anti-Semitism at all?

Anyway Lois, sorry for the long ask! Feel free to delete, I just used to be obsessed with South Park for years so I wanted to share what I knew. Let me know what you think!! I love your blog 🩷

Sorry I dont care about South Park so I didn't read this

[sn33z3s]

in defense of “if you weren’t a fucking asshole”

(what better time to write “meta” than hours before a season premiere. after all, style is dead. or was it that it’s just boring? no, wait, it’s toxic??)

this doesn’t have a thesis, it’s just some leftover thoughts from last year - mostly pertaining The Church Scene, because of course - and featuring some hot stan marsh characterization takes i guess

let’s start with the gay glancing at your ex-childhood best friend

so, this framing is loaded because it's the narrative of their whole thing: kyle chasing stan. stan usually comes to kyle's rescue in absurd (but solvable) situations, whereas kyle often has to fight stan to provide emotional respite. they're thinking of each other here; it's distinct how stan looks back, rather than this shot cutting at kyle. stan's explosive reaction is still pretty presumptuous, but kyle was, even if unintentionally, asking for stan's attention - which is typical

in a sense, this scene is their wordless language; the kind you share with said ex-best friend but it’s gotten worn from overuse, and as a result, you’re both communicatively stunted, so now that you’ve reached out again after 40 years, the first step to any comfort or solace is [the scene above] and a homoerotic spectacle:

well, i don’t need to tell you what that public spectacle is; you already know

stan leads his paranoid outburst in the church by accusing kyle of knowing something which would be impossible for kyle to know; in You’re Getting Old/Assburgers kyle also reaches out to stan, who turns him down, yet still asks that kyle basically read his mind and comfort him

kyle is not a stranger to demanding unrealistic things from stan as well, but kyle calling stan “asshole” packs that punch since contemporarily the fandom usually assumes stan as more emotionally forward or in-touch with himself. however, in the church, kyle is pointing out that stan is clearly repressing his feelings, desires, traumas, etc. and kyle has used a similar approach before:

in my last meta, i wrote about how stan is pretty firm in not instantly accepting kyle's olive branches. of course, the thing is, kyle's olive branches are bent sometimes, let alone how he approaches asking for stan's forgiveness before the broship splits. kyle doesn't apologize: he just expects stan to move on

(also, i love the "divorced couple" coding before we even reach Post-COVID.) anyway, the show clearly acknowledges stan as "agreeing with kyle no matter what," and the first time stan and kyle fight in canon, it’s a big deal

i always return to how i don't see kyle or stan as at fault in most of, if not all, of their fights. this especially applies to YGO & Assburgers since it's one of their most significant “break-up” arcs. still... kyle's "if you weren't a fucking asshole" in the church scene is so satisfying. (and 100% excellent voice acting on matt stone's part; the punchy delivery at the end of that line is what makes me revisit it often.) when i put my tin foil hat on, it does sound like decades of resentment built up. if this post had to have a thesis, it’d be, “here’s why kyle had every right to call stan an asshole in that moment,” but the Stan Can Be an Asshole, Too meta is for another day. after all, my last meta also revolved around the trouble i have with framing stan as an exclusively passive character (rather than predominantly passive) 

by “decades of resentment,” i mean simmering for kyle since, you guessed it, episodes such as You're Getting Old and Assburgers. i talk about YGO & Assburgers a lot, i'm sorry. but i was thinking about the church scene as i browsed the south park wiki on the official site: "Kyle can only deal with so much of Stan's negativity." (obviously, matt and trey themselves do not write or even moderate the Comedy Central studios wiki, so take all of it with a grain of salt.) i like that wording, though, and this other part of the blurb too: "Stan's ego can get in the way of their friendship [referencing Guitar Queer-o]" 

kyle not being able to handle stan’s negativity these days is more often harshly critiqued than anything about stan’s ego. that detail does, in many forms, relate to the stan jock characterization discourse, but that’ll also have to wait for another meta. i can say a couple of things about it to tie up this post, though 

yes, kyle fails to comfort stan in the YGO arc. at the same time, i don't think his positivity is always maligned. after all, the YGO arc isn't stan vs kyle, it's stan and kyle vs. growing up; this is their contemporary theme. and yes, for a kid, kyle can have that emotional maturity

Tegridy Farms and Post-COVID have cemented stan as south park’s protagonist – though, in my opinion, he always has been it, especially since Bigger, Longer, & Uncut – and protagonists are like, the character archetype that receives the most self-projection. yet this emotional angle is comparatively still a fairly new framing of stan’s character. now that this show is narrated in such a way that we see even more of the world of south park through stan’s eyes, fans watching may feel extra inclined to think of him as only ever depressed. but being sad is not all stan does and never has been

not only is this frequency fairly new to his character, i would go so far as to say that there’s a difference between the contemporary stan angst arcs and older episodes like Raisins, YGO, and Assburgers. being sad is not “natural” to stan (whatever that means), it is thrust upon him. most recently, this is randy’s fault. yes, we are meant to - and i hope that most do - sympathize or empathize with stan, but my point here is that he’s a little bit more belligerent and bullish than the fandom currently gives him credit for

[variant-zee]

pairing: matt stone x f! actress reader

summary: keeping your relationship a secret is a bit harder than you thought

genre: fluff

word count: 636

cw: legal age gap

author’s note: im not that good at writing. i write the same way i think and just hope it makes sense. i also tend to repeat some stuff so just bear with me. also happy birthday to matt stone 🤭🤭🩷

———————————————————————

You were a Broadway actress and you had met Matt and Trey backstage after one of your shows, they were looking for actors for their new Broadway show and they chose you to be one of the leads.

After a few months of going to all the show meetings, you and Matt would have small meetings where you’d talk about the show which slowly turned to meeting at his house for dinner after you each start developing feelings for the other.

You and Matt started dating and had been dating for 3 months now. you guys were official! well, as much as you could be. neither of you had talked publicly about dating each other. Honestly, not like you could anyway. The show was being held a secret until Trey and Matt would announce that they were finished and the opening day of the show. but, obviously and most importantly, Matt was twice your age and even though you were already famous you weren’t that big, yet. imagine the amount of attention and harassment you too would receive if news got out. You didn’t want that news to be the way you debuted in Hollywood.

========

In the months that you and Matt had been dating, you both had made a really good job of keeping your relationship a secret by never mentioning each other in interviews and never being seen together in public. Since you both had gotten used to meeting at Matt’s house, you didn’t need to worry about going out and being seen. It was just easier for you both.

Both of you thought you were doing so good keeping each other a secret when Matt and Trey had an interview to do for a new season of South Park.

“Hey, guys! So I’m here with South Park creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone! How are you guys?“

The interviewer introduced them and started talking with them in some witty banter.

“Ok now getting into South Park. Is there going to be any more Tweek and Craig episodes or side plots? Your fans seem to love them!” The interviewer asked Matt and Trey.

“Tweek and Craig are our favorites too!” Trey laughed.

“Yea, I love when we do any Tweek and Craig stuff. It reminds me so much of how me and my girlfriend are. She’s a lot like Craig in being logical and so in control of her emotions.” Matt answered.

“While I’m like tweek. mostly freaking out over making sure we have a good episode for the week and already thinking of what we could do for the next episode-“ Matt had answered, stopping himself after realizing he was talking about his relationship with Y/N.

All those 3 months of keeping quiet and hiding each other from the world were gone!

Matt looked at Trey with a “help me!” look on his face. Trey understood and started talking about how they not only will they have more Tweek and Craig episodes but as well as all the other couples in South Park like Wendy and Stan. Trey changed the subject and went off talking about how he wants to focus on some of the parents too not just the kids.

The interviewer was so focused on Trey’s response that they didn’t quite push for more information from Matt’s answer.

Once they had answered most of the questions about the new season and the new episodes of South Park, they were asked if they had anything else planned.

“Yes actually!” Matt answered, looking over at Trey to give the interviewer more information about the musical since Trey was the one who wrote it.

“That’s right! We have a new musical on its way!” The interview ended with Trey announcing their new Broadway show mentioning y/n and the rest of the leading cast.

[gremlintooth]

AHHHGH DUDE, IVE FINALLY FOUND YOU ON HERE, YESSSS BRO, YOUR WRITING IS PHENOMENAL, (I'd say I'm the biggest lagwafis enthusiast on the internet, as soon as i read lagwafis, I bought the CD, the collectors edition pill pack white shirt, I have so so so many quotes on my Craig Tucker Shrine from the fic, and if you wanted to know, I've currently managed to read lagwafis 388 times, people believe I know it by heart, get it? "I know you by heart, Tweek" and the agonizing fact I quote lagwafis every day whenever I see a brink of reference infront of me, like let's say yesterday, I was in a store- and I saw a tub of chai latte and I was so close to screaming lagwafis reference inside of the store, I'm also cooking up some fan art (specifically from coming home) so I'll totally tag you when it's out) AHHH I'M GONNA WRITE SO MUCH ON HERE IT MIGHT GO TO THE LIMIT, okay so first, let's talk about the fanfic itself, there are SO many tiny details in this fic that have either made me laugh or cry in agony, which is a good thing, also, the characterization is TOP TIER, a lot of fanfictions tend to fall slightly short on the background characters outside of the pairing that tends to be the main focus. This was a great change, especially in Craig's group and Stan especially, everyone felt so real and totally had obvious quirks from the fandom itself that I LOVED SO MUCH, your writing evokes so much emotion that I somehow managed to feel exactly how everyone felt in a chapter relevant to them.

Let's talk about the character description choices, the way you described Tweek in almost every chapter made my heart ache in the best way possible, you made him sound like a fallen angel, the definition of ethereal, also the fact you decided on giving him that mouth scar with backstory to it is TOP TIER, I have a similar scar on my lip and whenever I see it in the mirror I think of Tweek from this fanfic, let's move on to Craig, the way you wrote his internal monologue and the way his emotions played out made me absolutely soul crushed, this entire fic left a deep pit in my heart, especially how Craig was described, Craig was written so realistically that it actually felt like he was real. He purposely blocked off his emotions to prevent himself from being seen as vulnerable, he struggled with keeping his “I don’t give a shit” personality until it all just exploded and the part that he was so vulnerable with was exposed to the entire school.

Also I see that the lagwafis anniversary is coming up soon!! I usually celebrate it every year when I get the chance to, by doing lagwafis related things and shit, this fanfic deserves way more than just kudos and comments and hits, this fic deserves the damn world and beyond, I even had literal dreams of this fic being one day announced to be an animated movie, and if it ever did I would cry and vomit in the best way ever possible, my life would be so complete if we became moots on here, also, I'm not sure if you have TikTok, but that's where I'm most known to being the lagwafis enthusiast on there, i make a lot of lagwafis related videos, my username is spacecadetcraigz, if you ever see this at some point, just know im so grateful you took your time to read through this.

I literally wish you the best life for now on

Yours truly,

Spacecadetcraig

388 times????? That’s true dedication my friend, you must read it like twice a week? Incredible, I’m so glad you enjoy something I wrote this much. I’m also so glad you love the album by Spiritualised too, it’s such a special album and there’s something so perfect about the title track that I’ve never been able to shake.

I didn’t even realise the anniversary was coming up, thanks for reminding me! It’s so weird to think I started writing that story six years ago. At that time I’d been catching up with South Park and when I first saw the Tweek X Craig episode it was my new favourite thing from the first minute in.

An animated movie would be amazing, Matt and Trey give us the rights pls, free of charge if possible (they’d so try for another billion dollar deal ahahahah)

I’m going to check you out on tiktok and if you do make fanart please tag me! I’d love to see!

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

Hallelujah South Park!

By Maureen Callahan 16 Feb 2023 - 17 Feb 2023

Will their delicious take-down of privacy-hungry Harry & Meghan FINALLY make them see what insufferable hypocrites - and global laughing stocks - they've become?

Well, she said she wanted to be a cartoon princess. Now, thanks to the brilliant minds at 'South Park,' Meghan Markle is one.

In 'Worldwide Privacy Tour,' which aired Wednesday night, Meghan and Prince Harry were savaged as hypocritical publicity hounds who nonetheless demand to be left alone. After promoting his memoir, here called 'Waaagh,' the 'prince and princess of Canada' move to South Park, whose children cannot abide their insufferability. At one point, the outraged prince flashes his frostbitten penis — to a child! — while defending his wife.

As the animated Harry and Meghan toddle around the globe, holding placards that read 'STOP LOOKING AT US!' and 'WE WANT OUR PRIVACY!,' their entitlement, stupidity and lack of self-awareness was sliced through by a cartoon talk-show host with, in my view, better questions than Tom Bradby or Anderson Cooper.

Appearing on 'Good Morning Canada,' Harry and Meghan — the latter speaking inanities with a Valley Girl accent — sit down to a chorus of boos. The impeccable line of questioning beings.

'Let me start with you, sir. You've lived a life with the royal family, you've had everything handed to you, but you say your life has been hard. And now you've written all about it in your new book, 'Waaagh.'

Harry: 'Yes, that's right friend. You see, my wife and I —'

Meghan: 'I was like, totallllllly, you should write a book 'cause your family, like stupid, and then [unintelligible] journalists.'

Host: 'So you hate journalists.'

Harry: 'That's right!'

Host: 'And now you wrote a book that reports on the lives of the royal family.'

Harry: 'Right!'

Host: 'So you're a journalist.'

Yes! Exactly right.

Meghan: 'We just wanna be normal people. This attention is so hard.'

Waaagh!' indeed. You have to wonder what the mood is in Montecito this morning, the online reaction from us 'normal people' nothing short of a rousing standing ovation. Do Harry and Meghan get it now? Do they understand that they are laughingstocks not just around the world, but in the province Meghan values above all others — Hollywood?

'South Park': Grade A+. Chef's kiss. This was a perfect episode. The only possible criticism: What took Trey Parker and Matt Stone so long?Granted, it seems every week does bring a brand new hypocrisy. One must work hard to keep up. 'Because I'm from the States, you don't grow up with the same understanding of the royal family. And so while I now understand very clearly there's a global interest there, I didn't know much about him.

'That was Meghan Markle in November 2017, seated next to Prince Harry as they gave their first interview to the BBC as a newly engaged couple.A fair number of people — myself included — found it near impossible, laughable really, to believe that Meghan, creature of Hollywood and student of fame, had little idea who Prince Harry or the British royal family was. Or that this self-professed smart, savvy, well-cultured woman had not so much as Googled her fair prince before their first date. No social climber she!It all sounded very Yoko Ono, who, upon meeting John Lennon, claimed to have never heard of him.Now — could it possibly be — that Meghan was insincere? A newly resurfaced post on her late blog The Tig (think Goop, but more basic and obvious) reveals that Meghan was very familiar with the British royal family and with William and Kate's nuptials. She even wrote about the type of princess she, Meghan, dreamt she might someday be.

Hey, Harry: Don't feel too bad. Even Lennon fell for it. As he told Rolling Stone in 1971, Yoko had 'only heard of Ringo, I think.'Ringo! Not the world-famous half of the most celebrated songwriting duo of post-World War II Western civilization. When you're that well known, it seems, nothing is as refreshing as someone who claims not to know who you are or what you do or why people care about you. The implication, of course, being that said ignoramus sees through the veneer of celebrity to you. They like and love you for you, not the attendant wealth or social status or privilege or refracted fame that comes with being your other half. Here's Meghan in her 2014 blog post, fantasizing about becoming a princess while also mocking the entire idea, because she's just that cool and just that above everything, even a storied institution dating back over eleven centuries.

'Little girls dream of being princesses,' Meghan wrote. 'I, for one, was all about She-Ra, Princess of Power. For those of you unfamiliar with the '80s cartoon reference, She-Ra is . . . a sword-wielding royal rebel known for her strength. We're definitely not talking about Cinderella here. Grown women seem to retain this childhood fantasy. Just look at the pomp and circumstance surrounding the royal wedding and endless conversation about Princess Kate.

'Well, well, well. How will Meghan explain that away? Or as recounted by Harry, that upon meeting Prince Andrew she thought he was the Queen's handbag holder? Or, as she told Oprah in 2021, 'I went into [my marriage] naively because I didn't grow up knowing much about the royal family'?

By the way, Meghan's 'grow[ing] up' would have been at the height of the royal family's coverage in global tabloids: Princess Di's supernova fame, the first future king ordered to divorce, Diana's death and the subsequent wall-to-wall 24/7 media coverage of her funeral.

Meghan would have to have spent her formative years in the Yanomami Amazonian tribe, thoroughly cut off from the modern world, to have known so very little about the royals.

How will Meghan explain, as she claimed in last year's insipid Netflix doc, that she had no idea how to curtsy or why it was important to show respect to the Queen? As she sat beside her husband, who looked pained and humiliated, Meghan characterized her first meeting with the late Queen Elizabeth, one of the world's most admired women, thusly:

'I mean, Americans will understand this,' Meghan brayed, because 'we have Medieval Times, dinner and a tournament. It was like that.'

What must Harry, who wrote in his memoir that Meghan knew 'almost nothing' about the royals, be thinking now? Will he think to himself that his now-wife knew well and good who he was? As Andrew Morton wrote in his 2018 biography 'Meghan,' her friend Ninaki Priddy said that the future duchess 'was always fascinated by the royal family. She wants to be Princess Diana 2.0'

This seems to be the root of Meghan's self-obsessed rage, does it not? She married the spare. She'll never be the next Diana. If anything, Catherine, Princess of Wales, is carving out a similar beloved place for herself amongst the British people. Meghan is the also-ran, attempting to run a rival court out of a soulless Montecito manse while decrying the uselessness of all things royal.

But don't you dare not call her the Duchess of Sussex!

Lest we forget, Meghan's overarching message since joining this family has been the smug, insufferable, disingenuous utterance, 'Be kind.' It's what she said in that first interview with Harry, claiming that she made it very clear to their matchmaking friend she had one non-negotiable quality in a potential mate:

'And so the only thing that I had asked [our mutual friend] when she said she wanted to set us up was — I had one question — I said, 'Well is he nice?' 'Cause if he wasn't kind it didn't seem like it would make sense.'

We all know now that Harry isn't very nice. You don't take millions from your father and cling to your titles while disparaging and insulting him, then tell the world — for years — that they're a family of racists before taking it all back and blaming the press for your woes while revealing all manner of your father and brother's private pain and intimate information and get to call yourself a nice guy.

On top of all that, we're meant to feel sorry for Meghan and Harry.

You don't mock the physically disabled female teacher at your boarding school for kicks, as Harry did, and get to call yourself nice. You don't double-down and name this poor woman in your memoir, blame her for not being attractive enough to make you 'horny', then recount the serial humiliations you subjected her to without ever expressing an iota of remorse or guilt or shame and get to call yourself nice — let alone a humanitarian and a thought leader in mental health.

Mental health advocates — these two! It's just amazing. No matter how many discrepancies, these two evince nothing, not so much as a blushing cheek or a head hung in shame. They're like two dead-eyed sharks, moving ever forward through the chum in their wake. They don't seem to understand that credibility and authenticity is paramount when trying to launch themselves as personal brands.

They also don't seem to understand what laughingstocks they've become. After the priceless Jimmy Kimmel bit about Harry and his todger, after Stephen Colbert mocked the royal family to Harry's face during his appearance, 'South Park' — a show that gleefully flays hypocrites of all stripes — has focused their ire on these two professional victims. No one deserves it more.

As the young animated character Kyle exclaimed, 'It is seriously driving me crazy. I'm sick of hearing about them but I can't get away from them! They're everywhere. In my f***ing face.'

A cri de coeur for us all. Alas, Harry and Meghan seem to lack the one quality that might possibly redeem them: A sense of humor.

MAUREEN CALLAHAN: Do Harry & Meghan see they're now South Park jokes?

[cheylouwho]

My response to Bloom’s video on Pip, which I find to be very disingenuous to him as a character and his purpose within SP. This is a comment I wrote out which is on the video itself, but there’s some points here that I think are relevant to the tumblr fanbase as well. May need to watch this utterly painful video first to get where I’m coming from (godspeed) but still:

1, Hate Pip all you like, I really find it disingenuous to compare Pip to Butters. Matt and Trey's intent for both characters was wildly different from the get-go. "Even though they essentially fill the same role" as a statement not only disregards what Pip was was created to do, but also Butters and his development. It also doesn't make any sense to consider TGNIAHT as the "passing of the torch" because Pip was still a character long after that episode, and Butters didn't replace him in any way, shape or form. "Character that the main 4 push around/don't like/throw under the bus" is not a singular archetype that belongs to any one character. If you're going for that angle, up until very recently, Scott had the same amount of relevance and character development as Pip-- and last time I checked, everyone seems to like him well enough. You could boil him down to "kid they don't like who has diabetes and they make diabetes jokes at him haha funny" and that was IT. 

 2, South Park characters, as a whole, have a very fluctuating set of character traits because M+T are making a comedy show above all else. They will shoehorn just about anyone into a role and make them do something previously considered OOC just for the sake of a joke. Pip being the butt of the joke in that manner (in relation to your statement that despite the jokes being funny you still feel him being empty) is EXACTLY the point of what early sp was, and still in some way is to this day. We've now got 25+ years of solidity for some of these boys' characters, and they still pull things out that surprise us in terms of what we think a character will or will not do. Pip being Pip, as he was, was exactly spot on for season 1-5 humor and characterizations. We're comparing apples to oranges with Butters since he's had YEARS more development time. Even on that note, Butters now is a completely different character than he was then. 

  3, I am part of SPHS, who made the iceberg from your previous video, so I do know somewhat what I'm talking about when discussing fandom trends and history-- we literally research this stuff, and I have been in this fanbase for years. Your response to the tumblr post was really weird and twisted completely what the person who posted was saying-- I read that post properly in it's entirety (which you don't frame, you cherry picked a small section), and I agreed with it. Pointing out a trend within the community as to who and where certain ideas are coming from is not making you out to be the bad guy. Like you said, you own that you have somewhat of an influence because of your YT channel, but there's also a lot of younger/newer fans looking at old episodes through season 23 rose colored glasses, who may just be using this as a justification.

Anyway, that’s my thoughts. Goodnight

[signalwatch]

90's Watch: South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (1999)

If you'd told me in 1998 or so that South Park, the goofy animated construction-paper show on a young Comedy Central would now be a permanent part of the cultural landscape in 2023, you could have knocked me over with a feather. 

Like any 20-something with cable, I was a watcher of the show and in 1999, shocked to see they were going to the big screen.  

July 4, 1999, Austin received some rain and fireworks were unlikely.  The folks who'd assembled at our apartment decided to load up and go see the movie to extend our day.  Mostly what I remember was that the theater was only partially full, and almost immediately, people were trickling out.  

The notion of "adult animation" is now taken for granted, but "animation" in 1999 was still all-ages in the minds of many, and "for children" in the minds of just as many more.  So I'm sure those moms who took their little Cartmans to see the film had very long talks with their kids on the way home and now had to do the work of parenting and understanding what their kids were watching that they'd hoped basic cable packages would take care of.

And, oh my, did the South Park creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, take advantage of what it means to have a hard-R rating.  No one is more foul-mouthed than kids trying on profanity, and to this day, that movie contains some of the most creative uses and best word pictures celebrating a dirty mouth of anything I can think of.  It's kind of glorious.  

However, the genuine shock of the film is that it was....  great.  It moves at a rocket pace, it's wildly entertaining, it understands the language and tropes of film and uses them like a Swiss Army knife, it has an evergreen premise and point (one that it's hard to believe the same audience for this movie in 1999 has forgotten in this era as imaginary issues and invisible monsters are the driving platform of a major political party), and the music is as good or better than anything in a musical of the last 40 years.  All while spoofing same.

Like anything dabbling in offensive material, some items were way too much for audiences then, most still plays, and some bits wouldn't make it now without causing distracting controversy.  Man, we loved our homophobic slurs in the late 20th century.  

But it seems the little 22 minute homilies of the South Park episodes had well trained Trey Parker in particular (he wrote the music and seems to have been the major force behind the film) to make a thinly veiled point, outline the absurdity of human behavior, take the piss out of it, and move on to the next topic.

If you can't remember, the plot of the film:

Canadian TV stars Terrance and Phillip have their own movie coming out.  As huge Terrance and Phillip fans, the lead kids of SP go to the movie only to find out it's a Rated-R picture, and so after sneaking in, they find out what a Rated-R film might contain in the way of horrendously offensive language.  

In addition to bringing the language into school, all of the kids see the movie, and in a moment of post-movie debate about whether one could light a fart on fire IRL, Kenny goes en fuego and, being Kenny, dies.  While Kenny is sent to hell to go negotiate the romantic life of Satan and a manipulative SOB Saddam Hussein, Kyle's mom takes it upon herself to start a literal war with Canada over the potty-mouthed Terrance and Phillip, who are being held for an execution within the US.

I'm skimming, to be sure.  

But the point is - it's kind of amazing to see, of all the movies from 1999, this one might feel so evergreen and on point.  Parker and Stone weren't stupid.  Giving them the platform of a film and R rating was going to cause some kerfuffles.  And they also weren't wrong that the parents who paid no attention to what their kids were up to would be mad that those same kids both saw and processed media without the parents paying any damn attention, and managed to deflect blame onto others while also caring way, way too much about their kids defying their expectations and inverting their concern back onto people who had done nothing wrong.  

Like I said, people trickled out of the movie, and among those were parents who had somehow selected the South Park movie, driven to see it, paid to see it and sat down for it with their kid and had no idea what they were in for.  

Of course the movie is chock-a-block of now dated references and Parker and Stone's peculiar thing of thinking that just showing a celebrity is funny in itself.  Ex: The Winona Ryder bit is confusing (and clearly a failed reference to a scene from Priscilla, Queen of the Desert).  Like, maybe there are insidery LA things about celebrities I don't know, but I don't know them.  So.

It's also a reminder that Mary Kay Bergman passed before the work she did was nominated for an Oscar, as "Blame Canada" was nominated, and, in fact, performed at the 2000 Academy Awards ceremony.  Y'all pour one out for Mary Kay Bergman.

Anyway, it was a delight to watch again.  And, of course, wonder if there isn't room for a Broadway show of the movie.  

https://ift.tt/eWbfYSO

from The Signal Watch https://ift.tt/XRIiYu4

[jewpacabruhs]

????? new ep was lowkey sexist. they pulled a huge double standard with how they treated meghan, calling her stupid/dumb, not even treating her as a person but more an accessory of the prince…and then the prince got a redemption arc. come on like that was pretty nasty no…and this is coming from someone who loves kyle focused eps. first ep of the season wasnt too bad tho. lets hope for more of that

[wrote this reply up right after i got this but posting 2 weeks later cuz i was meaning to proof read and post but i got busy)

i get ur perspective but honestly ive never thought to view south park thru a sexism lense or to try to condemn them for it. its satire of female and male celebrities is equally scathing, the men are depicted as similarly vapid and irritating. i don't think sp's history of mocking women is particularly targeted and nasty. as i said in my other post (which you sent me an additional anon about so i kno u read it), sp is about exaggerating things, not always accurately, to make a point. and sometimes that means portraying capable and normal women as, what, mid-00s MTV-type party girls? and sure, that's one of the many features of sp that's technically 'problematic', and the reason so many ppl have 'sp fans dni' on their blogs - but we're here, aren't we, watching this bastard show and trying to juggle watching it critically and enjoying the stupidity?

i dunno, im neutral towards meghan & harry, if anything i respect them, but i very rarely have actual firm opinions on the shit matt & trey choose to make fun of, and this was a situation where it was just their usual shitting all over their celebs of choice who i personally have very little opinion on, and i thought that what they were trying to say in the episode was good. sp's only ever been abt making an individual or group represent something, and then using it all as a way to bitch about a genre of prevalent stupidity. that's what this ep did. was it at the expense of a woc? yeah, and usually that'd be immediately condemnable, but matt and trey have pretty firmly made it clear they're in the "we can find stupidity ANYWHERE" libertarian boat. i have enough respect for them as satire-oriented comedy writers to believe that they're sufficiently capable of lacking bias or prejudice in who they mock, for the most part at least, and that's why i can't condemn them for it specifically. though i know that's very subjective, as im aware that lots of people don't think satire is clever and it's just thinly veiled bigotry. but i'd assume the majority of sp fans who actually care about the satirical plots would be attuned to where matt & trey are coming from.

im disliking the way im seeing south park fans on tumblr perceive episodes lately. people forget that it's a satirical show, and it goes so thoroughly over their heads. but ig thats what happens when smth develops a tumblr-type fanbase, and in this case it's at the expense of critical readings of a sometimes rather insightful show. but i digress. i rlly did think the first ep was terrible. this one at least had smth to say.

(update, as of 3/3: the most recent ep came out the other day and it was a tad boring but very much, again, fairly well-done satire. i didnt even check how ppl reacted to it tho, im not rlly caring lately tbh)

[anthonysstupiddailyblog]

Anthony’s Stupid Daily Blog (407): Fri 28th Apr 2023

At work this morning as I went into the locker area I saw one of the guys I normally work with in the warehouse sitting on a bench while two security guards stood over him looking down and a woman who I think was a team leader was talking to him. I couldn’t tell if they were having an argument because I was too far away and they weren’t raising their voices but both of them looked really mad and were doing a lot of angry looking gesticulations. This is the guy I think I’ve written about before who told me that he got fired from his old job at Nissan for failing a drug test. This confrontation was taking place very early in the morning however so I doubt that he had thrown a strop after failing another one. Maybe he flipped out after having to repeatedly go through the metal detectors only for it to turn out that he had no metal in his pockets and the metal detector is just a piece of shit. I guess it’s also possible that he wasn’t feeling well and this team leader was just comforting him but like I say the leader looked very cross and I don’t know that this would be her chosen body language is she was comforting a sick person, unless she was trying to exorcise a demon from his body. I didn’t see this guy during the remainder of the day so I never found out what it was that was causing this intense confrontation. Luckily this guy means nothing to me and if I found out he’d killed himself it wouldn’t affect me even one tiny little bit so I don’t give a shit. 

It looks like I’m not going to be entering my script into the Sotcommision this year. Once again I’ve kept putting it off again and again and now it’s too late to do the re-writes necessary before the deadline. Maybe it’s fear of failure that keeps stopping me from going back and finishing it or more likely it’s just laziness. Graham Linehan says this always happens to people when they’re early in the writing process but that they need to power through because all first drafts are awful and need to be re-written. I have also found this to be the case because the script that I wrote for the pilot of this sitcom was pretty bad and messed up in the first draft stage but once I started going back over it and mixing and matching jokes then better ones started to emerge and scenes started to link together. With this new script however I couldn’t figure out how to get the two main storylines to mesh together. Another problem is that the Sitcommision insists on the scripts being sent in lasting no more than fifteen minutes and the script you send in has to be “episode one” rather than a pilot episode i.e it can’t be an episode where all the characters are introduced. I’ve written a pilot episode which introduces the characters and this new script I’ve written features the characters that were introduced in the pilot but it also does bring in a new character who will be a featured player going forward so it’s not really following the rules. Once I wrote a scripts first draft I need to dedicate some time every day to going over it and trying to improve on it in some form, even if it’s just matching up a scene or a joke from the first part of the episode with one from a latter part just to see if anything gels or if I get ideas for other gags. At least then it will be a constantly evolving thing. At the very least I do have two scripts (admittedly ones that still need excessive rewrites) and now all I need are four more so that I can cross “Write a Sitcom” off my bucket list. Next week I might just try the thing that Matt and Trey from South Park do where I start with nothing and try to knock out a script in less than a week. As long as I have something that gets me to a first draft then I should be at least get one more script finished this way. 

[urshitarespopinions]

What I Love About South Park (And Its Fandom)

Okay, considering my first two essays were fairly negative and tackled more serious issues with the south park fandom, it's time to remind myself (and you, random tumblr user) just what's so great about it. I've spent more than enough time defining what to hate - now I'll talk about what to love!

First off, thanks for clicking "keep reading" :) it really means a lot to me <3

Secondly, I'd like to start this properly by saying no, Matt and Trey are not perfect. They are not angels, they are no more human or godly or demon-ly than I am myself (although sometimes I doubt Trey's humanity). They are capable of failure and mistakes. They are also capable of great things. And in favor of keeping this light, I'll be talking about the latter half :>

Like any other south parkie, I too, enjoy and cherish the earlier seasons of South Park. They're fun, adventurous, and truly do radiate those small-town vibes we all can't get enough of. It's cool if you disagree, but I personally love a lot of the newer seasons, too! It may not have that country hand-made charm it once had, but at least I can enjoy knowing Matt and Trey's hands finally got a break when they switched from stop motion to digital. Yay, no carpel tunnel!

Actually, one of my favorite episodes is "The Cissy", because I really enjoy that despite the fact Cartman and Wendy's perceptions of being trans are flawed and mostly offensive, we still know that behind the scenes, Matt and Trey themselves don't express this specific view. We know that Cartman is pretending to be transgender to get into the girls' bathroom, but most importantly, we see from the showteller's point of view that it is wrong. That's what separates it from some other modern media with less than pretty depictions of transgender identities (*cough cough Steven Universe*).

Another thing to love? The characters! Any south parkie has their special character they love especially more than the others. Some of them don't even get any lines in the show! But they're all special and unique in their own way, and that's what's so addicting. Stan's cynical. Kyle's morally challenged. Cartman's everything-challenged. Kenny's funny. Butters is Butters. (And Scott Malkinson's diabetic).

Speaking of uniqueness and its role in South Park, I'd like to take a moment and thank the genius who wrote Butters' speeches in both Raisins and Butterballs, because they've really made me look at the world in a different lens. And gain some respect for people who choose to be happy. That takes some real guts and emotional maturity I don't have.

What else, what else? Why, of course, I can't forget you, dear average south park enjoyer, reading these words on a screen. You and everyone else in the south park fandom (minus a few). You've changed everything for me! I've met some of my closest and dearest friends because of this little controversial show about morally questionable egg children. How wild is that?

What's more- the fandom even influenced a key component in what makes South Park, well, South Park. I'm speaking about Craig and Tweek, of course, another great example of wonderful LGBT+ representation [see paragraph 5]. We did that!! WE!! Creek was so popular among the fans, Matt and Trey made it real. Literally. Like how the fuck did we manage to do that.

Astonishment aside, it's a wonderful feeling to know this little show has changed my life so much. My little monke brain just can't handle the comprehension :')

But maybe it's all hogwash. Maybe what I said doesn't even make sense! Glad I'm just a person on the Internet that nobody should take too seriously. And I'm glad you've made it to the end! Thanks reader, you get a gold star.

I hope you'll enjoy your day a little bit more today :D keep rockin, rockstar!

[wendytestabrat]

Hello! I’ve been making a big google doc explaining why I think Kyman is an intended ship and the subtext involving their relationship, however I hit a roadblock when I heard about Trey and Matt’s commentary at the end of the Imaginationland Trilogy. Trey said that Cartman only wants to humiliate Kyle but that there’s nothing more going on, however there are so many different pieces of information that clearly point towards this claim as false. Your amazing long ass posts about Kyman are the reason I started believing it’s canon, so I was wondering what you have to say about this dilemma??

well first of all i’ve said before how kyman may not even be canon and a lot of it is just trolling from matt & trey making jokes about them being gay bc it’s funny lol and yeah the imaginationland is def not meant to be taken seriously that whole plot with cartman trying to get kyle to suck his balls was clearly just humorous lol. but ofc there have been more serious kyman moments later on where shit gets all emotional so that’s when i started being more led to believe there’s def more going on especially with the drama in s20. it could be possible that all these gay moments started out as a joke like cartman making kyle suck his balls or making kyle stick his finger up his ass and all that LOL, but then when people started to notice this shit was a pattern and suspecting cartman is gay especially in s11 maybe matt & trey decided to take kyman more srsly later on and just run with it lol. they might just enjoy writing stories with deep romantic or passionate subtexts in them bc their dynamic is fun, but they may not want to actually make them a couple over fear it would ruin the show. as someone who’s written screenplays myself writers tend to just write from their own experiences and use it as an outlet to let out their complex emotions through their characters. sometimes things can turn out a certain way in ur work that the people who absorb it will interpret and dissect a certain way but it meant something completely different to the writer when they wrote it bc these complexes the writer has tends to come out in subconscious ways in the characters’ actions. so i think when they were explaining that episode they were just explaining the plot as they wrote it that cartman was trying to get kyle to suck his balls to humiliate him (bc cartman consciously doesn’t understand that he was doing that for gay reasons). and when u write simply from a character and their goals and motivations (which is typically where all good screenwriters start by figuring out what their main character’s goal is in the story and what they’re trying to accomplish, for cartman his goal was to get kyle to suck his balls to ‘humiliate’ him), other complexities will end up coming out of the story and you kind of learn more about your own character as you go lol. i tend to joke around that screenwriting is basically the introverted version of acting. in acting you have to get into your character in some way by relating parts of urself in them, like when a director tells an actor to cry in the scene by remembering something sad that happened to them if you know what i mean lol. screenwriting is the same way you’re writing dialogue that the characters say by putting yourself in the shoes of the character and understanding their perspective. it’s like improv acting, you get into a character come up with some lines and learn more about your own character as u go on. a theory i’ve had (i shouldn’t be talking abt this bc it’s fucked up to speculate abt someone’s sexuality publicly LOL) is that all these subliminal gay scenes between cartman and kyle has just been trey writing any unresolved gay feelings he has for matt. (and matt voices kyle, but i mean i’m not the first to speculate this there was also that lazy joke they cut from family guy about it, matt & trey may have even joked about them being a couple too) they’re two men who work very closely together so it wouldn’t surprise me if thoughts like that pop up every now and then. and i def feel like cartman is loosely based on trey, obviously stan is the character he based off himself but i def feel like there’s some of him in cartman too which is also why he voices cartman. i def feel like trey’s more lighthearted funny side is what he lets out through cartman also the side of him that’s scheming in business (i mean how do you think south park became such a huge franchise? this didn’t happen by chance lol) which we also see through cartman.

[sn33z3s]

guitar queer-o, post-covid, and others: stan and kyle’s recurring themes

this is a cleaned-up version of the first twitter thread i wrote (or more like mused) about stan and kyle - it’s not necessarily something with a coherent thesis, and i don’t expect most of these meta posts to be (note: this post is image-heavy, and therefore long)

also, i’m still not matt or trey, nor am i the originator of stan and kyle south park takes

anyway, this post is mostly about establishing stan and kyle’s fallout in Guitar Queer-O as a (perhaps incidental) foreshadowing to their “relationship” in Post-COVID, and further using Guitar Queer-O as a parallel/tool for the bigger motifs in their dynamic

the cap above is from the south park pilot episode’s script

in Guitar Queer-O, stan without kyle acts abrasively toward others and is more susceptible to the addiction-prone part of his personality. in other words, kyle is virtually the only person in stan’s life who will consistently pull him out of some sort of “mediocrity.” per that same episode arc, kyle without stan is excessively solitary and melancholic. kyle will retreat into whatever reminds him of the past, making stan kyle’s rock, and very likely to a fault

when comparing those claims to stan and kyle in Post-COVID, there is an argument for similarity:

so, let’s look at other examples: the caps below are stan in Band In China. stan’s actions in this episode support the idea that he becomes notably “abrasive” - to use that word again - when kyle is not consistently in his orbit. here, kyle is the first thing that stan mentions, even before the farm. the record label guy (can you see how i’m hinting that random sp background characters exist to serve trey’s narrative) jots down “close friend” on the board and says that stan channeled his loneliness. technically, this stranger had no reason to assume kyle was stan’s “close” friend - it’s a voice that comes directly from trey

below is stan in Assburgers, an early display (though later than Guitar Queer-O) that highlights stan’s dormant abrasiveness as it comes out when paired with missing kyle. i didn’t mention this in my post about YGO and Assburgers, but i think it checks out that if stan is indeed kyle’s rock, kyle struggles to accept stan’s depression in Raisins, YGO, and Assburgers. both stan and kyle tend to look at one another for a sense of stability. their friendship is (regardless of commonly shallow readings) not one without anxious attachment and idolization

to delve further into that point about kyle: i think that kyle loves both stan, as well as his own idea of “his” stan. that's why kyle in the context of stan's depression is interesting to think about, including because in very early seasons, kyle is the one who is more attached to stan, rather than vice versa - more on that in a separate analysis. hence, stan is a tether for kyle to their childhood. the caps below are from Asspen (1) and Clubhouses (2, 3)

of course, that is not a fully-applicable statement about the early seasons, nor is it accurate to claim that stan is 100% of the time more attached to kyle than vice versa in the later seasons. kyle still tugs at stan plenty, and not dissimilar to how he would at the show's beginning 

stan and kyle are a balancing act. yes, they are kids, but further than that: if kyle fails at being a best friend to stan in the times that he doesn't know how to approach stan's depression, then stan also fails to be a best friend to kyle as he can be dismissive of kyle’s intense anxieties. the caps below are from You Have 0 Friends

nonetheless, stan continually has significant tunnel vision for kyle. once stan is wrapped up in the feeling of wanting closeness - word choice being deliberate there - from kyle again, or wanting to protect or rescue kyle, other things derail. this makes a lot of sense, due to the very specific role kyle occupies in stan’s life. the caps below are from Cherokee Hair Tampons (1) and Follow That Egg (2)

(sidebar: it seems that there’s a contemporary debate in the fandom about who “canonically” pines more for the other between stan and kyle, and debates about kyle’s personality archetype as it relates to stan’s; again, i am saving that topic for a later post)

stan and kyle’s good ending was somewhat already hinted at in the Vaccination Special, when stan’s rightfully adverse reaction to kyle betraying his trust snowballs, and with kyle being the one hesitant to break up the “broship.” we have seen a similar situation play out in their Black Friday trilogy arc, only for it to be followed with their tightened bond in Stick of Truth. the last couple of caps below are from the Vaccination Special and Return of COVID

what also makes perfect narrative sense in my eyes is: how although “who is chasing who” in the stan-kyle dynamic varies much throughout the whole show, in Post-COVID and Return of COVID, kyle (lovingly) pushed stan through the bad timeline and towards a better ending. i also have more to say about kyle’s nagging as a love language, but i’m saving that, too. anyway, in the end - their relationship came full circle

wow check out that screenshot of stan marsh lovingly holding his lifelong best friend kyle broflovski’s children in his arms, as he smiles warmly at his mother and sister, relieved and happy to see them all (i’m gonna close this one here; if u scrolled enough to read all of that: hey)

[mirrorshards]

let’s try to put my Return of Covid thoughts in order....

very long, all spoilers

it’s actually really hard to be levelheaded about this because the ending impacted me so much that even tho i loved so much of the episode everything just pales to the huge disappointment I got by the last scene.

I liked seeing the flashback of stan’s miserable pandemic life and it was sad and he was so cute. didn’t expect to see the actual burning scene and then funeral and i felt like it was actually the weakest part of the montage but that’s peanuts really.

also liked seeing stan get a little more hopeful and assertive as it was framed that he was doing it for kenny again. his team up with kyle was nice and I do enjoy their stiff banter and even the whole alexa genre of jokes was funny to an extent (if you ignore the blantant misogyny for a bit). I actually do love them not getting along because.. again, I felt it was deserved. it wasn’t just one measly argument that tore them apart it’s years of neglection.

butters... I was so scared of what they might do with him. I’m so glad he wasn’t what the fandom expected he’d be. I’m not a huge fan of the mustache (what’s with literally everyone getting facial hair tho? they had some bare faced parents..) but i’m so glad he was an overall happy person and an extremely good business man and con artist. it fits him really well and even if i hate him a little for being in the NFT business and want to punch him, this is still quite a perfect turnout for him. (also his sob story of being grounded for 16 years kjdshsdf)

clyde plot was kinda weird but i enjoyed it sdsdf i was never a huge clyde fan but I do love making fun of him, so i definitely laughed.

the kyman fight was hilarious and beautiful and everything I could have wished for. I even enjoyed kyle being overpowered even tho it’s always the other way..

also something I hadn’t mentioned before but I really, really love cartman’s family. his wife is super sweet and she’s hot man. and they’re so in love??? and they’re great and loving parents, cartman’s kids getting everything they could ever need and so well educated. they’re perfect, really. I love them so much and I love that cartman really did change his ways and he cares for them deeply to the point he becomes a little conniving shit again, to protect them. I love it.

the whole... past was....... underwhelming to say the least. there was no impact in them meeting their kid selves, the kids had almost no reaction (tho cartman did make me laugh), just throwing makeshift “you should forgive him!” “you lose everything when you lose this!” idk man. i’m not a writer but that’s weak ass writing. it’s just putting the base down so the idea goes forward but it’s not executing said idea. their later reconciliation at the game was also really weak. it’s true the tear between stan and kyle was the deepest but it was like that for a reason.. having spent some good time together can help mending it but it’s not just something worth going “sorry dude” “dw dude it’s cool!” over. I wrote about their whole recent timeline here and I really thought it was what matt and trey were referring to because it makes the most sense. but that and the last scene just make me feel like it was a fluke

and then. the last scene. 

I have said this to my friends over and over by now but narratively it’s nor the smartest to SHOW the new future when the next content in line is gonna deal with the kids being friends again. like i sincerely thought that was the whole point, to build up the rest of the good timeline for them. it’s kinda weak showing how it turns out if you ask me. also it was SO messy. I felt like it was superrrr rushed. like it’s clearly not another 40 years later because shelly is younger than stan’s design, but also he still looks the same? still balding with afternoon shadow he’s just slimmer and in uniform. kyle and wendy and everyone else look exactly the same but wendy just came back from harvard and wants to get together with stan again? which is lovely and i appreciate the stendy don’t get me wrong but it’s framed in a kinda “we’re young and everything is still ahead of us” way. but they still used their 50yo designs?

anyway I could have gone without that last scene altogether because will i figured cartman would probably be punished for. uh. having a good life, loving family and saving the day along with saving their friendship. but not like this. I hated it. what’s the point of fixing the broship if you’re gonna leave one for the 4 to rot on the street? so it’s okay that cartman gets the bad route if everyone else is happy? 

kyle stole cartman’s life basically. two jewish kids, one wearing a yamaka? (also its the same design as moisha) uh what the fuck. kyle doesn’t wear one, why would his son? basu put it really nicely here. yeah I get it the good ending is kyle getting it and cartman getting shit but it’s so brutal. cartman gave up everything. and he’s the one who cared most about their broship to begin with?? yeah he’s not a good person but he was always awarded for bad behavior and punished for his selfless acts and this ending is just a huge win for “kyle”, who had nothing before and has everything now.

edit: also wanted to add, basu pointed out to me that they went a whole ass way to make everything change for kyle’s benefit but not have kyle actually learn from it. like, even stan learned something, with his gift to past randy.. but kyle? doesn’t take responsibility for his part of the tear, doesn’t want to fix it for the right reasons and eventually ends up with the best life, so he doesn’t learn from it either. it’s fucked up

another reason it makes me mad is because it’s not just narratively weird for them to dump him but also it’s ooc for him to end up on the street. he hates poor people and homeless and he’s a survivor with quick adaptive capabilities- he can get himself out of binds easily because he’s not scared of throwing people and things under the bus. he also appreciates a comfortable way of living so i feel like, if he ever felt that his comfortable life was threatened he’d stir shit up and manipulate it so he’d win. and he’s done it before like... that’s the show. so this eric cartman would never end up on the street even if he was dirt poor. and kyle wouldn’t leave him alone either.. kyle loves helping cartman out when he’s in a bind, it rides on kyle’s savior complex. butters also loves cartman and idk he’d offer cartman to live with him and probably regret it later and idk give him food from the restaurant secretly... I don’t buy that they’d just leave him for dead. and I’m disappointed so many things were overlooked just to make this joke when it’s not even half as shocking as rabbi cartman