South Park 11x08: Le Petit Tourette

Oh South Park. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Last night was the premiere of South Park. I hesitate to call it a season premiere because, really, it's not at all. It's the season's halfway mark. The PR boys at Comedy Central likely call it the "season premiere" because it's the starting point for everyone else. Nevertheless, South Park kicked off the second half of its 11th season last night. And, oh! How delightful it was

Basically, Cartman discovers he can curse at and/or around anyone at will when he comes across a boy with Tourette's Syndrome at the toy store. He, of course, turns it into a huge deal to garner sympathy from the town, and an exclusive interview for Dateline NBC in order to start a hate-filled rant about Jews on national television. Of course, Kyle makes it his mission to stop him.

This is one of those episodes that could go in any season. Not say that it's a throwaway, but it's not attempting to make a commentary on current events. It picks something without a certain place in time to be the focal point of the episode. I always find people who view the show as controversial a bit silly. The show is extremely intelligent and if people would actually pay attention to what's going on, they probably wouldn't be so quick to judge. Apparently the Tourettes Association jumped the gun and made some statement about how they weren't surprised that they were being made fun of...BEFORE THE EPISODE AIRED. Yes, it was used as a joke, but it wasn't simply making fun of Tourette's (thought it did play with it). Argh.

Two really great moments. One was the the confrontation between Kyle and Cartman in Cartman's room, which parodied early Bond movies. I've come to the conclusion that this show is largely about the epic struggle between Kyle and Cartman. It's just..fantastic. The second was Craig's recurring reasons why he would be "soo happy." The euphoric bliss he has thinking about cursing in front of adults floored me every time, especially when he approaches the kid who actually has TS and says "Dude, can I..Can I just hang out with you? Do your laundry or something." His delivery was perfect.

A great start to the second half of an already ridiculously strong season.