Written by Andreas Babiolakis

Binge, Fringe, or Singe? is our television series that will cover the latest seasons, miniseries, and more. Binge is our recommendation to marathon the reviewed season. Fringe means it won’t be everyone’s favourite show, but is worth a try (maybe there are issues with it). Singe means to avoid the reviewed series at all costs.

I can’t say that Trey Parker and Matt Stone don’t try. Years after South Park has seemingly tried to get itself cancelled (I’m sure in jest, but with a slight call for help), it keeps going. Yes, even during the pandemic. The famously quick turnaround times of the gestation of episodes has come in handy in a reality where series have been stalled or forced into limbo. In 2021, shows are returning back to their regularly scheduled programming. Even then, South Park got by with a couple of pandemic specials last year, and that seems to be at least a part of their current identity. This seems to be the case, because the team has signed on to do a number of TV movies for Paramount, and South Park: Post COVID is the first film of this rollout since the announcement (with a couple of releases per year to come).

Creatively, there’s something here too to back up the work ethic. Post COVID transports us forty or so years into the future, and it’s the first time we really get a sense of what the South Park characters will look like when they are older (outside of adult Cartman’s brief time travel trip back to the town of South Park, which has no relevancy in this film). This gimmick alone makes Post COVID worth a shot for South Park enthusiasts, even if you have dropped off of the series’ train in the last few years. The references are all chuckle worthy (or, at least, a large exhale out of your nose), with the occasional actual laugh. It’s the freshest South Park has felt in years, but that says a lot when the bulk of this material comes from relying on the past (so how fresh can it actually be?). The gist here is that Kenny McCormick — now a renown scientist — has died (what a shocker), and his mysterious passing may have something to do with a hint of a COVID-19 resurgence. The boys are all estranged but have returned to their childhood stomping grounds to visit Kenny’s funeral, especially with the implication that there is something for them behind his death. Stan is a shell of his father’s self. Kyle is similarly lonely. Eric Cartman is now a devout man of Jewish faith, with an adorable family (although his lack of personal space is still ever present). Being able to point out familiar faces (like the goth kids, and the “fourth graders” who are now middle-agers) whilst being introduced to major characters (Token, Clyde, Jimmy) is quite fun, but should that be the entire meat-and-potatoes of an event like this?

While creative, this latest *South Park* special still relies too heavily on old jokes.

We may be decades into the future, but South Park continues to rest on the same four or five jokes of the last few years. We are all snowflakes. We can’t be offensive anymore, so being PC is the anti-PC thing to do. The world is a divisive place. Then there’s Tegridy Farms. God damn Tegridy Farms. It’s the joke that South Park has put all of its eggs in, much like Randy Marsh has, and it’s gotten to the point that the joke is beyond stale now, and yet there is virtually nothing Parker or Stone can do to stop it. Every plot point resorts back to it, given this one-note punchline’s importance in every character (particularly the Marsh family, so that means everyone). We can’t even avoid Tegridy weed at this point, especially in these specials, because the ongoing storyline stems (heh) from this farm (with the implication that Randy Marsh caused COVID-19). It’s true that this special also harps on with many jokes that we’ve heard numerous times before (from the other pandemic specials or just the older seasons), like PC Principal’s usual spiel, or the chin diapers caused by people refusing to put their masks on properly. It’s another thing when the story itself feels like a tired — nay, exhausted — revisitation of the same old stuff.

This special is better than the last one (easily one of my least favourite South Park entries thus far), but it still reeks of the same staleness-verging-on-moldiness that the series has had for a number of years. It’s true that the world isn’t providing much comedy lately, and we’re reliving the same nonsense on a daily basis (and being online 24/7 hasn’t helped with our awareness of this). South Park can only say so much new stuff at this point. It can only keep making the same jokes again and again. Hell, this latest special is all about reliving 2020 in the future because of a breach in health and safety protocols, and no amount of gimmicks or promises (yes, this special episode ends openly, with the promise of a specific character’s dismal future, and how his promises as a child actually seemed to have come to fruition) can make it feel fresher. I’ll never forget when I was at a Subway restaurant as a child (and this isn’t to imply that all Subway restaurants are like this, just to be clear), and seeing an employee — who needed to get the new batch of bread — spraying day-old bread with a spritzer bottle and muttering “I hate this fucking job” under her breath. I wish South Park no longer felt this way, but I still enjoy having these sandwiches, even with the bad aftertaste and the stomachaches to come.

Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.