*SPOILER WARNING*
When I heard earlier in the week that South Park would be
dealing with the Republican debates this week the potential for mockery seemed
endless, but nothing could’ve prepared me for the oddity that was ‘Faith
Hilling’. This episode was beyond weird, and in a way it says a lot about the
state of South Park at the moment, especially the final seconds of the episode.
That recycled humour that many have criticised the show for recently was
extremely prevalent in this episode, in fact in a way it almost seemed like
Matt and Trey were revelling in creating an episode that would give those
criticising the show, myself included, some more ammo. Yet, somehow, this ended
up being one of the funniest episodes in recent memory, even if it is a
one-trick pony, because the one trick this pony knows is really hilarious.
The episode opens, as I’d expected, with the Republican debate, and I’m glad that the episode went off on it’s bizarre little tangent as quickly as it did. Not being American myself I know very little about the Republican candidates (I’ve seen enough on the internet to know that Mitt Romney is an idiot, and what I know of Ron Paul I learnt from ‘Bruno’, but that’s about it.) so while I know South Park does political satire well, I’m not sure I would’ve enjoyed an episode based solely on the debates as much as I ended up enjoying this meme-centric episode. Yes, we’re taken away from the politics almost straight away as it becomes clear the boys are conspiring to upset the debate by Faith Hilling, and sure enough Cartman runs on stage and pulls his shirt out to make it look like he has breasts. It’s the just-as-ridiculous South Park answer to the Planking photo fad and it sets us up for an episode that is jam-packed with referential humour of the highest calibre, a lot of big laughs and even a song and dance.
The children are made to attend a special safety class after
their Faith Hilling incident, because it is of course only a matter of time
until someone dies from it. These classes, taught by a rather fervent meme
expert, are one of the episodes many highlights and the film he shows the
class, apparently from the 1980s, showing the dangers of Tebowing, a meme that
became popular in October last year, was a pretty hilarious way of getting
across how quickly these memes pass in and out of the public eye. The train gag
is the only joke in this episode that really gets run into the ground, but
again in those final seconds it gets subverted and while it doesn't make it
funny again it does at least give it some purpose. When the boys find out that
they made the cover of the newspaper with their stunt for being so 2000 and
late, and that Taylor Swifting is the new meme in town, a conflict begins to
emerge within the group. Cartman and Kyle want to stick with Faith Hilling and
give it the respect it apparently deserves, while Kenny and Stan crave the
latest memes, and are branded as sellouts when they abandon Faith Hilling.
There’s an interesting commentary on the show itself in this conflict and it’s
always fascinating to see Matt and Trey air these issues so publicly. South
Park today exists in a different comedy landscape than it did 16 years ago. Once
upon a time South Park was consistently at the cutting edge, but in a world of
flash-in-the-pan internet memes the cutting edge is no longer easy to find,
especially for a weekly TV show.
"It said we cannot coexist. And then it said "oh don piaaaano" and then something about seeing the streets of human cities run red with the blood of their children."
Indeed, in a strange way it feels wrong to have enjoyed this
episode as much as I did. It’s clear that the point of the episode is that our
society’s strange desire to latch on to these short-lived memes is completely
ridiculous, and yet it is the countless references to real-life memes that make
this episode so hilarious. And when they start rolling out the Inbread Cats
things really do get hilarious. The meme expert who taught the kids about the
dangers of memes is approached and asked for his opinion on whether other species
can create memes, and comes to the obvious conclusion that cats are evolving,
stating that “if cats are putting slices of bread on their heads and taking
pictures, they’re proving to be almost as intelligent as we are.” Meanwhile,
Cartman and Kyle are finally forced to admit that Faith Hilling has run it’s
course, in a scene that ends up being quite emotional in that it’s clearly
about the show itself. It’s an admission that the show is no longer the show it
used to be, but that it’s a show that can still be fun. It sounds silly to say
it but Cartman’s line “We’ll have a blast doing… the new stuff.” was actually a
little bit heart-breaking. From this point on the episode just spirals into a
beautiful monstrosity of internet cats and meme references that is a joy to
behold, culminating in a return to the Republican debate, complete with Oh Long
Johnson cat, as the candidates address the inevitable war between humans and
cats. A final monologue from a news reporter sheds some light on this new meme,
called ‘pandering’, before he is hit by a train despite being indoors and
nowhere near a train track. It’s an interesting scene, one that suggests maybe Matt
and Trey have still got some fight in them yet, and it’s a clever way of
subverting one of their own overused jokes against the ludicrous nature of all
these memes.
Indeed, this is just about as clever as South Park has ever
been. To create an episode that simultaneously makes the viewer feel idiotic
for finding these stupid memes funny while at the same time making the memes so
damn funny is no small feat. It’s also great to see Matt and Trey get some more
of their issues with the show out there for fans to see. It’s been clear for
some time that there were problems on South Park, but just knowing that the
creators are aware of it too helps to diffuse any concerns, and is something I
can’t imagine happening on any other show. ‘Faith Hilling’ makes for two great
episodes in a row now, which is already a better run than South Park has had in
a long time. I honestly think it’s going to be hard for anything else this
season to top this episode, it was a perfect example of everything that makes
South Park great, but I’m looking forward to seeing Matt and Trey try.
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