5 out of 5
Directed by: Trey Parker
Yes, there’s a sliding scale when ranking South Park episodes / specials; with a series that’s run nigh-on (as of this writing) 30 years, I’m not sure there’s necessarily value in trying to consider how any given season or whatnot would come across to a new viewer versus a seasoned one, and there’s also such general cultural familiarity with something so long running that there’s a bit of a What The Show’s About sense dissipated amongst the masses, with that approximating to: a cartoon that banks on timely jokes and the novelty of gratuitousness of various types paired with a childish-looking art style with endlessly amusing; and one layer deeper probably gets you into memorable clips that are passed around that espouse left / liberal leaning politics via very unsubtle “satire.”
Something else a longterm fan could probably steer you toward would be the ups and downs of eras of the show, from its rather purely scatalogical / nonsensical roots to some prime years of moderately linear storytelling and actual satire (not just Saying-The-Thing with swear words), and then ups and downs as creators and writers Matt Stone and Trey Parker keep sifting through headlines for more or less inspired episodes.
With the headline material having gotten pretty thin by the time of this seventh special for Paramount+, I wasn’t expecting much from The End of Obesity’s takedown / critique of GLP meds, or rather, I wasn’t expecting much nuance. And no, there still isn’t exactly nuance – this is still South Park – but Parker and Stone played this with a much fairer hand than expected, and wouldn’t you know, that made for some of their sharpest and funniest material since that peak era. On top of that, this could work as your first South Park, as I think it’s still essentially silly and dumb enough to not overpromise on the show’s style, while also idealizing the balance between commentary, story, and familiarity; I don’t feel dumber after watching it, and I sincerely laughed.
The End of Obesity puts Cartman front and center on its cover, jabbing his belly with Ozempic. Knowing Cartman as the most mischievous South Parker, with much humor derived from his weight, you could likely write something yadda yadda lack of control critique about it. Instead, Parker and Stone take an early swerve: Kyle understands that Cartman’s weight is a medical issue, and wants to help him… navigate the health care system. Which is the bulk of the comedy, while a side plot sees Randy (Stan’s dad) not understanding the appeal of a drug that doesn’t have the side effects of the other hard drugs he does, other South Parkers come at the question of Why Take These Meds? from different points of view, and then in classic SP overkill, Big Sugar decides to fight back against GLP-1s in a particularly silly manner.
And people also poop out of their ears, just to keep things classy.
This was the special I was figuring as a lazy layup, and instead, the team really knocked out a pretty enduring snipe at US healthcare and big business that’s surprisingly enduring, even several years after GLP-1s have fallen out of the most spotlit zeitgeists.
