In the latest episode of South Park, the long-running comedy show turns up its knack for social commentary and addresses that uneasy feeling some of us may have, in light of the Ukraine invasion, that the Cold War may be returning with a sequel.
Mr. Mackey certainly seems to think so, as he rallies the school into a panic with nuclear missile drills and theories of Communist infiltration. How retro! Meanwhile, Butters takes up dressage, and his parents push him to best his Russian rival. All this in this week’s episode of South Park, “Back to the Cold War”.
South Park season 25 episode 4 review
I have to be honest, not the strongest episode of South Park for me, especially considering the reality of things that the episode is aiming to parody. For starters, it is feels like a very, very closed off episode, character wise. The two main protagonists are Mackey and Butters, and the lack of involvement by other characters leaves a bit of a void. You feel it even more as the episode goes along. As each story advances, they still feel like they’re going nowhere.
For instance, Mr. Mackey’s main concern this episode is the thought of another Cold War. He starts investigating PC Principal after being reprimanded for conducting too many drills, and in a usual episode this might lead to something, but not really. I mean, we get some humorous stuff of Mackey spying on PC Principal on the toilet playing Candy Crush, but it is just the one joke; a lot of build up for a relatively mild and uninspired joke by South Park standards.
Then Butters comes in, mentions the Russian he is competing against, and Mackey becomes involved in Butters’s horse story, but just for one scene, meeting Butter’s parents at the stables. Then Mackey goes to his mother’s house to use he’s old computer, and we get a montage of the horse competition, which is mostly a lot of jokes and visuals we’ve already been treated to. He hacks to a USA military base, that goes nowhere. It’s just a lot of nowhere.
Over all, Mr. Mackey’s story was pretty weak, unfocused, and didn’t lead to anything exciting. Butters’s story, on the other hand, is even more so. Well, I suppose you could have called it focused, if you call a consistent stream of horse crap jokes focused, but it still didn’t go anywhere either. It lacked urgency, had a lot of repetitive jokes, and was generally too self-contained. And, quite frankly, boring.
The whole episode was boring. Considering this episode is very clearly addressing the Ukraine crisis and social panic over Russian aggression, deciding to make it about just Mr. Mackey panicking about it, and Butter’s horse competition, it is a rather weak direction when so much more was possible. Even the jabs at Putin came off weak. Oh great, so he’s dancing to 80’s music, he admits he’s old and his penis doesn’t work. I don’t know, maybe I’m too political, but given the reality of the situation, South Park could have gone so much further. Either way, even if it wasn’t for the politics and, in my opinion, the episode’s failure to properly lampoon it, this week’s story was still really dry.
South Park season 25 episode 4 score
If you ask me, I think the writers were really Russian to be done with this one.
Anyway, that’s “Back to the Cold War”. Definitely not my favorite episode this season. What do you all think? Is this the last that South Park will touch on the state of the globe, and what else is down the road this season? Only one way to find out.
Grade: D+
South Park jokes run cold in Back to the Cold War
Source: Pinoy White Knights
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