Editor’s note: this review contains spoilers from “Gluten Free Ebola.”
South Park’s season premiere last week, “Go Fund Yourself,” was a clear-cut example of series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone starting off the show’s 18th season with a solid and entertaining episode throughout; but they built on its success by going strength to strength with this week’s episode, “Gluten Free Ebola.”
Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick’s adventures continue with their return to South Park Elementary following the demise of their Kickstarter-funded company, the Washington Redskins, from “Go Fund Yourself,” which is an excellent dynamic applied within the first few minutes of the episode, especially as the continuity allows for the story’s concept to be established with such ease. I found this to be one aspect where the episode excelled, and although South Park does keep continuity with the demise of characters and specific events that occur in the universe, this is the first time that an episode, which isn’t a two-part or three-part special, has directly linked on with its predecessor.
The boys’ slogan of “Go f**k yourself” from last week has brought their reputation down amongst their fellow classmates, including Stan’s struggle to gain forgiveness from his girlfriend, Wendy Testaburger. However, with Stan, Kyle, Eric and Kenny being fourth-grade students with the most absurd ideas imaginable, they come up with a scenario in order to win back their popularity and friendships: throwing a party, but using Scott Malkinson, who has a lisp and diabetes, as the reason they’re actually hosting the event. This eventually leads to Cartman ripping into Malkinson for having diabetes during one of their radio sessions promoting the party, of course. Additionally, the Malkinson joke is one the episode’s major flaws, mainly for the reason that it’s underused and, when Trey Parker and Matt Stone opted to use it during certain skits, there was certainly more potential to be probed from the reoccurring joke.
Leopold “Butters” Stotch receives a mention in this week’s episode for setting fire to the school’s gymnasium, but that’s all we hear about one of the show’s fan-favourite characters, which is another area that weakens the episode’s strength. Butters is a highlight for the entertainment he can bring to any episode, whether it be a 2-minute scene or the entire episode is based around him — it’s for this reason why I thought the addition of Professor Chaos, Butters’ alter ego, would have been hilarious in a short segment of him burning down the gymnasium.
Randy Marsh, on the other hand, is one of the central characters in “Gluten Free Ebola,” who plays on the idea of a gluten endemic to near perfection. With that being said, Randy’s lack of common sense comes into effect for the episode’s entrainment value, as he’s locked away in quarantine, with the location ironically selected as Papa John’s Pizza, for not realising beer contains gluten. The United States Department of Agriculture continues to search for the cause of people’s d**ks flying off when they eat a product containing gluten, with the premise of the joke efficiently integrated during the early stages of the episode when a nutrition expert downs a straight shot of gluten and, in the process, his d**k flies off.
Most people will be disappointed by the fact that Randy doesn’t play a more predominate role in the “Gluten Free Ebola,” but this allows Cartman to complement the episode’s narrative with humour that only a character with his repute could possibly add. Cartman’s main concern, above everything else, is that the “party’s going to s**k,” with the burning of gluten-related products in the town taking its effect on Eric, who, as a result, is bed-ridden for not being able to consume junk food he loves. Furthermore, the comedy is amplified with Cartman screaming at Kyle down the phone about the gluten endemic and a story about Aunt Jemima, who, funnily enough, visits him later in a dream sequence with some pancakes — and, I might add, returns during the closing moments of the episode and exchanges a wave with Cartman, adding the finishing touches to an exceptional episode.
During the early stages of “Gluten Free Ebola,” Trey Parker and Matt Stone pinpoint an outstanding metaphor for people who are on a diet, as Mr. Mackey continues to boast at the fact that he’s on a gluten-free diet and how he’s avoiding foods that are considered ‘bad.’ This high and mighty status Mackey has is hilarious, especially when all of the town’s people eventually shift towards this attitude during the gluten-free endemic. Incorporating the news of the Ebola virus with element of a gluten-free diet, Stone and Parker remain loyal to their up-to-date satire whilst mixing in some quirky humour over the course of the episode. Additionally, South Park wouldn’t hold its brutal reputation for ripping into celebrities if someone didn’t receive a bashing from Trey Parker and Matt Stone this week, with Lorde, a singer-songwriter from New Zealand, acting as the reoccurring joke from the opening moments of the episode, which is topped off with Randy dressed up as her on stage and Clyde proclaiming, “I’m glad the food is good, Lorde s**ks.”
South Park is one of the very few shows on TV to be in its 18th season and still replicate episodes that elevated it to such a highly regarded status in the first place. Not only that, the continuity “Gluten Free Ebola” shares with “Go Fund Yourself” caught me off guard completely, and it established the premise of the episode within a matter of minutes. Unfortunately for “Gluten Free Ebola,” it does suffer from areas where South Park‘s tongue-in-cheek humour is weak, but the overall quality shines from the early stages of the episode. However, “Gluten Free Ebola” does open up a serious question for me: with Butters burning down the school’s gymnasium without a full explanation revealed as to why he did it, will that mean an upcoming episode in season 18 is set to focus on one of South Park’s standout characters? I can only hope this is the case.