Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
There are good episodes of South Park, episodes that are so bad they’re embarrassing, and episodes so hysterically funny and socially barbed, they remind you why the show needs to be discussed in our current cultural landscape. Last night’s episode, “Franchise Prequel,” falls into the latter category. In 22 minutes, Matt Stone and Trey Parker‘s show was able to mock the complexities of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, rip on Netflix, and skewer Mark Zuckerberg for his enabling Facebook to influence the election so much. It’s a work of terribly animated art that deserves a place next to “ManBearPig.”
“Franchise Prequel” starts with a premise fans of the series are likely intimately familiar with — the boys want to launch their own superhero franchise. That’s also the premise of the upcoming South Park game, South Park: The Fractured But Whole. In order to make the most money for their superhero dollar, Cartman proposes an epic three phase plan identical to the MCU that includes releasing animated shows, dramas, movies, and video games. The first part of this convoluted plan starts with the boys’ superhero team — Coon and Friends — getting their own Netflix series. “Netflix is starving for new shows right now, Toolshed. They will literally buy anything people pitch them,” Cartman explains.
Cold. But South Park drove the joke home even further later in the episode. At one point, the episode cuts to a Netflix employee talking to Cartman. He answers his phone by immediately approving the series, saying, “Netflix, you’re green-lit. Who am I speaking with?” Good thing South Park’s streaming home is on Hulu, right?
Cartman almost gets the six-episode series order he so desperately wants, but there’s a problem. It turns out his super-powered rival Professor Chaos (Butters) has been planting fake stories about the Coon and Friends on Facebook. Because of all of this fake news, most of South Park and the world at large believe that the Coon and Friends is actually a gang that’s been harassing little girls and hurting people. The Netflix representative, learning that the show is about this allegedly terrible superhero group cancels the order, admitting that Netflix has never passed on a show before.
The show even took a shot at Harvey Weinstein, which is remarkable considering how recently the scandal broke and the fact that SNL still hasn’t touched this subject. At one point, Cartman harasses a little boy, asking him why he stopped following the Coon and Friends on Instagram. The boy (Wilson) says it’s because those Facebook stories claim the Coon and Friends victimize innocent people and poop in little girls’ mouths. Cartman to fires back, saying, “That’s not true, Wilson. We’re Coon and Friends, not Harvey Weinstein.”
However, it was surprisingly Mark Zuckerberg who endured the brunt of the show’s wrath. Just about every criticism you can lobby against the Facebook founder and CEO appeared in the episode. Though he was repeatedly called out by the citizens of South Park for creating a platform that not only allows fake news but profits from it, South Park‘s Zuckerberg repeatedly denied responsibility. He was portrayed as a stiff, poorly dubbed Street Fighter-esque cartoon — a characterization that skewers the CEO’s odd attempts to connect with families in middle America and tone-deaf use of Facebook Spaces.
But it was South Park’s final Zuckerberg jab that really landed. At the end of the episode, Zuckerberg was portrayed as powerful CEO willing to literally hurt children in order to make slightly more money. The final message at the end of the episode was clear. CEOs, social media, and the law can’t be completely trusted to deliver only real news stories. We have to be careful about what we consume and diligent about avoiding fake news. Oh, and Mark Zuckerberg is apparently a penis.
