SOUTH PARK: THE COMPLETE TWENTY-FIRST SEASON REVIEWED
“South Park” returns for its 21st season. After a 20th year that successfully explained the appeal of troll culture, it feels like the show lost focus in the follow-up. There was a desire to focus on Garrison as their Trump stand-in, but that ran its course. There was an off and on focus on Cartman’s relationship with his girlfriend. Yet, the show also felt obligated to check in with its key factions just to balance out a ten episode order. What happened?
There’s something bad about only having ten episodes a season. The first being that fans expect timeliness. Sure, the second game dropped in the Fall of 2017, but it still felt like a cheat to take two breaks in this shortened season. Plus, one of the episodes was an over-glorified commercial that helped set up the game’s plot. It’s a bit of world building, but it also plays cheap when you don’t even get to play in this world enough anymore.
Plus, the show is trying to push side characters way too late. Tweak and Craig are a fun couple, but do I have to start caring about them two decades into a run? It stinks of the overexposure that plagues Springfield background characters in The Simpsons. Not everyone has a backstory worth more than a episode. Some have less than that. The show thrives when it focuses on a handful of characters and tries to develop. Cartman not knowing what to do with his girlfriend and Randy fighting Witch Hunts are fun.
Plus, PC Principal continues to morph from a precise send-up of unchecked PC culture to the kind of clown that all SJWs can’t see that they’ve become now. But, it still doesn’t excuse a show that’s often struggles to qualify 10 episodes. The mini-commentaries on the episodes feel like a further slap in the face of fans. It’s one thing to let the art speak for itself, but when you’re doing less and less work…it just seems like Parker and Stone don’t want to be doing this anymore.
If that’s the case, I just wish they’d be honest and end the series. Hell, plan something and knee cap the program on a high note. Don’t just let it get to a point where people are making terrible documentaries about the use of featured extras.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Mini-Commentaries
- #SocialCommentary
A/V STATS
- 1.78:1 1080p transfer
- Dolby TrueHD 5.1
