The end of season 19 of South Park

[Groxnax]

So the final episode of season 19 of South Park has been released and it had some interesting plot twists and crazy events.

So what do you guys think of the episode? Were you disappointed that a certain person didn't die?

What do you think will happen in the next season?

 

[tippy2k2]

I thought this entire season was pretty freaking funny.

I know I'm supposed to hate him but I really think PC Principal is hilarious. Even though it's kind of low hanging fruit, I still love him and the jokes that we get out of him.

I also LOVED the mocking of gun culture. I stay out of that conversation in real life because I think it's a useless conversation to have in our society but that doesn't mean I can't laugh at it.

 

[Zontar]

I quite enjoyed it. This season was definitely better the season 18, which itself was better then season 17, and the last few seasons before that where ok but fairly weak by comparison. I think their focusing on fewer episodes per season helped a fair deal, and overall I'd say South Park is back in its proper place of taking deep social commentary and shitting all over it instead of saying anything meaningful, just like in the good old days.

 

[EternallyBored]

Season was alright, and the finale was funny by itself, the continuity and conclusion to the ad plotline was rushed and dumb though.

They had way too many plot threads to end it all by the final episode, but god damn were the final ten minutes or so basically just a clusterfuck. Maybe some of that will get fixed next season, but even continuing plot lines should feel like they left off in a good spot for the time between seasons. The finale of this season didn't really do that, Leslie basically just kind of fails because PC principal showed up faster than she anticipated, Kyle just kind of gets used by her and there's no payoff there, he's quickly shuffled into the background due to lack of time. Kenny just kind of fades into the background, which isn't too bad since it looks like the sodosopa and plotline stuff is being continued next season, so I'll tolerate leaving that thread dangling. Whole foods coming in at the last second and just flying off seems like kind of a lame cliffhanger. The Jenner joke got old, it was a worthwhile one episode joke, but across the season it just isn't funny anymore. Jenner's character in general is kind of just annoying me at this point, but I'll acknowledge that might be because I have paid no attention to anything surrounding her, so much like other celebrity parodies on the show that I don't know much about, I'm just not finding the parody funny, which is tolerable when they are a one note appearance, but as a regular character she doesn't do anything that makes me laugh or give a shit about her or the Garrison election stuff.


When the season started I thought they would overuse the PC principal stuff, but they actually did alright with him as a sort of persistent antagonist, he's more than a one note joke like Jenner. The ad stuff however feels lame and I really don't give a shit if they continue it next season.

I am mostly looking forward to next season, but I hope to god they don't make the ads the overarching plot thread of the season.

 

[Pooli]

It was well written, it took until the final speech to actually see what Stone and Parker were writing about.

It's islam.

Islam extremists use American PC culture to get into the country, but they themselves are extremely prejudiced against anyone that isn't Muslim and wants them dead. PC principal is violent against anyone who is not PC because that is the only real test to tell them apart; like the scene at the beginning of the last episode in the bar. They use tactics that are 'unfair,' he says, like in prisons how muslim gangs force other inmates to convert, and allowing Islamic customs but not Christmas in public schools.

"We cannot let them take our PC." because to alienate an entire race would be wrong, we must make our PC stronger, so we can spot those who only want to convert or kill us. "This is going to be really hard."

 

[Parasondox]

It was well written, it took until the final speech to actually see what Stone and Parker were writing about.

It's islam.

Islam extremists use American PC culture to get into the country, but they themselves are extremely prejudiced against anyone that isn't Muslim and wants them dead. PC principal is violent against anyone who is not PC because that is the only real test to tell them apart; like the scene at the beginning of the last episode in the bar. They use tactics that are 'unfair,' he says, like in prisons how muslim gangs force other inmates to convert, and allowing Islamic customs but not Christmas in public schools.

"We cannot let them take our PC." because to alienate an entire race would be wrong, we must make our PC stronger, so we can spot those who only want to convert or kill us. "This is going to be really hard."

Errr... What?

Or to add so i don't get a warning. You are joking about right because "haha".

 

[Fallow]

Was I the only one that really enjoyed the Garrison/Jenner pairing? I laughed pretty hard when he f****d the canadian PM to death, and Jenner's driving is downright hilarious, especially during an "idyllic" opening setting. They also work really well together, since neither appears to be overly concerned with opinions or sensitivity.

PC principal and the PC bros were good at first, but that track went in a direction that I found less entertaining than I'd hoped.

 

[Neonsilver]

I liked the season in general, but the PC thing got old very fast for me. For the final episode, it felt a little like they wanted to make an episode about gun culture and then remembered that they still had to tie up the seasons storyline. To me that episode felt a little disconnected from the rest of the season.

 

[Wuvlycuddles]

Was I the only one that really enjoyed the Garrison/Jenner pairing? I laughed pretty hard when he f****d the canadian PM to death, and Jenner's driving is downright hilarious, especially during an "idyllic" opening setting. They also work really well together, since neither appears to be overly concerned with opinions or sensitivity.

PC principal and the PC bros were good at first, but that track went in a direction that I found less entertaining than I'd hoped.

The pc crowd being unwittingly manipulated by internet clickbait? Pure fantasy! But I enjoyed it.

 

[leberkaese]

I have mixed feelings about this season...

On the one hand the continuity was great. South Park tackled some big problems of today's society and made them theme for an entire season. Gone are the days when South Park relied on nothing but nasty shock humor (but of course, they still do it. Children working together with ISIS or the depiction of Jenner that probably made many supporters of her rage come to my mind). After the finale, an episode from a few years ago came to my mind: when Stan turns 10 and becomes sick of all that is going on. I expected this to be a message from Stone and Parker. I expected them to change the series and go on a different road. They didn't do it immediately, but it seems like they finally changed their formula in these last two seasons. South Park grew up. Something that the Simpsons never really did, which is probably the reason why South Park is still a great series, even nearly 20 years after its first season.

But I had my share of problems with this season. Firstly, the humor was missing. Sure, they had some good jokes, but it's no comparison to what was going on in Season 18 (which is one of my favorite seasons of the entire show). I don't know, if this is maybe because Stone and Parker struggled with the new formula and need to get some practice with this storytelling. Also, it was just too much. Nearly every episode approached political correctness or gentrification. I was sick of that after the first half of the season. And with PC principal staying in the series, it seems like this will be dragged into season 20.

But I'm drifting of and I didn't even answer OP's question. Damn! I liked the final episode. It was the best episode of the entire season. Despite having this ongoing theme they managed to put in something more topical. South Park always was pretty fast in putting current happenings in their latest episodes, but due to this overarching story this was something hard to manage this season. But they managed to do it this time, so that was nice. I had hoped for a return of status quo at the end, but that wasn't happening. Not too sure, if that is a bad or a good thing.
In the next season they'll probably pick another big subject which will be the story arch. My guess: the upcoming elections combined with fight on terrorism and refugees. Maybe they'll put this into Canada, like they already did: Canadian refugees and fear of Canadian terrorists. Oh my, in what times we live.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

This season's ender was about what I expected, the running continuity hasn't ever been a strong point for South Park, as they've always been a snacky issue/gag of the week show. They started to dabble in it in season 18 and it kinda was working, where there was just a thread of minor continuity. "PC Principal Final Justice" was just kind of a weak episode overall, it felt rushed, but not in the good way South Park rushes to make a funny episode. It feels rushed to tie up all the loose ends and get something coherent out of the season finale, which leaves the episode feeling kinda thrown together in a bad way and tossed out. Really they had a great chance to put together an episode that basically said; "want us to tie up all the loose ends for the season? Well fuck you! We're gonna do something really stupid and funny instead!" Which would have been amazing, instead they tried and failed to wrap up a season's worth of continuity in a funny interesting way.

Really for season 20, I hope they go back to their roots more, go to the snacky gag of the week style, and knock it out of the park. Seasons 16 and 17 felt like the pinnacle of South Park and they will never out do "Butterballs", season 18 felt like it was on the start of the down hill swing, 19 feels like a train running away down hill. The entire season was partially poisoned by the running transphobic gags, using Caitlyn Jenner as the template for all of the worst transphobic stereotypes. Honestly I don't like Jenner, she's an awful example of a trans person, not Zoey Tur bad, but she certainly isn't doing the community any favors by trying to speak for us. Really in the past transphobic jokes in South Park have been pretty tame and quickly brushed off for funnier jokes as soon as they hit. This season exemplified how it was failing with Jenner, running bad jokes into the ground so hard that they swung back around to funny, then became unfunny again.

Honestly I hope season 20 is the final season of South Park, they've gone down to 10 episodes a season now and it's just feeling like Matt and Trey want to move on. I can't blame them either, season 20 is their last contracted season, it feels like a logical endpoint, if they do more they're gonna run the risk of becoming The Simpsons. Just circling the drain stubbornly on nostalgia value alone. South Park has been great, but these last two seasons have been kind of weak, Matt and Trey seem tired with the whole thing. So I'll stick to the opinion that maybe it's time to put this series to bed, or perhaps flip the status quo and do a time skip.

 

[-Dragmire-]

This season's ender was about what I expected, the running continuity hasn't ever been a strong point for South Park, as they've always been a snacky issue/gag of the week show. They started to dabble in it in season 18 and it kinda was working, where there was just a thread of minor continuity. "PC Principal Final Justice" was just kind of a weak episode overall, it felt rushed, but not in the good way South Park rushes to make a funny episode. It feels rushed to tie up all the loose ends and get something coherent out of the season finale, which leaves the episode feeling kinda thrown together in a bad way and tossed out. Really they had a great chance to put together an episode that basically said; "want us to tie up all the loose ends for the season? Well fuck you! We're gonna do something really stupid and funny instead!" Which would have been amazing, instead they tried and failed to wrap up a season's worth of continuity in a funny interesting way.

Really for season 20, I hope they go back to their roots more, go to the snacky gag of the week style, and knock it out of the park. Seasons 16 and 17 felt like the pinnacle of South Park and they will never out do "Butterballs", season 18 felt like it was on the start of the down hill swing, 19 feels like a train running away down hill. The entire season was partially poisoned by the running transphobic gags, using Caitlyn Jenner as the template for all of the worst transphobic stereotypes. Honestly I don't like Jenner, she's an awful example of a trans person, not Zoey Tur bad, but she certainly isn't doing the community any favors by trying to speak for us. Really in the past transphobic jokes in South Park have been pretty tame and quickly brushed off for funnier jokes as soon as they hit. This season exemplified how it was failing with Jenner, running bad jokes into the ground so hard that they swung back around to funny, then became unfunny again.

Honestly I hope season 20 is the final season of South Park, they've gone down to 10 episodes a season now and it's just feeling like Matt and Trey want to move on. I can't blame them either, season 20 is their last contracted season, it feels like a logical endpoint, if they do more they're gonna run the risk of becoming The Simpsons. Just circling the drain stubbornly on nostalgia value alone. South Park has been great, but these last two seasons have been kind of weak, Matt and Trey seem tired with the whole thing. So I'll stick to the opinion that maybe it's time to put this series to bed, or perhaps flip the status quo and do a time skip.

Based on the Wiki page, they're contracted until season 23. The extension was made in July of this year.

 

[Biran53]

Liked the finale. Thought it brought the whole season into focus. Political correctness is fine as long as it checks itself and its limits and everybody remembers who the true enemy is within American culture: unfettered, disembodied capitalism.

The stuff with the guns was also very, very cathartic and pleasing.

Goddamn, we have a problem with guns.

But yeah, the entire season wasn't perfect and (as usual with South Park) I have difficulty discerning what is meant to be satire, parody, lambasting, etc., and it's always hard to tell if Parker and Stone are being really smart and nuanced or really really lazy.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Based on the Wiki page, they're contracted until season 23. The extension was made in July of this year.

Well they're gonna have to find some way then to keep the series from stagnating like The Simpsons has.

 

[Zontar]

Based on the Wiki page, they're contracted until season 23. The extension was made in July of this year.

Well they're gonna have to find some way then to keep the series from stagnating like The Simpsons has.

They've managed to keep it fresh after 19 years, while The Simpsons went stagnant after only 10. I think the nature of the show gives them an advantage The Simpsons doesn't, since half the show's formula is responding to things that are topical, while the other half is making episodes about whatever the two feel like. Reducing the number of episodes each season was to allow them to do other work while the series is ongoing (takes 3 months to make a season at 10 episodes, leaving 9 months each year to do other projects) but they're both adamant about continuing the series as long as there is a network willing to broadcast it. Given how the show is (relatively) cheap to make and has a large viewership (it has been Comedy Central's flagship series since it began for good reason, it was a massive propellent in the network's popularity) that probably isn't going to happen any time soon.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Based on the Wiki page, they're contracted until season 23. The extension was made in July of this year.

Well they're gonna have to find some way then to keep the series from stagnating like The Simpsons has.

Well with a development time of what, 6 days, they can stay completely relevant as long as they make fun of current events. Its a trait Family Guy and Simpsons don't have with their months long development time per episode.

 

[Groxnax]

OP is pretty suspicious, hinting vaguely at events in the new season. Trying to make people curious almost.

Are you an ad OP?

What?

Oh Hell no.