South Park: Eek! a Penis Review
Season 12 - Episode 05
Photo courtesy of southparkstudios.com
April 10th, 2008 - For a show that prides itself on staying current, last night’s episode was full of pretty dated references. Which might not have been such a big deal, if the show was able to mine those old movies/news stories for good jokes. Sadly, it did not.
And it’s unfortunate, because the initial premise of this show, that Cartman teach the class while Garrison tries to become a man again, seems full of potential. But these two stories break completely from one another, and neither ends up being particularly funny. As I think back, I can’t honestly remember the last time South Park has had such totally separate A and B story lines, and probably for good reason.
I’ll start with Garrison’s quest to be a man again. I am a big fan of Mr(s). Garrison in general, and his/her journey from straight man to gay man to straight woman to gay woman back to a man is truly legendary in the annals of television. But Garrison’s story in this episode isn’t fleshed out (pun intended) nearly enough. What brought on this change of heart? Did he suffer a bad break up with a lesbian lover? Does he want to be gay or straight? Is the whole thing brought on by the Thomas Beatie affair? That story is only mentioned in passing, but it does win the award for the most current reference in this week’s show.
Less timely is the reference to the Vacanti mice experiments, which took place in 1997. Were Matt and Trey waiting since South Park began for just the right moment to work in this gag? I don’t know, but the mouse with a penis attached running around town was a moderately funny concept that was really run into the ground. How many times did we have to see Garrison and the other townspeople chase the thing around? Women are afraid of mice and penises - it’s moderately amusing, but it doesn’t get funnier the more times we see it. (And as a sidenote, is Barbrady no longer working in the South Park Police Department?) Although the mouse/penis bit did lead to the show’s only laugh-out-loud moment for me: when both the mouse and the penis sang a knock-off of “Somewhere Out There,” from An American Tail. (Released in 1986, for anyone curious…)
Need more references to 80’s movies? Well here comes Mr. Cartmanez, who gets a laugh for his remarkable resemblance to Edward James Olmos in Stand and Deliver (released in 1988.) All of the chichés from that film and others like it are milked here, but with a twist - the teacher is trying to show the kids how to cheat like white people, not actually learn. The point here is not without its merit, but the joke doesn’t really go anywhere. Yeah, Bill Belichick and the Patriots cheated and got away with it, but again, this is a dated reference (though this time only so far back as last year), and there is no punch in the delivery. We do get the running gag of a asking, “How do I reach these keedz?” but that wasn’t nearly as funny as last week’s “I’m not your buddy, friend!” line.
Overall, this was a very disappointing episode, full of potential laughs that just never came. The fact that the pop culture references are super dated wouldn’t be nearly as bothersome if the show was funnier; just look at Stanley’s Cup from Season Ten, which parodied The Mighty Ducks (released in 1992), but was worked for a ton of laughs. Hopefully the show will be able to rebound to the hilarity of Major Boobage and Canada on Strike as this season continues.
Alan’s Score: 4.4 out of 10
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