Nobody invitations controversy fairly like Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The “South Park” creators have stirred up every kind of bother all through the present’s staggering 26 season run, however the pair actually pushed the envelope only a few weeks in the past with the arrival of their newest season. The long-awaited season 27 premiere not solely lampooned their mother or father firm Paramount within the wake of a $1.5 billion deal to maintain “South Park” on the air for one more 5 years, but it surely additionally took ruthless jabs on the Trump administration. “Sermon on the ‘Mount” depicted President Donald J. Trump as a loudmouthed annoyance who speaks in the identical ridiculous cadence Stone used for Saddam Hussein in “South Park: Larger, Longer and Uncut.” Animated utilizing precise photos of Trump (together with his notorious mugshot), the present’s depiction of the “Dwelling Alone 2: Misplaced in New York” actor continually threatens to sue all people who disagrees with him. The cherry on high is a live-action “pro-Trump” PSA that makes use of deepfake expertise to overlay particulars of Trump’s face onto a lookalike who wanders by the desert, strips bare, and has his teeny tiny penis communicate an endorsement message. To say that Stone and Parker have been poking the beast is an understatement.
The White Home predictably responded the next day to lambast “South Park,” saying the present “hasn’t been related for 20 years and is hanging on by a thread” (by way of Rolling Stone). The previous few weeks have proven that this merely is not true by any measure, because the premiere drew practically 6 million viewers throughout cable and streaming packages. It virtually breathed a complete new wave of curiosity regarding “South Park,” as movies and memes unfold throughout social media like wildfire. I hadn’t seen new seasons of the present in years, however this reignited my curiosity to maintain tuning in and see how Stone and Parker might presumably high this.
Two weeks after the season premiere, final evening’s episode, titled “Acquired A Nut,” break up its focus in two totally different instructions. The primary is a riff on terminally on-line right-wing grifters like Charlie Kirk. Clyde (Parker) begins a podcast saying sexist and anti-Semitic nonsense as a result of it makes cash, with Cartman (Parker) following swimsuit as an overcorrection to have some type of a grasp on his shtick as a provocateur. However regardless of this, he nonetheless cannot meet up with different youngsters attempting to take his agitator mojo. “South Park” eviscerates the podcast industrial complicated by labeling them as “grasp debaters.” The A-plot, nevertheless, in some way poked and prodded the Trump administration even extra. It relegates his function to the climax, but it surely nonetheless takes a daring swing at controversial insurance policies, figures, and establishments transpiring underneath his watch.
South Park mocks the absurd cruelty of ICE raids
Mr. Mackey (Parker) turns into the focus this week, as “Acquired A Nut” follows the elementary faculty steerage counselor grappling with dropping his job resulting from finances cuts. In questioning how he’ll make his nut, a teller informs him ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is hiring nearly anyone to hitch up. Mr. Mackey initially resists the thought, at the least till he hears that he’ll be supplied a $100,000 wage. “If you happen to want a job, it is a job,” says the twisted advert jingle attractive new recruits. It turns into the simplest job interview on the earth, as Mr. Mackey does not actually must say a lot of something to be welcomed onboard. Even the homebound keyboard man from the season 10 episode “Make Love, Not Warcraft” will get inducted in. Issues get actually wild with the arrival of (present) Secretary of Homeland Safety Kristi Noem.
There aren’t any holds barred on the subject of making enjoyable of the previous governor of South Dakota. All through the episode, Noem is proven taking pictures all manners of puppies within the face, even the beloved scene-stealing Krypto the Tremendous Canine from James Gunn’s “Superman.” It additionally goes to point out how Stone and Parker cannot fairly sustain with the bizarreness of our present actuality, as ex-Superman actor Dean Cain (“Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman”) has now really signed as much as be an ICE agent himself (by way of CNN). In the meantime, Noem’s brutal skewering is a reference to her 2022 memoir “Not My First Rodeo,” by which she admitted to taking pictures her 14 month-old canine Cricket after they supposedly ruined a hunt and killed some chickens (by way of Politico). Along with her canine killing spree, of which the episode ends together with her performing a mass taking pictures within a pet retailer, the “South Park” model of Noem additionally doubles down in saying the quiet half out (very, very) loud.
ICE raids are depicted as inhuman operations, as hoards of masked brokers descend upon a “Dora the Explorer LIVE!” present and even heaven. That is proper. Noem’s mantra of “if it is brown, it should go down” goes to such excessive lengths that she actually strikes heaven and earth to arrest souls which have since handed on. It is cruelty for cruelty’s sake. The face-melting head of ICE even manages to execute her lifeless canine but once more on the pearly gates. The precise Secretary of Homeland Safety has but to reply to the episode, however I’ve a robust feeling that she’ll have ideas about her less-than-flattering depiction.
Mr. Mackey is the right character to make use of as a automobile reverse Noem and her raids, contemplating he is continually grappling together with his inherent nature as a college counselor. It is clear that he does not need to be doing this, however he wants the cash (the titular nut) and does it anyway. It will get to the purpose the place Mr. Mackey turns into so good at being an ICE agent that he is invited to Mar-a-Lago, the place he is set to be thanked by Trump himself for his record-breaking achievement in “rounding up probably the most Mexicans.”
South Park humiliates JD Vance in a Fantasy Island riff
The preliminary promo for “Acquired A Nut” featured a second the place Trump performs with Devil’s leg underneath the desk at a White Home gathering, but it surely is not current within the episode. This suits according to Stone and Parker animating clips which are by no means meant to be within the episodes themselves, as is the case with the preliminary trailer for season 27. The transient glimpse of ICE brokers in that promo prompted the precise authorities company to make use of it in a put up for recruitment, solely to have the official “South Park” account hit again on social media.
Mar-a-Lago is equally spoofed as an upside-down model of the resort from the ABC tv sequence “Fantasy Island,” with Trump looking of the window sporting a white swimsuit as Mr. Mackey’s airplane arrives. The funniest half is not a lot Trump, however the reveal of Vice President JD Vance in miniature kind. He is additionally animated like Trump, with the hilarious distinction being that his face is from a meme that doctored the VP’s face to appear to be a child with chubby cheeks. In “Acquired A Nut,” Vance is the Tattoo (Hervé Villechaize) to Trump’s Mr. Roarke (Ricardo Montalbán), albeit with extra kicking on the receiving finish. Mr. Mackey is horrified because the President strips all the way down to nothing, whereas his little lackey presents to therapeutic massage Devil’s butthole with child oil. Vance has since responded to his mocking portrayal on social media with a put up that reads “Nicely, I’ve lastly made it,” seemingly taking the joke in a greater stride than his boss.
On the finish of all of it, Mr. Mackey’s plot finally ends up coming full circle as he finally ends up stepping again into his steerage counselor sneakers. Clyde additionally will get an invitation to the Florida resort after successful the Charlie Kirk award, however equally does not really feel fulfilled by his newfound notoriety. They each notice the extent of what they’ve gotten themselves into and, together with a captured Dora, make a run for the primary airplane out of there. Time will inform if Mr. Mackey will get his job again within the subsequent episode, a lot much less if Cartman must go even additional to reclaim his provocateur standing.
“Acquired A Nut” brilliantly expands the present’s horizons on how the Trump administration is affecting different members of the “South Park” group in a very brutal and hilarious style. Finally, Stone and Parker cram a complete lot into 22 minutes of tv, which solely makes you surprise what different wild concepts they’ve in retailer with the season’s remaining eight episodes.
Each season of “South Park” is at the moment streaming on Paramount+.
