Dead Kids (South Park)

"Dead Kids" is the first episode in the twenty-second season of the American animated television series South Park. It is the 288th episode of the series overall, and first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on September 26, 2018.[1]

"Dead Kids"
South Park episode
Episode no.Season 22
Episode 1
Directed byTrey Parker
Written byTrey Parker
Featured music"(Where Do I Begin?) Love Story" by Andy Williams
Production code2201
Original air dateSeptember 26, 2018 (2018-09-26)

The episode addresses the phenomenon of school shootings in the United States,[2] and parodies the cultural significance of the 2018 superhero film Black Panther, as well as the TV series Jessica Jones.[3]

Plot

A school shooting occurs at South Park Elementary resulting in a fatality, though the fourth grade teacher and her students are nonchalant when a S.W.A.T. member storms the classroom to secure it, attempting to ignore the disruption while reviewing the class's recent mathematics test. Eric Cartman is angry because having copied his answers from classmate Token Black, he failed the test, and believes that Token initially put incorrect answers on his own test paper in a deliberate ploy to cause Cartman's failure. Cartman becomes worried that Token was motivated by rumors that Cartman disliked the feature film Black Panther, whose success holds cultural significance for black Americans,[4][5][6] but Token says he has not seen that film, spurring the paranoid Cartman to spend the episode attempting to resolve his suspicions. Ultimately, despite Token's repeated denial of ever having seen the film, Cartman concludes that Token saw it, and shares his own opinion that the film was not that good. After Cartman and Token successfully evade gunshots at yet another shooting at their school, Token allows Cartman to copy his answers on their next test.

Sharon Marsh, the mother of Cartman's classmate Stan, is outraged not only at the school shootings, but at the lack of similar distress on the part of other townspeople, including her husband Randy, who comes to believe that her disposition is caused by either her menstrual cycle or the onset of menopause. He attempts to shower her with love in the form of a party at which he serenades her, but Sharon angrily informs Randy and their neighbors that she is not undergoing menopause, and storms off. She later apologizes to an astonished Randy for the pain and suffering they have been experiencing, admitting that she may have been overly emotional lately. They receive word that Stan was shot at another shooting at his school. Instead of panicking, Sharon exhibits a calm, nonchalant attitude like those of Randy and the others, and a relieved Randy lovingly embraces her.

Reception

The episode scored 1.09 in the ratings.[7] This is the lowest for any season premiere in the show's history, and well below the 1.68 ratings which the season 21 premiere earned.[8]

John Hugar of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B, stating "at this point, South Park has reached a point that we might call 'predictably shocking.' We know they're going to take an issue of the day, and present in some skewed subversive fashion, to the point that when they do so, it really shouldn't be surprising anymore. Yet somehow, figuring out exactly how they're going to pull it off is not only still enjoyable, but it can still produce plenty of 'wait, what?!' moments over the course of a season, or in this case, in the course of a single episode."[9]

Jesse Schedeen of IGN gave the episode a 6.8 out of 10, stating it "definitely hit close to home, finding a darkly comic and relatable take on a uniquely American problem. However, this episode struggled to build on the elegant simplicity of its premise, rehashing a lot of the same beats over the course of the half hour."[10]

References
  1. "South Park Season 22 Premiere Promo Clip". South Park Studios, YouTube. September 23, 2018.
  2. Diaz, Johnny (September 26, 2018). "'South Park' takes on school shootings in 22nd season debut titled 'Dead Kids'". Sun-Sentinel.
  3. Lincoln, Ross A. (September 26, 2018). "'South Park' Season Premiere 'Dead Kids' Is a Big Middle Finger at Apathy Over School Shootings". TheWrap. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
  4. Turner, Erlanger (March 9, 2018). "Why 'Black Panther' means so much to the black community". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on June 17, 2018. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  5. Lebron, Christopher (February 17, 2018). "'Black Panther' Is Not the Movie We Deserve". Boston Review. Archived from the original on March 4, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  6. Truitt, Brian (January 29, 2018). "Daring, diverse 'Black Panther' promises to be Hollywood's latest 'cultural touchstone'". USA Today. Archived from the original on January 31, 2018. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
  7. Welch, Alex (September 27, 2018). "Wednesday cable ratings: 'American Horror Story' slips again, 'South Park' premieres down". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on September 28, 2018. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  8. Porter, Rick (September 22, 2017). "Wednesday cable ratings: 'South Park' returns lower, 'Broad City' improves". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on September 22, 2017. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
  9. Hugar, John (September 26, 2018). "South Park addresses mass shooting fatigue in an intriguing-but-uneven premiere". The A.V. Club. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
  10. Schedden, Jesse (September 26, 2018). "'South Park' Season 22 Premiere: 'Dead Kids' Review". IGN. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
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