Dead Kids (South Park)
| "Dead Kids" | |
|---|---|
| South Park episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 22 Episode 1 |
| Directed by | Trey Parker |
| Written by | Trey Parker |
| Featured music | "(Where Do I Begin?) Love Story" by Andy Williams |
| Production code | 2201 |
| Original air date | September 26, 2018 |
"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]
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]
Contents
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][8] 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.[9]
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."[10]
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."[11]
References
- ↑ "South Park Season 22 Premiere Promo Clip". South Park Studios, YouTube. September 23, 2018.
- ↑ Diaz, Johnny (September 26, 2018). "'South Park' takes on school shootings in 22nd season debut titled 'Dead Kids'". Sun-Sentinel.
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- ↑ Metcalf, Mitch (September 26, 2018). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Wednesday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 9.26.2018". ShowBuzzDaily. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
- ↑ Daily, Paul (September 27, 2018). "Cable Ratings: American Horror Story Sinks Further". TV Fanatic. Retrieved December 23, 2018.
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External links
- Hibberd, James (September 24, 2018). "South Park to tackle school shootings in 22nd season premiere". Entertainment Weekly.
- Travers, Ben (September 26, 2018). "South Park Review: Season 22 Premiere Mocks Americans' Indifference to Gun Violence and 'Dead Kids'". IndieWire.
- Lambert, Jeremy (September 27, 2018). "South Park 22.01 Review – "Dead Kids"". 411Mania.com.
- Bramesco, Charles (September 27, 2018). "South Park's School Shooting Episode Is Exactly As Tasteless As You’d Expect". Vulture.
- "Dead Kids" at IMDbLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
