Like South Park itself, a list ranking the ten best episodes of the show is sure to piss somebody off. The cultural juggernaut has taken pot shots at just about everything, from Kanye West to Covid-19.
Love it or hate it, the show is here to stay, with season 27 barreling down the pike. To celebrate never-ending South Park, here, are the ten best episodes ranked, mmkay?
10. “Fishsticks”
After Kanye West’s infamous interruption of Taylor Swift during the 2009 VMAs, the self-proclaimed greatest artist of all time was an easy target for South Park. One day, Jimmy comes up with a joke, asking his friends, “Do you like putting fish sticks in your mouth?” When they inevitably say yes, he follows up with, “What are you, a gay fish?” It’s exactly the sort of joke a group of ten-year-old boys would come up with, and yet the joke goes viral. The only person who doesn’t get it? Kanye West. But he won’t let anyone explain it to him because he’s the “voice of a generation” and he’ll figure it out on his own—which goes about as well as you’d expect.
9. “Awesome – O”
Eric Cartman has an idea—which is how most episodes start. His goal? Torture poor sweet Butters. His plan? Pretend to be a robot and worm his way into Butters’ life. After showing up at Butters’ door dressed in a cardboard robot costume and calling himself “Awesome – O,” wolf-in-robot’s-clothing Cartman is joyously adopted. After Butters takes his new friend on a trip to L.A., Awesome – O becomes a hit with everyone from Hollywood studio execs to the highest echelons of the U.S. military.
8. “The Death of Eric Cartman”
Cartman has done a lot of notoriously evil things to his so-called friends, but eating the skin off of their KFC chicken was the last straw. Cartman’s classmates decide to collectively shun the narcissistic little sociopath, yet Cartman, unable to see the consequences of his own actions, believes that no one is paying attention to him because he is dead. It’s the only logical explanation. The only character that didn’t get the “shun Cartman” memo is poor Butters, who believes that Cartman is visiting him from beyond the grave. Cue the anal probes courtesy of Butters’ awful parents.
7. “Tweek x Craig”
Despite its reputation, South Park has a surprisingly large queer fanbase dedicated to shipping its characters. In Tweek x Craig, the creators pay homage to the yaoi South Park fan art from the furthest corners of the internet. A rumor begins in South Park Elementary that classmates Tweek and Craig are in love with one another, leading the entire school to begin shipping them. To the pair’s horror, the queer fan art featuring the two boys begins appearing all around the town, leading the adults of South Park to become obsessed with supporting LGBTQ rights. The crown jewel of the episode? The Peter Gabriel “Book of Love” montage.
7. “Imaginationland”
The Imaginationland Saga is one of the most ambitious episode arcs that South Park has ever undertaken. It won an Emmy, after all. The boys of South Park find a leprechaun in the forest who leads them to the mystical world of Imaginationland, a paradise where magical creatures from fiction live. After a terrorist attack, the border between the “good” and “bad” parts of Imaginationland are broken, leading to the cute and cuddly “good” denizens being torn apart by pop culture monsters. Butters becomes a chosen one, the U.S. government gets involved, and Cartman does what Cartman does best: tries to get Kyle to suck his balls.
5. “Best Friends Forever”
Kenny gets a PSP, much to the envy of Cartman and friends. After getting 60 levels into a new game, Kenny is hit by an ice cream truck in classic South Park fashion. Hooked up to life support, Kenny is barely holding on. Cartman wants to pull the plug to get his hands on Kenny’s PSP, but God has other plans. It turns out God created the PSP in order to find a chosen one who would lead heaven’s angels in an all out war against the forces of hell. Meanwhile, in the hospital, Kyle and the rest of the gang make the hard decision to take Kenny off the feeding tube. For a show as cynical as South Park is, it’s a surprisingly tender episode.
4. “Casa Bonita”
Cartman wants only one thing: to have dinner at the “Disneyland of Mexican Restaurants,” Casa Bonita. Kyle is taking Stan and Kenny for his birthday party, but Cartman’s asshole behavior has caused Kyle to replace him with Butters. Desperate, Cartman goes to absurd lengths to get re-invited. Radioactive mutants, falling meteors … Cartman will tell any lie in order to get Butters to give up his slot at Kyle’s party. Of course, the poor little guy falls for all of them.
3. “Good Times With Weapons”
After the boys find a stockpile of handheld weapons, they do what any fourth grader would: play ninja. The gang comes up with alter egos and challenges each other to anime-style battles. The best part? The animation matches the gag. The show’s deliberately poor animation is intercut with frankly awesome anime sequences where the boys appear as they imagine their characters to look. It’s all fun and games until Butters gets a shuriken though the eye.
2. “Make Love Not Warcraft”
2000’s World of Warcraft was addictive as a Schedule One drug. The game’s parent company Blizzard actually had to program in-game mechanics to make it less addictive. For the boys of South Park, the damage was already done. The quartet download World of Warcraft and begin playing it. And playing it. And playing it. Slowly, the health of their minds and bodies dwindles until they turn into complete zombies. Why? To kill a high-level troll that assassinates their characters. Anyone who has ever played an MMORPG will relate to the carpal tunnel-inducing hell that is level grinding.
1. “Scott Tenorman Must Die”
The pinnacle of South Park episodes, “Scott Tenorman Must Die” is one of the show’s most gloriously cruel. Upperclassman Scott Tenorman convinces Eric Cartman that buying his pubic hair will make Cartman hit puberty faster. After buying bags upon bags for $10 a pop, the slighted Cartman declares that he will be avenged. The episode marked a turning point in Cartman’s character, transforming him into the complete sociopath we know him to be today. After Cartman learns that Scott’s favorite band is Radiohead, the fourth grader spreads a rumor that Tenorman suffers from “ass cancer” and invites the band to play a benefit concert to raise money for “treatment.” Meanwhile, he unsuccessfully tries to teach a pony to bite off Scott’s penis before settling on a different way to destroy him: targeting Scott’s parents. The ending is not to be forgotten.
(featured image: Comedy Central)
