From the darkly farcical “Casa Bonita” to the shamelessly gruesome “Good Times with Weapons,” there are plenty of classic South Park’s best episodes don’t hold up to many rewatches. Season 5, episode 4, “Scott Tenorman Must Die,” is often named South Park’s all-time greatest episode, but it mostly hinges on the shock factor of its twist ending, so it’s less effective after a first-time viewing.
Some South Park episodes are less rewatchable because they’re difficult to sit through. Season 10, episode 14, “Stanley’s Cup,” is a brilliantly subversive parody of uplifting sports movies, but it ends on such an absurdly down note that it’s tough to revisit. Season 12, episode 2, “Britney’s New Look,” was ahead of its time in criticizing the media’s treatment of Britney Spears, but its commitment to spending the whole episode with a headless Britney makes it pretty gross. But those episodes are in the minority; there are a lot more South Park episodes that withstand endless rewatches.
10 Christian Rock Hard
Season 7, Episode 9
Cartman realizes there’s a lot of money in Christian rock in season 7’s “Christian Rock Hard,” so he starts his own faith-based band. As usual, the satire of this episode is aimed at the right target. It doesn’t mock religious faith; it mocks Cartman for exploiting that faith for profit.
The 20 Best South Park Episodes Of All Time, Ranked
From warcraft parodies to Kanye West's obsession with a joke, here's our guide to the best South Park episodes of all time.
Faith+1’s love ballads about Jesus are both a spot-on spoof of Christian music and a genuinely catchy bunch of songs. This episode is full of great recurring gags that never get old, like the cops telling sob stories about uber-rich musicians losing negligible amounts of income from music piracy.
9 Elementary School Musical
Season 12, Episode 13
South Park satirized the High School Musical craze with the season 12 episode “Elementary School Musical.” The four boys are the only ones who don’t get the hype around the Disney Channel franchise; everyone else in the school is enamored with their Troy Bolton-like classmate.
The episode is a pitch-perfect parody of High School Musical that hysterically flips the movie’s premise on its head.
The episode is a pitch-perfect parody of High School Musical that hysterically flips the movie’s premise on its head. It’s about a theater kid who wants to the basketball team, not the other way around, and his campy abusive father is one of South Park’s most memorable one-off characters.
8 Awesom-O
Season 8, Episode 5
Cartman dresses up as a robot to trick Butters and ends up having to commit to the bit indefinitely when he learns Butters has some dirt on him in season 8’s “Awesom-O.” As with all the best sitcom episodes, “Awesom-O” wrings every possible comic contrivance out of its premise.
Cartman’s robot character goes from pitching hundreds of Adam Sandler movies to being experimented on in a shady military lab. It’s always hilarious to see just how far Cartman will go to avoid embarrassment — and in the end, thanks to a delightfully ironic final twist, it’s all for nothing.
7 The Return Of The Fellowship Of The Ring To The Two Towers
Season 6, Episode 13
The boys embark on an epic quest of their own when they’re tasked with returning The Lord of the Rings to the video store in season 6’s “The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers.”
This episode spoofs all the key moments from the trilogy and broadly lampoons its fan base while the parents scramble to get back their misplaced porno tape, which turns sweet, naive Butters into monstrous, obsessive Gollum. The episode’s closing punchline of the parents explaining hardcore porn to their kids never fails to land, no matter how many times you’ve seen it.
6 Medicinal Fried Chicken
Season 14, Episode 3
After learning that medicinal marijuana has been legalized, Randy intentionally gives himself testicular cancer to get a prescription in season 14’s “Medicinal Fried Chicken.” The visual gag of Randy bouncing around on his giant balls like a space hopper alone makes this one of South Park’s most rewatchable episodes.
“Medicinal Fried Chicken” has one of the show’s greatest B-plots, as Cartman rises through the ranks of an underground KFC trafficking ring in a hilarious spoof of Scarface. This episode is hilarious from beginning to end, with two all-time great storylines, so it holds up to endless rewatches.
5 All About Mormons
Season 7, Episode 12
Stan befriends the new Mormon kid at school in the season 7 episode “All About Mormons.” While the episode is pretty relentless in its lampooning of Mormon beliefs, it presents Mormons themselves as the kindest, warmest, most giving people in the world.
“All About Mormons” is an early prototype for Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s hit Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, and it’s just as biting as the play. It’s more rewatchable than the average South Park episode, because it’s broken up with the incisive dum-dum-dum-dum-dum interludes telling the story of Joseph Smith.
4 The Losing Edge
Season 9, Episode 5
South Park poked fun at underdog sports dramas with season 9’s “The Losing Edge,” in which the kids all hate baseball so much that they intentionally try to lose their Little League games. They find that all the other teams in the league despise the sport as much as they do, so they have to work really hard to become the best at losing.
And if that A-plot wasn’t iconic enough, the B-plot has Randy’s drunken fights with other dads in the stands. It dovetails these storylines beautifully, and any time South Park brings back Kyle Schwartz is a joy.
3 Good Times With Weapons
Season 8, Episode 1
The boys get a hold of some martial arts weapons in the season 8 premiere, “Good Times with Weapons.” When the boys are using these weapons in their ninja personas, the episode switches to an anime style, making this one of South Park’s most inventively animated episodes.
This 27-Year-Old South Park Episode Hilariously Mocked The Show's Own Success
One largely forgotten episode from South Park season 2 saw the show start a long tradition of making fun of itself, its rivals, and its detractors.
There’s a stark cut back to the usual cutout style when they hit Butters in the eye with a throwing star. This shockingly gruesome storyline leads to such unforgettable gags as Butters getting peed on at a dog pound and a naked Cartman thinking he’s invisible and sneaking through a stunned crowd.
2 Make Love, Not Warcraft
Season 10, Episode 8
The boys become obsessed with World of Warcraft in the classic season 10 episode “Make Love, Not Warcraft.” When a mysterious player keeps killing their characters, they spend months leveling up so they can face him in battle.
“Make Love, Not Warcraft” is a spot-on satire of nerd culture, and it’s not judgmental or mean-spirited like most sitcom episodes that tackle the same subject; it’s an affectionate love letter to the gaming community. This is another visually inventive episode, as it uses Warcraft gameplay to tell its story, which made it the first work of machinima to win an Emmy.
1 Casa Bonita
Season 7, Episode 11
When Cartman is snubbed for an invitation to Kyle’s birthday party at his favorite Mexican restaurant in season 7’s “Casa Bonita,” he does everything in his power to get on the guest list. He convinces Butters that an asteroid has hit the Earth and the world has ended, so he can lock Butters in a bunker for days on end, convince the town he’s missing, and score his highly anticipated invite. This is another prime example of just how far Cartman will go to get what he wants, and that’s always fun to watch.
Seeing Cartman sink lower and lower, subjecting Butters to worse and worse things, just to watch a cave diver and get his picture taken in a fake saloon, is endlessly watchable.
Seeing Cartman sink lower and lower, subjecting Butters to worse and worse things, just to watch a cave diver and get his picture taken in a fake saloon, is endlessly watchable. It perfectly encapsulates Cartman’s character, and South Park’s particular brand of shock humor. “Casa Bonita” is South Park at its absolute finest.
South Park
- Release Date
- August 13, 1997
- Network
- Comedy Central
- Showrunner
- Trey Parker
Cast
Karri TurnerLiane Cartman / Wendy Testaburger / Mrs. Crabtree (voice)
Matt StoneKyle Broflovski / Kenny McCormick (voice)
WHERE TO WATCH
- Directors
- Adrien Beard
- Writers
- David A. Goodman, Nancy M. Pimental, Kenny Hotz, Philip Stark, Dave Weasel, Dan Sterling, Susan Hurwitz Arneson, Trisha Nixon, David R. Goodman, Tim Talbott, Pam Brady, Robert Lopez, Dani Michaeli, Kyle McCulloch, Karey Dornetto, Jonathan Kimmel, Jane Bussmann
- Franchise(s)
- South Park
Your comment has not been saved