South Park is back from summer break, and better than ever.

The first time I watched South Park I was a freshmen in college. We were all huddled around a tiny, dorm-size TV set watching a boot-legged copy of the lost “Jesus vs. Santa” episode. Now, eight years later it seems I find myself yet again huddled around a tiny, (studio apartment-size, this time) TV set watching South Park’s latest episode, “Douche and Turd”.

Episode Summary

South Park’s episode “Douche and Turd” premiered Wednesday, October 27 at 10 p.m. on Comedy Central. Once you actually find Comedy Central, make sure to bookmark it because it’s pretty high up there. But, don’t worry it’s not in the triple-digits like G4 is. 

The new South Park episode starts out with our pals from PETA ambushing South Park Elementary’s pep rally because of the inhumane use of a cow as their mascot. Since no one likes to mess with those damn animal lovers, Mr. Garrison suggest the kids choose a new mascot like say a “hurricane” or “lizard”. Those might be fine choices, but instead Kyle comes up with the idea of writing in “giant douche,” and Kenny agrees. Cartman, however, does not and convinces Butters and half of the school to write-in “turd sandwich”. No kidding, you can’t make this stuff up. 

Since there was a tie between Kyle and Cartman’s write-ins, the school must now hold an election and vote.  Where is little Stan in all this madness, you ask? Stan is confused about voting and is unsure if he wants either of those as his new mascot, which outrages his friends, family and -- P.Diddy!

P.Diddy and his posse come to South Park to convince Stan to vote for either giant douche or turd sandwich, or face the horrible consequences. P.Diddy’s campaign “Vote or Die” messes with Stan’s head so much he decides not to vote, and by his own surprise is banished from South Park due to an unheard law never mentioned until this episode.

The town of South Park sends Stan out into the wilds of the woods where he just happens to run across a crazy compound where the PETA people live amongst themselves -- and the animals they have chosen to become their significant others. Again, not kidding.

But, even the compound can’t hide Stan from P.Diddy and his posse. Unfortunately, Diddy shows up to the compound wearing a fur coat that obviously offended a PETA person so they dumped red paint on it. Diddy isn’t happy, and that’s when the bullets started flying. Stan makes it out alive (despite what looks like he got shot in the arm) and returns to South Park to voice his opinion in the mascot election. Who does Stan vote for? He votes for turd sandwich, which ends up losing to giant douche by an outrageous number. But, all is not lost. Stan knows even though his candidate did not win, he still did the right thing by voting.

Well, that is until Mr. Garrison and the rest of the town find out that all the PETA people have been wiped out so there’s really no reason to elect a new mascot. So, in the end Stan realizes there was actually no point to voting because they got to keep the cow over the giant douche and turd sandwich.

Poison Penn Letter

This episode is obviously dealing with the issue of voting, we all get that. But, it’s also dealing with the issue of not voting, which seems to be a sore subject with some. Like say, Sean Penn. Mr. Penn is the true influence behind this episode. Apparently, the Oscar-winning actor wrote an angry letter to the creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, after they made fun of Sean “P.Diddy” Combs’ “Vote or Die” campaign to persuade voters in the election. Sound familiar? While the accuracy of the letter hasn’t been verified by Penn’s people, we do know the letter is about comments Stone made in Rolling Stone about voting. Stone said, "If you don't know what you're talking about, there's no shame in not voting."

Penn may have not appeared in the “Douche and Turd” episode (which would have been killer), but he does make a cameo in Parker and Stone’s Team America: World Police, a big budget, action/adventure, puppet movie about a group that fights terrorists all over the globe (they got the idea for the movie from watching Thunderbirds repeats on Tech TV). Penn's puppet puts in an appearance as part of a group of liberal actors who go to Korea for an ill-conceived attempt at striking a peace accord.


You Bastards!
 
Matt Stone and Trey Parker continue to challenge censorship and societal norms with South Park. Who cares if they say there’s no shame in voting? It’s their opinion, and last time I checked we live in a country where you’re allowed to voice your opinion – just like I can voice my opinion on why they chose not to kill Kenny in this episode. What were you thinking, “You Bastards!”