South Park: "Let Go, Let Gov"
Cartman is the new Snowden.
As South Park's Season 17 teaser trailer implied,
a lot has happened in the show's absence: Trayvon Martin, Syria, the
new pope, Anthony Weiner (again), gay marriage, Batfleck... twerking.
But among the veritable pick of the litter, South Park's season
premiere "Let Go, Let Gov" honed in on the NSA's mass surveillance
disclosure scandal made famous by American whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Only here, it was Cartman who was the whistleblower (literally) as he
resolved to infiltrate the NSA and expose its secrets.
The beginning of "Let Go, Let Gov" featured the best jokes from this storyline, including Cartman's gaudy speakerphone diatribes about the government invading his privacy. Of course, these were completely undermined by the fact that he was simultaneously broadcasting his every single thought online. I thought it was amusing (and realistic) how Cartman had to repeat himself or ask to hear something back again because of the distortion; that was a nice touch.
But as the arc progressed, the episode veered more and more into preachy territory. If Cartman's social media frenzy wasn't enough, the introduction of "S****er" really drove the point home, especially with Alec Baldwin pioneering the craze. But as arbitrary as it was, a few of the "Baldwin's thoughts" jokes were kind of funny, but it soon felt like the creators were just cramming them in to break up the straight satire.
Meanwhile, Butters took an entirely different viewpoint from Cartman's -- that is, instead of fearing or condemning the government, he embraced and worshipped it like a god. For me, the DMV subplot was a little far-reaching and underdeveloped, particularly Butters' door-to-door sermons and front-desk confessionals (although I did chuckle at Officer Barbrady giving up Game of Thrones). In general, this storyline lacked focus and didn't illustrate a clear, distinct point. Obviously, it was supposed to be the counterbalance to Cartman's storyline, but the critique here just wasn't as pointed. In fact, about halfway through, it felt more like a commentary on religion than government. Likening the two wasn't necessarily a bad idea, but it all just sort of fell apart in the end.
The episode picked back up again once Cartman joined the NSA. I had a couple good laughs when the employees kept approaching the sergeant with new, mundane traces -- I think my favorite was the one with the 17-year-old female wanting to see the new Percy Jackson movie. ("Alright, Keep an eye on 'em. Let me know if anything changes.") I also enjoyed the NSA's dismissal of Cartman, classifying him as "fat and unimportant," with Cartman interjecting that it should read "ripped and sweet." The Santa Claus reveal was also clever, though not as laugh-out-loud hilarious as other contrivances we've seen in the past.
Overall, I think "Let Go, Let Gov" made a few astute observations, but largely failed to make them funny. The episode relied far too heavily on the Baldwin one-liners, making us think we were getting a steady stream of jokes, when in fact most of the NSA stuff was played pretty straight. While South Park normally excels at lampooning major hot-button issues like this, the season premiere just didn't quite follow through comedically, despite raising some good points.
The beginning of "Let Go, Let Gov" featured the best jokes from this storyline, including Cartman's gaudy speakerphone diatribes about the government invading his privacy. Of course, these were completely undermined by the fact that he was simultaneously broadcasting his every single thought online. I thought it was amusing (and realistic) how Cartman had to repeat himself or ask to hear something back again because of the distortion; that was a nice touch.
But as the arc progressed, the episode veered more and more into preachy territory. If Cartman's social media frenzy wasn't enough, the introduction of "S****er" really drove the point home, especially with Alec Baldwin pioneering the craze. But as arbitrary as it was, a few of the "Baldwin's thoughts" jokes were kind of funny, but it soon felt like the creators were just cramming them in to break up the straight satire.
Meanwhile, Butters took an entirely different viewpoint from Cartman's -- that is, instead of fearing or condemning the government, he embraced and worshipped it like a god. For me, the DMV subplot was a little far-reaching and underdeveloped, particularly Butters' door-to-door sermons and front-desk confessionals (although I did chuckle at Officer Barbrady giving up Game of Thrones). In general, this storyline lacked focus and didn't illustrate a clear, distinct point. Obviously, it was supposed to be the counterbalance to Cartman's storyline, but the critique here just wasn't as pointed. In fact, about halfway through, it felt more like a commentary on religion than government. Likening the two wasn't necessarily a bad idea, but it all just sort of fell apart in the end.
The episode picked back up again once Cartman joined the NSA. I had a couple good laughs when the employees kept approaching the sergeant with new, mundane traces -- I think my favorite was the one with the 17-year-old female wanting to see the new Percy Jackson movie. ("Alright, Keep an eye on 'em. Let me know if anything changes.") I also enjoyed the NSA's dismissal of Cartman, classifying him as "fat and unimportant," with Cartman interjecting that it should read "ripped and sweet." The Santa Claus reveal was also clever, though not as laugh-out-loud hilarious as other contrivances we've seen in the past.
Overall, I think "Let Go, Let Gov" made a few astute observations, but largely failed to make them funny. The episode relied far too heavily on the Baldwin one-liners, making us think we were getting a steady stream of jokes, when in fact most of the NSA stuff was played pretty straight. While South Park normally excels at lampooning major hot-button issues like this, the season premiere just didn't quite follow through comedically, despite raising some good points.
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