South Park - "You're Getting Old"

This episode left me, like it left everyone, going, “What the hell was that?” Stan’s parents split up, Stan becomes shunned Kyle, Cartman and Kenny and the episode just ends with no conclusion or explanation. It just cuts to the credits. It was one huge downer. The message was literally that "life is shit," nothing good lasts forever and the only thing you have to look forward to is death. This was the equivalent of Brian in Family Guy getting doggy cancer and just slowly dying throughout the second half of the episode. It is completely out of place and appears to be a statement from the creators.

I have read a lot of articles about this and there are various ideas about what the creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were trying to get at. However, none of them explained why they took my South Park, the South Park that I cherish, away from me. I love South Park because it goes to great lengths to slam celebrities, the government, corporations, social groups, racism, sexism and various other sundry topics. It expertly uses ridicule and over the top silliness to provide a sort of social commentary that carefully treads the line between being silly and relevant. You aren’t going to learn anything from watching this show, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t gain perspective or insight into an issue.

There was no message last night. It didn’t make me laugh. I didn’t consider cynicism or if I’m a cynical person. I didn’t feel the need to read Zapffe. And I didn’t glean anything from it other than tuning into South Park can be a depressing waste of time. South Park has always been a waste of time, but it was a good waste of time.

But I suppose that some people (the creators) just have to put it all out there. They cannot be helped. Some people just need to do whatever they feel and if it is going to upset, well let’s be conservative here, every single fan of the show then tough! Its a whole new age of South Park being depressing and realistic – because that is what the fans really deserve after all. It’s what we have really been lacking for the past decade or so.

Unfortunately, life can be depressing all on its own. I need exactly zero help to feel crappy on any given day. And taking a classic comedy cartoon and making that episode with that ending is outright criminal. It’s a slight to the fans and it makes them question your motives. You make it clear that you aren’t writing for the masses but for yourselves. You might as well just take a dump in a gift bag and leave it on my door step; I’m left with the same cheated feeling.

And so, my response to this is: Screw you! Make funny episodes. If you want to be deep, write a book. I won’t read it, but go ahead and write it. If you want to be depressed, go to Seattle and stand in the rain like you’re John Cusack. I don’t care about you, but I do about South Park. Unfortunately for Matt and Trey, the creation has become much more important than the creators. So if you want to be fair to those who made your careers and, well it's pompous to say but I’ll say it, then just quit. Give the show to someone else. Or kill the show off all together. But don’t turn this into a situation where we have 15 great seasons and then 8 episodes that no one wants to watch. Don’t make Godfather 3. Don’t make Alien Resurrection. Don’t make the Sex in the City Movie. Right now you are screwing with a classic; a show that transcends television itself and helped rewrite what a modern day cartoon can be. So please, for the shows sake, throw in the towel. Leave the show to itself for the fans. And go do something else – and I bet a lot of people will be really interested in it.