It sounds simple, by South Park standards: The 200th episode was about a class-action lawsuit by 200 celebrities defamed by the show — er, the town of South Park. They were led by Tom Cruise, who demanded to see the Prophet Muhammad. But there was also the reappearance of “Jennifer Lopez,” a hand-puppet wielded by Cartman in the manner of Senor Wences. And ultimately, the half-hour was a cliffhanger about the true identity of Cartman’s father.
Gee, maybe it wasn’t so simple after all.
The episode was chock-full of celebrities South Park has mocked over the years. From a Tom Cruise working part-time a fudge-making company boxing up the stuff (it was Stan referring to the Cruise caricature as one who packs fudge that inspired the lawsuit) to a George Lucas leading around a leashed, chained, and ball-gagged Harrison Ford, South Park upheld its low standards with great cunning.
Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone could not resist revisiting what is arguably the series’ greatest controversy, its attempt to show an image of Muhammad during the 2006 season that was deemed too sensitive by Comedy Central to be a figure of fun. But this week, the lawsuit brought by the celebrities (who also included everyone from Oprah to a gigantic, mechanically reconstructed Barbra Streisand) threatened the town’s very existence, unless it ceded to Cruise’s demand: He wanted to meet Muhammad and extract from him his “power not to be ridiculed.”
Opposing the celebrity demand was a terrorist organization — redheads, or “ginger fundamentalists” — who threatened to detonate bombs. Really, it all made sense, right down to “Miss Lopez” demanding “More tacos!” as the show paused for an actual Taco Bell commercial.
By the time the episode took its surprising turn — Cartman confronting Mr. Garrison and Mr. Hat to ask, “Who is my father?” — South Park had covered an immense patch of pop-culture ground. With jokes raining down like hell-fire, the 200th episode spared no one except the South Park kids themselves.
This was South Park distilled to its essence: Cartman and his friends caught up in the stupidity all around them, created by absurd, neurotic, fearful, repressed adults. Parker and Stone set themselves apart from all this by insisting on remaining juvenile — something like genius juveniles.
Did you watch? What did you think of the 200th episode?
Comments (1-15) of 130 Add your comment
Awesome episode, but will it be continued? Or will we be suckered, like back in ‘98 when the show went on hiatus for 4 weeks and then came back with a Terrence and Philip episode?
Yeah, is it a 2 or 3 parter? Any word about next week? I want to see Barbara in action!
YOU KNOW ALL THIS TIME WHAT’S BEEN CARTMAN’S MOTTO… “HE HATES JEWS”, SO I BET YOU THAT THE FATHER OF CARTMAN IS NONE OTHER THAN……. KYLE’S FATHER…. YUP…. CARTMAN AND KYLE ARE BROTHERS!!!!! WOULDN’T THAT BE AN AWESOME TWIST!!!
I bet Cartman’s mom is the dad, and Kyle’s mom is Cartman’s mom.
dude i thought the EXACT same thing!!!! its even funnier cuz i’m jewish! but that would be really akward if they were brothers because cartman wanted him to suck his balls… idk haha but i think his dad is gonna be like chef, cuz he’s gone. btw cartmans mom is a dirty slut was the best episode ever of south park!!1
Cartman…….a Jew? That would be such an awesome thing…..I think his head would literally explode!
Eric Cartman, not only a jew but also Kyle’s brother. That would be GENIUS
Though I was not very impressed with the first couple of episodes, I must say that the last 2 have been awesome. 200 really was great in every aspect. It was good to see alot of the “old” characters doing cameos. Big Gay Al, sitting during the towns meeting had me in tears laughing. I loved how they pulled the concerned citizens aspect to bring out other characters. The more they referenced earlier works, the better it got. Hopefully Starvin Marvin will show up to try to take some food away from Kristy Allen. I got a little misty eyed when I realized how much time had passed by and how much I’ve enjoyed this show. It is always fresh and somehow South Park is the only show that manages to tie in all the plots and characters together. I wish more writters were this good.
love TC, so cool
His name is mr.hat not mr. Hand
Of course you’re right–fixed. Thanks.
Wow, they covered a LOT of South Park history in this one episode. But yeah, will there be a conclusion?
Well, being as this is the fifth episode this season and they usually have 14 episodes a season since, I think the 9th or 10th, I’m sure there will be a conclusion to the story. For me, I just want a part 2 because, although the many references and returns of favorites from seasons past made me very excited and lulzy for this episode, I don’t see this story being dragged out to a three parter. But then again I know nothing of what’s to come and anything can happen. And if this will be a three parter, and if it’s anything like the Imaginationland Trilogy, I’m sure Matt and Trey will fully deliver.
Oh, and a very very sincere congrats on the 200 episode landmark. Thanks for keeping me laughing for 200 episodes and here’s to 200 more!
Hear Hear! Thank you Matt and Trey! Congratulations and keep up the good work!
I really hope Chef turns out to be Cartman’s real father. They can’t celebrate 200 episodes without Chef at least getting a mention, and it would potentially continue the Darth Chef joke from his death episode. Darth Chef VS Mecha-Streisand would be just amazing.
Oh my god, that would be the ultimate. The force vs the Schwartz once and for all. Genius!
Isaac Hayes, the voice of Chef, is dead himself. He had a minor stroke, during his tenure on Southpark, he recovered, did a farewell episode, and then left the show due to his declining health. He later had a major stroke and passed on. I do miss that dude!
Left his show due to declining health? He left because he was pissed off they made fun of scientology and he was a scientologist.
I believe the ‘farewell’ episode to which you’re referring is after he had already shunned South Park for making fun of his religion, Scientology – in a later episode, the last episode featuring Chef, they actually had Chef say previously recorded things, and Isaac Hayes did not do any new voicework on the show – they simply spliced previous soundbytes.
Readjusting nerd glasses on face… now.
No, that covered it pretty well. A nice attempt at revisionist history on Dave’s part, though.
Issac Hayes left the show because he was a Scientologist and he was offended by the Tom Cruise trapped in the closet episode.
that would b awesome!
I thought the “who’s Cartman’s father” mystery was solved when it was discovered his mother was a hermaphrodite and therefore also his father.
Mr Garrison says the results were tampered with, because Cartman’s real father was in the room when the results were to be read. I bet Mr Garrison is Cartman’s father.
That was my guess too! I think Mr. Garrison being Cartman’s dad would be perfect. It just makes sense: they’re both hilarious, self-centered jerks. <3
too simple.. I’m thinking it was the Denver Broncos lol
Got to be Kyle’s dad. Then he would be a JEW! HAHAHA!!
They’ve done this before and I’m sure nothing will change and that it’s still Cartman’s mom who’s his father. Trey and Matt trying to pull another fast one on us. :p
Judism is passed down through the mother so it would have to be Kyle’s Mom and Cartman’s mom (er..dad).
I’m not sure I LOVED it, like they were trying too hard to fit everything in, but it did make me misty for long-ago episodes (mecha-streisand! We even got the theme song!)
Kenny didn’t die, right? Maybe for the continuation episode…
Could someone list all the slighted celeberties? I know I caught most of them, like I THINK I saw Fred Savage, but there are probably plenty that I missed.
You definitely saw Fred Savage. The reason I know this is because there was a guy wearing a t-shirt which read, “I’m Fred Savage.”
Yes, that was Fred. Still hasn’t changed since the Chef’s Chocolate Salty Balls episode. xD
You cant have Garrison be Cartmans father unless the show is ending. It would just be too messy even for South Park. I wonder how many people went and searched for the original episode where Muhammad was shown and no one blinked? The good old days.
Yeah, you also can’t turn Garrison into a woman or Mr. Broflovski into a dolphin. That would be too messy, and they could never reverse it.
I was really hoping they would put Muhammed inside the Sexual Harassment Panda suit but overall loved this episode.
Wow – that would have been AWESOME!
you hater!!!
I never thought of that… that WOULD have been much better than the the Teddy Bear with the BEARS shirt.
IT WAS TERRIFIC, and I never thought Ms. Hennifer Lopez/Mitch Connor would ever come back to the show.
They were making fun of lost the whole episode
Wait, what? They did use some similar music, but nothing else about it had anything to do with Lost.
Yeah, the definitely weren’t making fun of Lost. When Trey and Matt pick a target, it’s clearly done. They’ve never gone for nudge-nudge wink-wink subtly. Please note: last night’s fudge-packing scene, or any episode of South Park ever.
*THEY definitely weren’t making fun of Lost… *they’ve never gone for nudge-nudge wink-wink SUBTlENESS
Hahaha *SUBTLENESS
south park continues to be the ultimate power in the universe or man/bear/pig’s ghost not quite sure…paging al gore paging al gore..
The more references to old episodes they pulled in, the better it got, all culminating with Mecha-Streisand. They even did the Ba-bu-ra song… I loved it!
I think the perfect twist would be if Cartmans real father was Kyle’s dad.. He could’ve been huffing cat essence and while during his hallucination he ended up with Cartman’s mom…
You mean cat piss?
I like that idea, I also suggested his father to be the Denver Broncos haha
samee!!!!! it’s sooo the denver bronchos.
is this chris M?
I don’t know. That’d be cool if it were the Denver Broncos. I’m hoping, however, that it’s Muhammud.
Who knows, since he “can’t be shown” he may have been hidden behind a curtain, in the scene and still have been in the room. 
That would totally make my day, to see.
But yeah, I think it’d be too simple to say that it’s Garrison. In reality, it could be anyone… it could even be… Mitch Conners.
I’m a relative newcomer to South Park, and I’m quite ignorant about pop culture, so I didn’t recognize many of the celebrities or get any of the in-jokes. Still, I thought this was one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen. Seeing Muhammad in the bear costume, and hearing him speak in a timid voice, was absolutely hilarious. I even thought it was respectful of Islam, while ridiculing Americans’ poor understanding of the religion’s practices.
Uhh, SP wasn’t ridiculing “American’s poor understanding of the religion’s practices.” They were ridiculing the intrasigence of some Muslims who think just a depiction of Mohammed warrants death and destruction. The show had Stan say “Jesus Effing Christ” and showed Buddha snorting coke (and even had an entire episode skewereing Mormonism) as counterpoints to the kid gloves some Muslims force non-Muslims to use when speaking about/showing Mohammed. The SP guys aren’t Muslims and so shouldn’t be constrained by Islams doctrinces regarding depictions of Mohammed. But irrational, violence-loving, “pious” Muslims refuse to allow non-Muslims to engage in their own practices, which include free speech and parody.
You’re absolutely correct, Carlos. But I think the show’s writers also wanted to ridicule those kid gloves, along with the fearful idea that Muhammad has magical “goo” that protects him from parody.
I get a kick out of over-analyzing South Park. But why not? There are scholarly books about the show. My favorite title: “South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating”.
Exactly right, Carlos, which is why they need to be able to actually depict Mohammed in the most insulting way possible. Some of these supposedly pious muslims need a lesson in humility – just because you believe something doesn’t mean anyone else has to assist you to actualize your beliefs. We need to stand in solidarity with the Danish Cartoonists and Salman Rushdie.
Because it’s none of your business. If you’re not Muslim, then you’re not Muslim… even as a Muslim, I don’t think they depict their prophet in any way. And it doesn’t warrant death and destruction you ignorant fool.
They believe that it leads to worshipping him instead. Sorry but because Christians have pictures of Jesus and Mary, etc, they pray and put statues of them up everywhere. How do we even know they look like that? That just leads to idolism. Somebody here knows too little to understand.
And constrained by Islam’s doctrine? What the hell are you talking about? You do not know the reason why images of him cannot be shown yet you bash a minority of Muslims for their “irrational and violence-loving” behavior. Get a life and go read a book.. try Wikipedia.. at least you’ll get SOME things right there instead of bashing everything on your own knowledge. You’re only trolling around and starting arguments.
@Lone american and carlos
I bet you both are illegitimate sons of Danish cartoonists and Sulman Rushdie.. sure u can stand in solidarity with them, or maybe this time let your sisters get fucked by them who knows u might see better carlos and Lone american in the form of illegitimate sons of ur sisters hehe go fuck your self
im pretty sure mohamad is the illegitimate son of sulman rushdie who went back in time and fucked mohamads mom.
mohamad fuker; That shows how little brain you have to make such comment,and do not make jokes or fun on Messenger of Allah.
Does anyone else think that the only character who will be able to stop MechStreisand, is Lemmiwinks(the class gerbil). And will the rivalry between mr. hat and mr. stick renew. But I think we all know that Cartman’s real father is the ‘89 Denver Broncos.