Spoiler Warning! If you haven't watched the very latest South Park don't read this!
Next week is the 3rd part of South Park's second 3 part story. Centring the South Park boys new game as super heroes featuring 'The Coon' (Eric Cartman) leading a group of super heroes including Timmy, Stan, Kyle, Token and some random kid called Bradley (who have all been identified as 5 of the heroes) and Mysterion and Mosquito fighting an evil cult born out of the BP oil spillage. There were only 3 kids who were in the running for being Mysterion: Clyde Donavon (offically the most attractive boy in the 4th grade in the list), Craig Tucker (the boy who saved the world from the Furry Death in Pandemic) and the oddly missing Kenny.
About 5 minutes into the second parter 'Mysterion Rises' the biggest storyline curve ball in South Park since Cartman grounding Scott Tenerman's parents into Chilli about 9 years ago:
Kenny is Mysterion.
WOW. I genuinely wasn't expecting that. Watching the start of the episode I (and many others like me I think) would have been suspecting Clyde or Craig as they are more quiet, involved in less storyline and have somewhat more Mysteriousness about themselves. However it does all fit in if you take who Coon suspects Kenny is not in his personal list (although he is on Professor Chaos' (Butters) list but he mentions Stan and Kyle as the immediate prime suspects. Kenny was not on the radar in this storyline at all which made it all the more brilliant to have him be the masked crusader.
However now here is the moment which may well change South Park from this point onwards:
The revelation that Kenny can't die and just wakes up in his bed the next day after each death is a startling one. It brings an element of as close to Common Sense and Matt Stone and Trey Parker can make it to. It explains Kenny's many deaths and how he is back in the next episode. It show how Mysterion is the biggest hero and brings full circle in my view one of the most recently underused and brilliantly funny characters in all of Satirical Television.
However there is something which worries me. Despite this being a stunning piece of writing and great episode all around (minus Captain Hindsight, who isn't a great character in my view) one of, if not THE big hook of all South Park has been opened up. Where do Stone and Parker go from there with not only Kenny, but everyone else? Will Kenny tell people about the curse? How will Stan, Kyle and Cartman react?
Next week's episode, the end of the 3 part story arc looks set to be one of the most important episodes of South Park in all 14 series and 12 years of the shows running. I'm looking forward to it and would welcome some comments as to what people think could happen next.
Or if you think I'm sad you can say that too. :)
Peace out guys.
Nick
Personally, I never gave thought it might be Kenny until about a minute before it was actually revealed, and loved the way everyone knew it was him as it happened.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I don't like this 3-parter much if at all, I thought this episode was fantastic in regards to how they're treating Kenny and it's becoming the only reason to see the three-parter out. I think its a fantastic twist and that Trey and Matt will know exactly where to go with it as they haven't made a wrong turn yet and it makes perfect sense to the series.
Though you're also forgetting that in 201 its revealed that in Scott Tenorman Must Die, it was actually his father Cartman killed.
Maybe they're just meddling too much in this series? Maybe they're starting to lose it?
Apart from A Jersey Thing, I think the second half of this series has been kind of a letdown in comparison to the first, which also wasn't fantastic.
Yet its still one of the best shows on television ever.