Review: South Park “The World-Wide Privacy Tour”

Overview

The World-Wide Privacy Tour is the tour that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle take to let everyone know that they just want their privacy. They criss-cross the globe to whomever is going to listen, eventually settling in that little quiet town of South Park, Colorado. Now shacking up in Stan’s old digs, the duo makes the town’s life a living hell in trying to get everyone to notice their campaign to NOT get noticed.

Meanwhile, Kyle is attempting to work on his own “brand”, in essence a social media bio that everyone can use to identify him and he, in turn, can stay confined to the parameters of that bio. His friends don’t give a shit about the royalty now living across the street or his attempts at re-branding himself, leaving Kyle to fend for himself.

Our Take

A lot of ink will go towards Prince Harry and Markle getting the business in this week’s episode of South Park, but I have some stylistic complaints with how they were presented. South Park has featured British royalty in the past, the episode “The Snuke”, where the Queen is a bit of a villain and attempts to invade South Park. Granted, she dies in that episode, but I would have thought if you were going to do a send-up of Harry and Meghan, 1) they wouldn’t be presented as Canadian and 2) you could have just as easily had Ike fawn over the passing of the Queen of England a bit more which is just as pertinent to Canadians of whom don’t even have a Queen. I get that Ike is the link here and it kind of sets off Kyle’s path towards his eventual confrontation, but the link is so light I’m not sure it would have mattered. I guess I would’ve used funeral footage of South Park’s actual Queen of England to which Ike could have been just as upset thereby allowing the eventual re-invasion of Meghan and Harry, neither of whom are Canadian so having them presented as such was just a tad confusing for me.

If you take away my slight complaints, and just took the show at face value, you probably had a better time enjoying the episode than I did, however I still really enjoyed the episode. For starters, Kyle”s attempts at re-branding himself are right on point with those who only define themselves by their social bios and not who they are supposed to be. It’s one of the reasons why I didn’t give a shit about displaying my social pronouns or my political leanings because I know who I am, who you perceive me to be, isn’t my problem. A fantastic morale in a show that maybe is good for one or two good ones each season.

The Meghan and Harry bit was quite hilarious. Every rip on Canadian culture still holds up, from the constant farting to their wacky accents, they kill me every time. Harry’s character design is already fantastic, with a bright red/orange top, he’s an instantly recognizable figure that could be a fixture for the show for years to come, or never again, and I would still be able to pick him out. His antics are hilarious, but the fact that it’s so true that American kids really don’t give a fuck about foreign royalty is such a smart and effective “fuck you” to the American media that made such a big deal about British royalty the last few years.

Personally, I think my favorite send-up of British royalty will always be Spitting Image. The series still is effective in it’s biting satire of British celebrity, which makes sense, given that the producers are UK-based and have a nuanced take that would be hard to replicate here in the States. South Park maybe pulls a punch or two, but still has an effective heavy blow that should be feared.