Review: South Park ‘Cock Magic’

Spoilers Below:

Last week, I spent a good chunk of my review of South Park’s “Grounded Vindaloop” by saying sometimes the show’s episodes don’t need to be making a huge statement or offending anyone, they can just consist of an interesting, entertaining, and well-crafted story – which is a far cry from the shock value days of yore for the series. While this episode didn’t take too much of a stance or try to be too obscene, it did have a lot of jokes at various groups of real people’s expenses, and it still had some gross elements that could be appalling to certain personality types. In short: it was classic South Park.

This week, the South Park Elementary girls volley ball team went around school encouraging people to come to their game, but the boys were more interested in an upcoming brawl between Kenny and another kid – in a game of Magic: The Gathering.

Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and Cartman were then told by Mitchell the Janitor to go to an address, which turned out to be the City Wok restaurant’s basement, if they wanted to see some real hardcore stuff. When they arrived, the boys witnessed a cock fight – with the roosters playing Magic: The Gathering. Despite the questionable morals of forcing chickens to play cards and authorities beginning to crack down on “cock Magic rings,” the boys enthusiastically became interested in the sport and bought a cock of their own, which they named McNuggets. While rising the local ranks, McNuggets joined a game in which he was greatly overmatched, then withdrew at the last minute, and Kenny took his place. Just as Kenny was finishing an unexpected rout of his opponent, the cops busted the ring. Fortunately, Randy (who himself was rising the local ranks of cock magicians; as in people who literally perform stage illusions with their dongs) started a performance, and everyone managed to escape.

To bring attention to the girls volleyball team (which Stan realized Wendy played for) the squad faced off against McNuggets in a volleyball/Magic hybrid match.

In Case You Missed It:

1) So you can show a cartoon dude’s junk of TV now? Hmm.

2) So you can show a cartoon dude exposing cartoon kids to his junk on TV now? Hmmm.

3) Randy’s cock magician name is “The Amazingly Randy.”

4) One of the detective’s first question about a suspect was: “what color are they?”

5) Cartman repeatedly mocked the City Wok owner when questioning the entrance price.

6) EPSN Illegal is home to “bull fighting, dog fighting, and cock magic.”

7) Some younger viewers may question who the guy was that peaked his head from behind Randy’s towel during the “Barbie Girl” sequence. Wait, do younger viewers even know “Barbie Girl”? Aaaaand…dated.

One of the greatest parts of classic South Park episodes was that you didn’t need to know too much about the pop culture references in their storylines to enjoy the particular show. If you didn’t play Pokémon, you could still laugh at season three’s “Chinpokomon.” If you didn’t know about economics, you could still understand season two’s “Gnomes.” Even if you weren’t a Lord of the Rings fan, the episode where the kids trek to return a DVD of the film (or so they thought) to the movie store was still hilarious. The show either makes jokes that aren’t just for those in the know, or they teach you enough to get the gags. I’m not a Magic: The Gathering fan, and I’ve never even played it, but that didn’t take away from the hilarity.

People occasionally get way too into card games – be in Magic or poker or whatever – and it can be ridiculous (my all-knowing editor-in-chief even informed me that ESPN has shown Magic tournaments on their channel before) and that’s all anyone needs to know. In latter-day seasons’ episodes, South Park can get a bit too deep in their references in order to really make an apt observational jab; and the more detailed the content, the less people that will understand it. For instance, I enjoyed the “Black Friday” episodes, but most of the Game of Thrones references flew right over my head, which made it more difficult to fully appreciate the installments. This week, the laugh’s came regardless of one’s level of knowledge.

Also, in true throwback fashion, the show pushed the envelope. Or more specifically, Randy pushed the envelope with his knob. Why? Probably just to make everyone feel a little awkward, a little silly, and just the right amount of amusement – a balance Trey and Matt have always had a knack for finding.

Aside from the randomness of the plot, Cartman killed it this week with lines like, “Sorry you’re not getting any spectators, but, there’s hardcore dude shit to watch,” and “Guys, I think maybe Kenny’s a little hurt because he was the big Magic champion, and now chickens are stealing his thunder,” among others. When Cartman is on, its hard for an episode not to succeed.

There are now only two episodes left in season 18, and based on what we’ve seen so far, this year can already be called a huge success. South Park has killed it week after week with solid installments as well as some true gems. I’m not sure how this one will stack up against the best of all time, but relatively speaking, it was a quality piece of work. Fittingly, Cartman delivered a line in “Cock Magic” that perfectly described the ridiculousness and triumph of this week’s episode, as well as its place in the season as a whole: “Kenny cast glacial crasher, and then Stan’s dad shot his dick off. I seriously don’t know where we go from here.”

Me either, and I can’t wait to find out.