South Park: Post Covid
"South Park: Post Covid" | |
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South Park episode | |
![]() Official release poster | |
Directed by | Trey Parker |
Written by | Trey Parker |
Produced by |
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Featured music |
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Production code | 2403 |
Original air date | November 25, 2021 |
"South Park: Post Covid" is a 2021 American adult animated comedy television special episode written and directed by Trey Parker. It is the first in a series of South Park television specials for the streaming service Paramount+ and premiered on November 25, 2021.[1][2] It is also considered to be the 310th episode overall of the television series.
Plot
Forty years into the future, the COVID-19 pandemic is waning. Stan Marsh has moved away from South Park, Colorado, is employed as an online whiskey consultant, and lives with a sentient, nagging Amazon Alexa. Stan receives a call from Kyle Broflovski, now the guidance counselor at South Park Elementary, who informs him that Kenny McCormick has died.
Working as a scientist, Kenny had been researching the origins of COVID-19 and the possibility of a cure. He revealed that in the event of his death, his closest friends would know where to find his missing data by retracing their steps. Stan returns to South Park to pay his respects to Kenny; he is reluctant to reconnect with Kyle and rebuffs his suggestion that they search for Kenny's missing data. They attend Kenny's wake and reunite with several of their former classmates.
At Kenny's funeral, a furious Stan believes that Kyle set him up to coerce him to visit his father,
Stan eventually relents and visits Randy. Following the pandemic, Randy's wife, Sharon, filed for divorce; however, Randy refused to relinquish his stake in Tegridy Farms, resulting in constant arguing. Frustrated, Stan burned down the farm, unaware that his sister,
In Stan and Kyle's absence, Token, Craig, Tweek, Wendy, Jimmy, and Clyde try searching for Kenny's data themselves. They attempt to contact Victor Chouce, Kenny's only surviving associate, but find he is institutionalized. Clyde refuses to be vaccinated, preventing the group from visiting the asylum. They discover Kenny's secret laboratory in the school and learn that he was attempting to perfect time travel to prevent the pandemic from happening.
Stan, Kyle, and Cartman visit the morgue and retrieve Kenny's flash drive from his rectum. They reunite with their friends at the school and discover a video of Kenny's time travel experiment on the drive, in which his colleague reveals that he faulted Stan, Kyle, and Cartman for letting the pandemic drive them apart, indirectly causing the dystopian future. Because Kenny was not wearing a mask, a malfunction killed all the scientists. Kenny briefly disappears, returning after having contracted COVID-19 in the process. Reflecting on their childhood, Stan and Kyle vow to finish Kenny's work. Cartman also volunteers at first, out of fear for his family. However, he flees with them, not wanting the future to be changed. Meanwhile, Randy finds a small sprout of marijuana and vows to protect it. At the asylum, it is revealed that "Chouce" is a mispronunciation of "Chaos", suggesting him to be Butters Stotch.
Cast
- Trey Parker
- Matt Stone
- April Stewart
- Mona Marshall
- Kimberly Brooks
- Adrien Beard
- Delilah Kujala
- Betty Boogie Parker
Production
Development
On August 5, 2021,
Working process
South Park Studios, the production company for the series, closed when the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States began in March 2020, forcing the crew to work remotely. Stone stated that the film is a made-for-TV film, and was not on a theatrical budget, an experiment he explained the production sought to continue, because "We're at where a lot of people are at, which is the future kind of sucks. We would like to get back to where each week we can do something totally different."[2]
References to popular culture
The episode's depiction of the future as a dystopia overrun by consumerism, geisha video billboards and flying cars is a reference to Blade Runner.[6] The movie also has references to The Godfather Part II and Beverly Hills Cop.[7]
Reception
Liam Hoofe of Flickering Myth said of the episode "In the end, South Park: Post Covid feels like it is setting the table for a more interesting feature a little later down the road. The movie/TV special spends most of its runtime introducing us to the new world that the group now inhabits. It has some really nice satirical touches and a lot of the Covid-related jokes land well."[8]
See also
References
- ^ Del Rosario, Alexandra. "'South Park: Post Covid': Paramount+ Sets Thanksgiving Premiere Date For Movie Event". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
- ^ a b Parker, Ryan (October 27, 2021). "'South Park' Creators Elaborate on Paramount+ Movies Plan, Reveal New Details (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
- ^ "MTV Entertainment Studios inks new and expansive deal with creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone through 2027". Comedy Central.
- ^ Perry, Spencer. "Paramount+ Confirms Two New South Park Movies Coming This Year". Comicbook.com.
- ^ Karl, Chris (October 29, 2021). "South Park Creators Clarify Paramount+ Projects Are Not Feature Films". Screen Rant. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
- ^ Schager, Nick (November 25, 2021). "'South Park: Post COVID' Skewers Anti-Vaxxers and 'Woke' Comedy". The Daily Beast. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
- ^ Parker, Ryan (2021-11-25). "'South Park: Post Covid' Film Paints Stark, Bland (Hilarious) Pandemic Future". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
- ^ Hoofe, Liam (December 1, 2021). "Movie Review – South Park: Post Covid (2021)". Flickering Myth. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
External links
- "South Park: Post Covid" at IMDb