Four years ago to the day, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone took a remarkable a risk in airing an episode called “About Last Night”. There was nothing particularly risqué or boundary pushing about the installment’s content; however, it was written in the days leading up to the presidential election, and correctly assumed that then-senator Barack Obama would beat out John McCain for the position as the most powerful man in the world. Had Obama, now reelected for a second term, not claimed victory that historic night in 2008, “About Last Night” would’ve been a failure and a folly on Parker and Stone’s part, a false fortune telling that lost any meaning amongst factual outcomes. Tonight’s season finale, “Obama Wins!”, would, at least from its title, appear to be aiming to repeat the prescient satire and pure chance that combined to make “About Last Night” a winner and somewhat of a contemporary classic. “Obama Wins!” does, indeed, call the election correctly, but unlike “About Last Night”, tonight’s story veers clear of satirizing the actual election and instead opts for illustrating a grand conspiracy in regards to the recent deal made by Disney to attain the rights toStar Wars. This finale is undoubtedly strange and strangely disconnected from real world politics, but it is, in many ways, one of the more fun episodes to come out of the back end of season sixteen.
“Obama Wins!” starts out cunningly, with an homage to Ocean’s Eleven-styled intros (slick jazz music and funny disguises), as Cartman travels around the country pulling off the complex heist that sets the narrative’s cogs in motion. He’s busy visiting all the swing states, sweeping up the ballots and holding the votes as leverage between the incumbent Obama and Chinese generals of mysterious motivations. Inexplicably, he decides to show Kyle his stash of contraband, and from there the episode splits into two major plot arcs, Kyle trying to right a corrupt system so the right man gets into office, Cartman negotiating so he can land a role in the new Star Wars sequel as Luke Skywalker’s son.
There’s not much more to the plot that can be put on paper without spoilers—Butters, of course, plays Cartman’s loyal henchman—but a lot of the narrative bits come off as unnecessarily convoluted (again, why Cartman decides to tell Kyle about the votes is never explained clearly, unless he just wants more of a challenge in achieving his goals or I’m an idiot and just don't get it). Parker and Stone attempt to work around the clunky procedural by introducing an expository-dialogue-spewing Morgan Freeman, a nice callback to the episode “Scrotie McBoogerballs” in an installment surprisingly full of random callbacks. We get paid a visit by sinister, sleazy Mickey Mouse (“Purity Ring”) and everyone’s favorite Duck President (“You’re Getting Older”) as a stand in for Mitt Romney. In addition to a bevy of in-jokes from the show’s past, there’s a whole lot of Star Wars references, both visual and mythological, and I could see how some of the more specific gags wouldn’t hit home base with non-fans of Lucas’ franchise.
As “Obama Wins!” distances itself more and more from Obama himself, it finds stronger footing, and coalesces into a weird ensemble play wrapped up as a political thriller spoof. Where the trappings of the plot and satire fail, the dialogue and humor soar, from obvious, so-stupid-they’re-funny jokes like the recurring General Tsao’s chicken grace note, to more intricate gags like Butters eating almond M and M’s in place of Cyanide capsules. The banter between Kyle and Cartman was particularly strong, especially in those opening scenes, and really buttressed their stances as moral foils for one another. There were no superfluous detours and none of the excessive bombast the show often favors as a crutch, and, ultimately, “Obama Wins!” comes off as one of the tighter episodes of the fall run, going in a totally different direction than I expected it to.
Though I wouldn’t go so far as it to call it an instant classic, tonight’s episode was fun and furious; there are plot quibbles that would surely become more glaring on a closer viewing, but the machine chugs along so confidently that these grievances fall to the wayside. And so, the sixteenth season of South Park comes to a close. It’s been a really bumpy run this year, with some of the best (“A Scause for Applause”) and some of the absolute worst (“Going Native”) material the show’s churned out recently. Parker and Stone will surely be back come 2013, and, so long as episodes like this keep coming, I’ll be there to tune in.
Some Highlights:
-“Would you like some warm nuts, sir?”-again, so immature, but I was laughing anyway
-“There are states full of swingers. Bunch of perverts, if you ask me.”
-“Do I have a study? No, I don’t think I have a study. That’s fine.”-Cartman’s nuanced monologue was a standout
-“Don’t worry. Everyone knows General Tsao’s chicken!”
-“I need Morgan Freeman to explain it to me!”
-“There’s nothing in here Kyle. Not even one Scooby-clue.”
-“There has to be a character called Jewbacca.”
-“I got Ton-Tons coming out my asshole.”
Episode Grade: A-
Season Grade: B-