The ‘Modern’ ‘South Park’ Episodes With the Most Rewatch Value
Every long-time South Park fan has their favorite episode or season from the show’s early years that they can rewatch endlessly without ever getting tired of it. But eventually, it’s only healthy to move on to new classics. There’s only so many times you can tell your friends “dey took er jerbs!” before they’ll want to replace you, too.
It’s hard for a comedy show to be both timeless and topical, but, somehow, South Park has been successful on both fronts for the past 26 years. While many of the late-1990s-to-early-2000s references from Seasons One through Ten have run their course out of the zeitgeist (who the hell knows who Brian Boitano is anymore?), the creativity and crassness of the humor continues to keep even the early series fresh well into its late twenties. That rewatchability is part of the reason why the franchise’s massive back catalog is currently valued at over $1 billion — or about a thousand Cartmanlands.
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Over in the South Park subreddit, fans recently discussed which of the newer episodes (in this case, “new” is defined as post-2010) they think deserve to be held in the highest regard for return viewings. Here are their top picks…
“The Worldwide Privacy Tour” (2023)
This past season’s best celebrity takedown will likely continue to stay relevant for as long as the British (or Canadian) Royal Family obnoxiously occupy our collective attention as Americans. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s publicity blitz gave Trey Parker and Matt Stone the perfect opportunity to parody the cynical culture of self-victimization and capitalization that controls celebrity branding that will bear repeating each time the paparazzi’s power couple claw their way back into the headlines — so, like, once a week.
“Cash for Gold” (2012)
As long as the Home Shopping Network continues to prey on the elderly, “Cash for Gold” will still be as infuriating as it is funny — so, basically, this one will be a classic until the power grid collapses. Poor Billy just wanted to stop his grandpa from being exploited and ended up uncovering a vicious circle of sweatshop labor and elder abuse that culminates in the cathartic suicide of a parasitic TV salesman.
“Cock Magic” (2014)
Fortunately for mothers everywhere, Magic: The Gathering continues to attract new underaged players every year, ensuring that new generations of young boys will have no money left over from their latest booster box to spend on drugs and will be 100 percent effectively protected against unplanned pregnancy and STIs. While cockfighting is still not quite as popular amongst pre-teens, the dick jokes are just as funny as they were in 2014.
Mobile gaming is as much of a money-sinking, Skinner Box manipulation racket today as it’s ever been, which means that we’ve all collectively learned nothing from Satan’s excellent explanation of addiction. And, as long as Canada continues to insist on existing, we must always be on our guard against their version of the devil and his money-making, micro-transactional schemes.
The Black Friday Trilogy (2013)
The Season 17 three-parter was the perfect parody of the peak of Game of Thrones’ popularity put against the backdrop of deadly Black Friday hysteria. Nowadays, the annual fatality counter from Black Friday stampedes and crowd-crushes is significantly lower than it was 10 years ago due to the rise of online retailers and the fall of malls, but with The Winds of Winter ostensibly no closer to completion than it was in 2013, the portrayal of George R.R. Martin is as topical as it’s ever been.