201 (South Park)

Did You Know?

• The scenes between Cartman and Scott Tenorman closely mirror a scene from the 1988 graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke.
• During one scene, Mecha-Streisand crushes a building and someone screams, "The Casa Bonita is gone!"
• On January 31, 2014, the original uncensored version of "201" was leaked when it was pulled from the South Park Studios servers and posted online without Comedy Central's approval.

Plot

The episode opens with Eric Cartman, as his hand-puppet persona Mitch Conner, narrating a flashback to Conner's 1972 medical discharge from Vietnam in a parody of Apocalypse Now, with "Time of the Season" playing. Mr. Garrison's hand puppet Mr. Hat refuses to reveal Cartman's father's identity and sends him to Dr. Mephesto. Meanwhile, the Ginger Separatist Movement and townsfolk negotiate handing over Muhammad when Mecha-Streisand attacks South Park, killing Pip Pirrup. Muhammad, visually obscured by a black box labeled "CENSORED", is taken by Stan, Kyle, and Kenny to Mephesto's lab for cloning. The gingers capture Muhammad and Cartman. The Super Best Friends arrive but fail to subdue Mecha-Streisand until Krishna adopts the form of Neil Diamond, allowing a duet that pacifies her. The gingers offer the celebrities access to the "Rob Reiner goo transfer machine" in exchange for Muhammad, and Tom Cruise gains a "CENSORED" bar. Cartman is taken to the ginger lair to meet Scott Tenorman, who, after his parents' death, became mentally deranged and seeks revenge on Cartman for murdering his parents, planning to torment him with the identity of his real father.

Production

Written and directed by series co-founder Trey Parker, "201" was rated TV-MA-LV. It continued storylines from "200", the 200th episode, which Parker and co-creator Matt Stone used to revisit subplots from the show's 14 seasons. Multiple celebrities lampooned over the series' history join a class action lawsuit against South Park. The ginger kids, previously ridiculed by Cartman, appear, and Cartman's hand-puppet Mitch Conner originally appeared in the seventh season episode "Fat Butt and Pancake Head". The episode reintroduced Dr. Alphonse Mephisto and Kevin, characters absent for about 10 years, along with Mr. Hankey, Big Gay Al, Mr. Slave, and Pip Pirrup. Scott Tenorman and references to his parents' death come from the fifth season episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die". At the end, Tom Cruise's dead body lies beside a killer whale, referencing the ninth season episode "Free Willzyx". Pip Pirrup, who had become a background character after his own episode and made only two speaking roles before disappearing in Season 11, is killed when Mecha-Streisand steps on him.

Reception

In its original American broadcast, "201" was watched by 3.5 million viewers, making it the most watched cable television show of the night, outperforming "200" which had 3.33 million viewers. Sean O'Neal of The A.V. Club said "201" was an improvement over "200" but felt it was "less a cohesive episode than a grab bag of balls-out crazy scenes and cameos only loyal fans would really appreciate," though he noted it would become one of the most talked-about episodes. He speculated whether the censorship was a publicity stunt by Parker and Stone. Ramsey Isler of IGN said the episode built on "200" and delivered a strong payoff, particularly with the Cartman's father subplot tying back to "Scott Tenorman Must Die," and that the bleeps provided unintentional laughs and underscored the theme opposing censorship. A Zogby International survey found 71% of Americans disagreed with Comedy Central's censorship, with 47% disagreeing strongly, while 19% agreed. Some commentators suggested the censorship gave Muslim extremists a significant public victory.