Rehash (South Park)

Plot

Kyle Broflovski buys video games to play with his brother Ike, but Ike prefers watching PewDiePie's Let's Play videos. Eric Cartman starts his own commentary channel, CartmanBrah, and Ike subscribes, annoying Kyle. Meanwhile, Randy Marsh learns of a benefit concert featuring his secret identity, Lorde. Reluctant to perform due to his reliance on pitch correction, Randy agrees after his producer notes his son Stan's spending on freemium gaming and his daughter Shelley's wish to see Lorde.

At the concert, Randy's off-key singing and poor live performance disillusion the audience. He accidentally frees a Michael Jackson hologram and rubs his groin to win back the crowd, but only enrages them. The Jackson hologram boards a bus to South Park, and the Syntech Hologram Company activates a Tupac Shakur hologram to pursue him.

Production

Trey Parker and Matt Stone stated on the DVD audio commentary that the episode was originally two separate episodes, one about PewDiePie and one about Lorde, but they could not devise an ending long enough for either. They then intended to combine them into one episode, but Parker had written so much material that he felt it needed a three-part story arc. After shifting between one and three episodes, they settled on two parts partway through production; in hindsight, they thought a three-part story would have been better.

The scene of Randy/Lorde fighting Iggy Azalea at the concert was originally planned as the final scene for "The Cissy," the third episode of the season, but was scrapped and later used here with modifications. Sia was originally present but was removed, and Randy was to fight everyone, not just one person. The PewDiePie story came from Parker's similar experiences with his step-son, and from Parker and Stone feeling that more people experienced their game South Park: The Stick of Truth through PewDiePie than by playing it themselves.

Making the episode made Parker and Stone feel old, as it deals with newer technology, pop music, and Internet culture; the title reflects the idea that the Internet often rehashes each other's content.

Reception

Eric Thurn of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+ rating, noting it initially seemed "a bit scatter-brained" but praising the season's continuity. Max Nicholson of IGN scored it 7.8 out of 10, calling its meta-ness "off the charts." Chris Longo of Den of Geek rated it 2.5 out of 5 stars, describing it as an episode that "throws a lot of fun ideas at us with nothing to balance them out."