The second season of South Park...

So, I've finally gotten around to watching season 2 of South Park, a show I've only very recently started to enjoy. I don't know why it took me so long to get into this animated series for adults, created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The humor is certainly my style, with lots of crude jokes and morals of the story presented in off color ways. But what can I say? It turns out I love the show. Now that I've reviewed up until Season 10, I guess I'll have to wait until the next set comes out and makes it to Germany.

What is South Park?

For anybody else who hasn't been watching South Park since its inception, here's a brief rundown of what the show is about. South Park is a very adult oriented animated comedy series that airs on the Comedy Central cable network. Set in the fictional town of South Park, Colorado, the show focuses on the lives of four boys. There's fat, bigoted, loudmouthed Eric Cartman, hot tempered Jewish Kyle Broflovski, even keeled Stan Marsh, and Kenny McCormick, a poor, redneck kid who always dresses in orange parkas and dies in every episode.

Season 2

Season 2 of South Park originally aired on Comedy Central from April 1, 1998 until January 20, 1999. During this season, the boys were in third grade. The DVD collection consists of eighteen episodes on three DVDs. On the first two DVDs, Trey Parker and Matt Stone introduce each episode-- in a nursing home entertaining old folks with their brand of raunchy humor and on a cooking show, tormenting a pig by making bacon based recipes and feeding them to the pig. For some reason, they don't entertain between episodes on the third disc. Season 2 also includes two special features, the "Goin' Down to South Park" documentary and Chef's "Chocolate Salty Balls" music video.

The Episodes

Disc One

201 Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus- Terrance and Phillip, the boys' favorite cartoon characters, go to Iran to rescue Terrance's daughter, Sally. A weird chain of events lead to a hostile takeover of Canada. Terrance and Phillip then find themselves having to save Sally and their homeland.

202 Cartman's Mom is Still A Dirty Slut- Mephisto is about to reveal who Eric Cartman's father is when he's shot by a mysterious gunman. Meanwhile, a blizzard hits South Park and the residents are stranded for hours without food.

203 Chickenlover- When a bizarre crime spree involving chickens strikes South Park, the citizens learn that Officer Barbrady can't read. Barbrady resigns; anarchy ensues; and Cartman takes over law enforcement in South Park.

204 Ike's Wee Wee- After a mishap during a lesson involving drugs and alcohol, school counselor Mr. Mackey is fired. Depressed over losing his job, Mr. Mackey turns to drugs and alcohol for solace. Meanwhile, it's time for Ike's bris.

205 Conjoined Fetus Lady- The South Park dodge ball team heads for the state championships. Meanwhile, the town raises awareness of Conjoined Twin Myslexia, the bizarre disorder afflicting the school nurse.

206 The Mexican Staring Frog of Sri Lanka- Townsfolk have spotted the "Mexican Staring Frog" and top hunters Ned and Jimbo go looking for it. Their hunting saga leads to a new hunting show on public access TV, which knocks "Jesus and Pals" off the air.

Disc Two

207 City of the Edge of Forever (Flashbacks)- Employing a classic television trick used whenever a show's writers run out of ideas, the boys relive the biggest moments of their lives while their schoolbus teeters on the edge of a cliff. Meanwhile, their loudmouthed bus driver Ms. Crabtree searches for help and ends up becoming a stand up comic.

208 Summer Sucks- The town of South Park prepares for its annual July 4th celebration when a fireworks ban is imposed. Ned and Jimbo are thrown in a Texas prison, Mr. Hat disappears, and Cartman is forced to take swimming lessons with little kids who pee in the pool. Jonathan Katz guest stars.

209 Chef's Salty Chocolate Balls- South Park's film festivals attracts a bunch of obnoxious vegetarian movie lovers, which puts a strain on the sewer system and threatens Mr. Hankey, the Christmas poo. Kyle appeals to the film industry to save Mr. Hankey's life.

210 Chickenpox- The kids' parents encourage them to play with Kenny, who's come down with the chicken pox. The boys get back at them by enlisting Frida, the town prostitute.

211 Roger Ebert Should Lay Off The Fatty Foods- Stan, Kyle, and Kenny visit the planetarium and find themselves hopelessly obsessed. Cartman tries his hand at singing jingles for his favorite snack food, Cheesy Poofs.

212 Clubhouses- Stan builds a clubhouse so that he can have Wendy over for a game of Truth or Dare. Jealous Cartman enlists Kenny to help him build a bigger, cooler clubhouse.

Disc Three

213 Cow Days- During South Park's annual "Cow Days" festival, the boys become obsessed with winning Terrance and Phillip dolls. Meanwhile, all of the cows in South Park become obsessed with a memorial cow statue built for the celebration.

214 Chef Aid- Chef sues the wrong people after a record label steals a song he wrote called "Stinky Britches". Left penniless after losing the suit, the boys enlist some of Chef's friends from the music industry to help him out.

215 Spookyfish- When Sharon Marsh's Aunt Flo makes her monthly visit, she brings Stan a pet fish to play with. But it turns out the fish is murderous. As bodies start to pile up, Stan's mother becomes convinced that her son is a murderer and tries to cover for him. This episode is shown in "Spookyvision", featuring pictures of Barbra Streisand.

216 Merry Christmas Charlie Manson- The boys travel to Nebraska to visit Eric Cartman's extended family. The visit takes a bizarre turn when Eric's Uncle Howard breaks out of prison and brings his cellmate, Charlie Manson over for dinner.

217 Gnomes- The boys are assigned to write a report with Tweek, a very nervous kid who consumes too much caffeine who thinks gnomes are stealing his underpants. Tweek's helps them with the paper, using it as a means of venting about Harbuck's Coffee's attempt to run him out of business.

218 Prehistoric Ice Man- Kyle falls into an underground cave and Stan rescues him. They find a man frozen in ice and Dr. Mephisto finds out the man has been frozen since 1996. Unable to deal with the modern world, the frozen man tries to return to his own time. Unfortunately, the government has other plans.

My thoughts on Season 2

I think the second season of South Park is one of the best ones of the series, mainly because it was still very fresh, yet established enough to get all of the kinks out of the animation. In this set, of course, Trey Parker and Matt Stone entertain between epsiodes. They're pretty funny and it's easy to see where some of the characters get their voices. On the other hand, I'll admit to being a little freaked out watching a pig named Macon eat bacon.

I also like this season because it consists of eighteen episodes. In later seasons, there aren't as many episodes. You get a lot of bang for your buck with this season, especially since there are a couple of actual special features instead of the usual commentary by the show's creators.

This season also has the distinction of including a couple of my favorite South Park episodes, "Ike's Wee Wee" and "Summer Sucks". While those two are standouts for me, personally, a number of others that aired during the second season are also close in the running as favorites. I can't think of a single truly weak episode in this season, although I will admit that "Spookyfish" with its spookyvision (pictures of Barbra Streisand on the four corners of the screen) was a little weird. On the other hand, I thought the episode itself was brilliant.

My standard caveat regarding South Park is that it's not for kids. The humor is very vulgar and there's a lot of swearing. Remember, this show airs late at night on Comedy Central for good reason. Personally, I think it's really aimed toward people in their 30s and 40s who grew up in the 1970s and 80s and can catch all of the pop culture references. Younger people may not get them as easiy and some older people will probably find this show too vulgar and juvenile for their tastes. For example, I know my mom would hate it.

Anyway, if you like off color humor, don't mind gratuitous swearing, and there aren't any kids around to corrupt, I highly recommend the second season of South Park. I think it's one of the best of the whole series.

Comedy Central's South Park site: http://southpark.comedycentral.com/