Ever the iconoclasts, Trey Parker and Matt Stone used the HIV virus as comic fodder for "Tonsil Trouble," South Park's twelfth season premiere.
In the episode, Cartman contracts the AIDS virus due to a tainted blood transfusion he receives during a routine tonsillectomy. When the news is broken to the gang, Kyle can't help but snicker at the irony of one the most bigoted, homophobic members of their group being afflicted by the "gay" disease.
Fed up with Kyles constant laughing, Cartman, syringe in hand, sneaks into Kyle's room and evens the score by infecting him too.
After finding out he's infected too and knowing EXACTLY how it happened, an enraged Kyle proceeds to destroy all of Cartman's toys. Cartman calms him down by devising a plan to find a "cure" by visiting Magic Johnson who's "had HIV for about fifty years and is just fine."
When Kyle wonders if it'll work, Kyle replies that he's "HIV positive" it will.
In the end, the boys discover that Magic Johnson's proximity to piles of money is what keeps his HIV in check. A direct injection of one hundred eighty thousand dollars worth of currency distilled into liquid form totally eraticates the disease.
The usual South Park satire is there. The AIDS cause is lampooned as "retro" and "so 1990s." Meanwhile, the "concerned" celebrity culture is mocked as all but the "C" listers stampeed to more fashionable charities. Even Elton John eshews the "red ribbon" movement, leaving only Jimmy Buffet as the biggest named performer available for Cartman's fundraiser.
Clever, insightful, and funny, yes. Yet, I felt a little let down.
At the beginning, I braced myself for discomfort once I realized what the episode was going to be about. But as the storyline progressed, it seemed as if the writers flinched a bit. They weren't nearly as obnoxious in portraying the objects of their satire as they could have been. Magic Johnson, for instance, just came across as an average, friendly guy. That's fine, I've nothing against Magic in particular. But, his character just wasn't South Park.
In the South Park universe, if you're going to shoot, shoot to kill, not wing, your target. And in the end, "Tonsil Troubles"missed. Maybe not by a mile, but by a few yards at least.
Of that I'm positive, HIV positive...
....oh goddammit!!
In the episode, Cartman contracts the AIDS virus due to a tainted blood transfusion he receives during a routine tonsillectomy. When the news is broken to the gang, Kyle can't help but snicker at the irony of one the most bigoted, homophobic members of their group being afflicted by the "gay" disease.
Fed up with Kyles constant laughing, Cartman, syringe in hand, sneaks into Kyle's room and evens the score by infecting him too.
After finding out he's infected too and knowing EXACTLY how it happened, an enraged Kyle proceeds to destroy all of Cartman's toys. Cartman calms him down by devising a plan to find a "cure" by visiting Magic Johnson who's "had HIV for about fifty years and is just fine."
When Kyle wonders if it'll work, Kyle replies that he's "HIV positive" it will.
In the end, the boys discover that Magic Johnson's proximity to piles of money is what keeps his HIV in check. A direct injection of one hundred eighty thousand dollars worth of currency distilled into liquid form totally eraticates the disease.
The usual South Park satire is there. The AIDS cause is lampooned as "retro" and "so 1990s." Meanwhile, the "concerned" celebrity culture is mocked as all but the "C" listers stampeed to more fashionable charities. Even Elton John eshews the "red ribbon" movement, leaving only Jimmy Buffet as the biggest named performer available for Cartman's fundraiser.
Clever, insightful, and funny, yes. Yet, I felt a little let down.
At the beginning, I braced myself for discomfort once I realized what the episode was going to be about. But as the storyline progressed, it seemed as if the writers flinched a bit. They weren't nearly as obnoxious in portraying the objects of their satire as they could have been. Magic Johnson, for instance, just came across as an average, friendly guy. That's fine, I've nothing against Magic in particular. But, his character just wasn't South Park.
In the South Park universe, if you're going to shoot, shoot to kill, not wing, your target. And in the end, "Tonsil Troubles"missed. Maybe not by a mile, but by a few yards at least.
Of that I'm positive, HIV positive...
....oh goddammit!!
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