South Park thrives on two things. First, it has its unique brand of absurdity. It makes everything seem so far out that it becomes hard not to watch it, if only for the fact that, week in and week out, it’s completely different from anything else on television. The second is, of course, its mockery of real life issues, issues that people often take seriously and care about. Sure, this often leads to the show coming under fire from certain groups, and, at times, it does take the humor a bit too far. That being said, South Park is at its absolute best when the showrunners are able to blend their unique brand of humor with a nuanced commentary (and mockery) of political, social, or economic issues.
The Cissy manages to be 100% successful in terms of its crazy, out of left field humor. It takes the issue of gender identity, and makes fun of it in a way that manages to be quite funny. Cartman’s opening monologue (and subsequent transformation into Erica Cartman), is downright hilarious, even if it manages to be fairly dark at times. This episode, of the three episodes of season 18 so far, is definitely the funniest on the surface. It has the most – and excuse this juvenile phrase – potty (oh yeah, and excuse the pun as well) humor of every episode so far. While these jokes are undeniably hilarious the first time through, The Cissy doesn’t quite have the depth of past episodes.
What this means is that it lacks staying power. Thinking back to some of the show’s best episodes – of which Imaginationland and Obama Wins are two great examples – are great because they have so many subtleties that each viewing unveils new jokes and new humor that further appreciation for the episode. Even season 18’s premiere, Go Fund Yourself, required more than a single viewing to pick up on all the great jokes. The main plot of The Cissy, while funny, simply lacks the intricacies that viewers have come to expect from the show.
That isn’t to say it’s all dumb jokes, however, or that none of these jokes are funny. As I highlighted earlier, this episode is downright hilarious the first time through. Plus, the concept is great. The show does some very funny things with gender identity. It just doesn’t feel like the episode has much to say about gender identity, and just use it as a vehicle for dirty jokes. Normally, this is fine, but normally, it’s also combined with some really smart social commentary.
That said, the secondary plot of this episode, which is masterfully carried through from Gluten Free Ebola, is far superior. Randy’s gender struggles are far more interesting than Cartman’s, and it gives the episode a chance to poke fun at more than just gender confusion/roles/stereotypes. This plot is used to mock SPIN magazine (in response to things the publication said about the previous episode), record companies, and popular music. There are some excellent scenes in this sub plot, and it’s downright amazing. There’s a lot of great humor here, and the plot itself is actually engaging, which is nice.
Taking everything into account, The Cissy is a good episode of South Park. It certainly gets a lot right, but unfortunately, it is the weakest episode of season 18 so far. Funnily enough, elements of it are some of my favorite parts of the season – namely the SPIN magazine content, which allows the show to get fairly meta. That being said, the majority of the episode’s humor is fairly unintelligent, which is a disappointment. In terms of surface level jokes, this was a great episode. But despite the excellent concept, the writers never maximize the potential that this episode have.
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