I like to imagine the writing room, and after watching the Matt and Trey doc “6 Days to Air” that’s not too difficult. There’s a certain atmosphere that is associated with a hilarious episode. It’s the same feeling I get when working hard and fast on a project, where I know all my gears are spinning and my energy is at 100%… Humor is a hard thing to define, but we know it when we experience it. And was certainly prominent in this week’s South Park.
One morning, Kyle’s wakes up to find Mrs. Brofloski telling Cartman the story of Passover. Kyle tells him to leave and Cartman agrees, but not before informing him of the dangerous beast that will endanger the holiday this year: The Jewpacabra.
Cartman tells all the kids signing up for the town Easter egg hunt (sponsored by the “Sooper Foods” grocery store) about the Jewpacabra. Kyle lets everyone he’s just being antisemetic. Cartman argues that people claim to see Sasquatch all the time, and Kyle retorts that those people are idiots. Butters is scared, and lies in bed terrified that night. Cartman appears on his bed holding a camera and gets Butters to help him hunt the Jewpacabra.
They stand in the woods yelling things about how Christ isn’t real to lure the beast, and finally catch a video of a blurry brown figure. Cartman takes the video to Sooper Foods who agree they can’t take even a tiny chance of the monster being real. The owner of the grocery store tells his team to give Cartman anything he needs to solve this problem. In perfect Cartman fashion, he makes them fly to the Atlantis hotel in the Bahamas to go on the water slide through a shark tank. He then promptly returns to Colorado and visits the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO).
The researchers are morons, and one is definitely mentally challenged. But they say that the Jewpacabra is real, due to some infrared technology they use on the image Cartman captured. This scares Cartman into calling Kyle to ask him what he should do. Then he pays some of other other boys $20 to stand outside a church with guns while he prays inside.
Soon the Sooper Food team abducts Cartman. They dress him in an Easter Bunny suit, and chains him up in the woods to draw the Jewpacabra out in the open so they can capture it, ensuring the Easter egg hunt will be safe. Eventually the BFRO sees him and thinks he is a mythical bunny man. They shoot him with a tranquilizer dart causing Cartman to dream of Ancient Egypt during the plagues. Cartman sees ancient Kyle and asks him why it’s raining frogs. Kyle tells him that it is one of the plagues, due to the Pharaoh not releasing the Jews from Egypt. Cartman replies that it’s just kind of mean to the frogs, and no one else. Kyle answers by telling him that soon the first born sons of all the Egyptians will die too, and Cartman replies by saying that the Pharaoh should just let them go. Kyle says that God will harden the Pharaoh’s heart so he can’t let them go. Cartman questions why God would make Pharaoh unable to free the Jews, then punish him for not doing so. All along Kyle just keeps saying you can’t question God. Cartman yells that he doesn’t believe God would be such a dick, and runs back to his father the Pharaoh.
Cartman asks the Pharaoh to let the jews go, but he says that it’s complicated. Plus, a just God would never kill innocent children. Then the Pharaoh and Cartman sing a song about how their love grows (please tell me if this references anything). Cartman begins petting a baby lamb while singing, but the lamb is taken away and its throat is cut, because God tells the Jews this is the only way to be safe. Cartman starts to run away and soon everyone is slicing up baby lambs all around him. Then the egyptian boys’ heads start to explode everywhere, and then Cartman’s does.
Back in the forest, Kyle cuts an unconscious Cartman free, and brings him to his bed. He covers him with a blanket and takes off his shoes. The next day at the Easter egg hunt, Cartman claims that he was saved by a Passover miracle and that he is Jewish now. He even apologizes to Kyle, who finally says he believes him. The story ends as the camera pans up to the sun, that has a Star of David inside it.
Firstly, let me applaud this episode through my writing. Applause. There, done. I’ve at least heard of the Chupacabra myth, so I can relate to the episode title, “Jewpacabra”. That being said, this was easily the funniest ep yet this season and the laughs stand up to seasons past. The jokes jumped around in the same ADHD fashion I’ve come to love from this series, and I’m happy to say that South Park is back. Expect more from this point on.
The audience immediately knows Cartman is up to no good (something horribly manipulative) from the beginning, and that’s just great. As I’ve said before, the humor is in the details. I love the way Cartman wakes Butters up the same way he has in the past, by simply appearing on his bed out of nowhere. Butters screams and Cartman ropes him into some crazy plan. Later, one of the Sooper Foods employees tells his boss that there is a .0000001 percent chance of the Jewpacabra actually being real or threatening the Easter egg hunt. It’s almost like with every zero he says, the joke gets funnier.
The Bigfoot organization is a goofy bunch. They’re just idiots, and are constantly reassuring each other that they are right. The entire flashback to ancient Egypt doesn’t let up either. The lambs bleeding to death and the constant religious mockery lead me to believe that Matt and Trey actually had fun writing this episode.
