This season Parker and Stone continue to play with the character of Kenny, in that this time he continues on from his appearance in the Christmas episode of Season Six, with no explanation as to why he's returned, and not once explains why he's back nor kills him at all this season. On one hand I feel like one of the stand out points of the early seasons and the character of Kenny is the no-further-explanation death sequence in most episodes followed by his appearance and then subsequent death in the next episode. It was something absurd in a show that otherwise played off of otherwise just exaggerated stereotypes of people in a small, backwoods town.
On the other hand, I definitely understand why they decided to stop killing him. They literally did it for 4 seasons straight and a feature length movie. "They killed Kenny, those bastards!" Became a part of the cultural identity of the show, and after all that time I assume they just felt like they had done everything they could with the joke and to do it longer would just be treading upon the same material over and over again. Plus, as the show gets weirder and weirder as Parker and Stone look for boundaries to push each season, Kenny's death not only feels less absurd, but limits how they might want to tell an episode. So all in all, I'm glad Kenny is back in Season Seven and isn't killed once. It shows growth and expansion from the writers and creators.
Season Seven to me isn't as good as Season Six was, but it's only just slightly inferior. Right off the bat, the first episode of the season, Cancelled, which re-uses scenes and dialogue from the very first episode in a plot that involves Earth being just a big reality show for some aliens and that they're stuck in a repeat. It's just the right amount of meta humor and new content mixing with references to the old that I enjoy from the series and while the concept itself is nothing new, it's presented in true outlandish South Park style.
The next episode Krazy Kripples is one of my favorites. In it, Jimmy gets mad that Christopher Reeve upstages him at a speaking event and decides to declare war on those made crippled after the fact instead of being born with it. After a series of misunderstandings, Jimmy and Timmy join the Crips, thinking they're actually crippled people, and fight the Bloods. All the while, all the main characters check back in at major plot points and just comment that they're "not going anywhere near this one." and walk back off-screen. This was a storytelling device I really enjoyed because it indicates that Parker and Stone clearly know the story they're telling could be considered offensive if told through the format of a regular episode, but since the whole thing plays out with the characters two crippled characters and shows them at the focal point and how they could come up with the idea that Crips is a gang for crippled people, it comes off as not making fun of the handicapped and instead the situation the kids got themselves into.
The episode Toilet Paper is one that I felt was weak, but still enjoyable. The episode plays off as a series of references and homages to famous crime dramas and thrillers, mostly Silence of the Lambs, but includes references to Godfather Part II, Scarface and a scene from Platoon. While I stilled laugh with the episode, it felt weaker since it was taking most of it's jokes from references than things actually happening in the episode.
There are absolute gems in this season however,Red Man's Guilt, an episode where a play on history reversal happens and the Native Americans that own the new Casino near South Park intend to take the town of South Park to demolish it and build a highway to their Casino no matter the cost. Special mention for that episode for having their main Native American character named "Runs With Premise" and by the time they beat the joke into the ground in the last third revealing his son's name to be "Premise Running Thin." It's a 4th wall joke I can get behind because they know it's bad. Other highlights include South Park is Gay!, where all the males in town become "Metrosexual" and Kyle and Mr. Garrison go off to kill the men behind it, the cast of Queer Eye For The Straight Guy. Christian Rock Hard, where the boys use Napster and get caught downloading songs illegally and end up coming out against music piracy while showing how ludicrous some of these "artist damages" claims are. Plus Cartman's attempt at creating a successful Christian Rock band is hilarious to me because I grew up Catholic and heard a lot of Christian Rock music, and every parody was spot on.
The episode Grey Dawn not only parodies Red Dawn but also brings forth another culturally important topic that had been newsworthy at the time and is still relevant, should senior citizen's be allowed to drive? The episode is the perfect South Park mixture of being funny while also being culturally relevant and presenting the argument in a fair and honest way. Another highlight is the episode All About The Mormoms, which is literally an episode about how crazy the origin story of Mormonism is, followed by another two favorites, Butt Out and Raisins, where Rob Reiner comes to town and demands everyone stop smoking and where Stan gets dumped and joins the Goth kids, respectfully. Both episodes drive down to the heart of the matter and get just as many laughs as insightful moments into the situation and it reaffirms why I love the show so much. No matter how crude, the show finds interesting and compelling ways to portray real-life issues with a no-holds-barred mentality.
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