I look at Post COVID and have flashbacks of what the quarantine burdened many of us with: a lack of social interaction, tears in our fabricated lives, or simply years of loneliness. And don’t forget the free wide access to the internet. Who would want to relive these experiences with quarantine? In South Park: Post COVID, the characters quite literally relive the Covid experience in order to save the world.
South Park: Post COVID (Paramount) is a South Park special with two parts. In the first part they live with the afteraffects of Covid and what it has done to society and their friendships. In the second part, they have to deal with the return of Covid. When their friend dies from experimenting with time travel, Kyle and Stan assume it was to go back and stop Covid from ever happening.
In part one, we’re given so much newer intel on the main four in this special: Stan Marsh, struggling with Depression; Kyle Broflovski, with his unregulated temper; Kenny McCormick with his sense of individuality being cast out; and Eric Cartman with his manipulative, egotistical self.
Satirical comedy in South Park has an edge to it, and everybody falls victim to teasing remarks. Whether the humor scratches the surface on what is really going on or offers the heavy truth – that’s for the viewer to decide. My favorite is the Ozempic episode, where the show clearly advocates not only for body positivity but also critiques the troubles with the American healthcare system.
The show’s recurring themes require viewer discretion for the strong language, sexual material, brief drug use, and violent content. The producers have never put out a recommended age range on their works, but I would recommend it to people above the age of 13.
Part 2, Post COVID: The Return of COVID, explores how much they regret not doing enough: Stan wants to undo the past; Kyle wants to respect Kenny while also fighting for himself; Kenny wishes to fix a broken friendship; Cartman wants to keep what he obtained.
Cartman is the real star of the show: the whiny, attention-deprived, incompetent kid who grows to become an affectionate loving husband with similarly annoying attributes. With the maturity comes responsibility, accountability, and the great amount of growth he puts into himself to not regress back into his unwarranted bigoted self.
One thing that got me was how little showtime Kenny has in the second part special. It’s simply outrageous how this fan favorite is so rarely in the specials. Ken being affected by how his friends treat each other in both Post COVID parts is unbearable. Not only is he a neutral stance on each of his friends but he unwittingly protects them from harm. The bond they share is unbeatable.
Kyle as an adult is just jealous of Cartman. The grudges Kyle holds against Cartman are ridiculous and petty when compared to how much he has grown as an individual, not only has Cartman taken accountability, but he also tries to show Kyle he is also human.
Kyle is known for having empathy to a certain extent and in South Park: Post COVID: The Return of COVID he has none. He downplays and degrades all of Cartman’s thoughts and ideals. It’s simply childish and immature. Whether Kyle is simply agitated from the stress of his friends passing or from dealing with Stan’s addictions, at the end of the day he is still acting rather off.
Cartman isn’t much better. I hate how he is at the end of each episode. His manipulative tendencies and overall narcissistic tendencies make him incapable of reaching the right outlets. He could benefit from a serious amount of help.
Despite the flaws of this special, our love for the South Park children’s bond never dissipates. The story is impeccable.
