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Yet another new South Park episode with yet another dose of inane silliness. The celebrity they choose to gouge this time is Al Gore, making fun of how the public has forgotten all about him and how he seeks attention through silly ideas. As some of you may know, Al Gore was a big advocate of the 'V' Chip, used to censor tasteless television shows. Gore was even thought to advocate the banning of South Park at one point, pointing to the irreverant show as one of 'major concern' for children and the rest of the viewing public. Bad move, AL! In this episode (s10e06) titled 'manbearpig', they have him speaking and acting much like a valley girl, complete with dumb slang and temper tantrums, and constantly deride his lack of real celebrity despite the fact that he was VP of the USA. The whole 'manbearpig' slant is ridiculous and unfunny in itself, and I wasn't a fan of this being the vehicle for the show. But this episode, despite not being the best South Park, does have some classic moments.
The episode begins with Mr. Mackey at the head of the gym leading an assembly. He tells the kids that the previous vice president is there to speak to them, and asks them if they know who it is. The kids all take turns guessing, 'Dick Chaney' 'Bill Clinton' nobody actually knows who Gore IS. This becomes the focal point for his actions throughout the show. Mr. Gore begins speaking, and warns the children of a dangerous beast known as 'manbearpig' which is half-man, half-bear and half-pig (that sounds more like Dubya math, doesn't it?) He tells them that they are all in incredible danger, and he's SUPER cereal (throughout the episode, Gore says 'cereal' instead of 'serious'.) Nobody is quite sure of what to make of this, but they just slough it off and go about their business.
The kids are then playing basketball, with Cartman hogging the ball and doing all these 'sweet moves' on Kyle. He keeps trying different moves, but Kyle keeps stopping him, and he's getting pissed off. Stan tells Cartman to 'quit hogging the ball fatass' just as a hideous form jumps out of the bushes at them! Turning around to the roar, they see Gore standing there, with hockey equipment on his torso and spiked gloves on his hands, a pig nose and pig ears, and patches of hair interspersed throughout. He re-assures the kids, 'don't worry, its me. I'm not really manbearpig' and the kids assure him that they already knew that. He then hands out bumper stickers and asks them to sign the awareness sheet (which Stan does) before Mr. Marsh pulls up. Seeing the shenanigans going on, he tells the kids to get in the car. He then tells them he doesn't want them hanging around with Mr. Gore anymore, but Stan says he feels sorry for him, he doesn't think he's got any friends. When home, Stan is sound asleep when he gets a phone call from Gore. Gore tells him he and the boys need to come to an emergency 'manbearpig' meeting the next morning, and Stan begs off. Gore goes very quiet, and starts guilting Stan, telling him he doesn't believe him and all. Stan assures him he DOES believe him, and that Stan just doesn't know what to do because he doesn't feel he has anyway to stop 'manbearpig'. It's really funny to hear a 9 year old boy placate the ex-Vice President, telling him, 'yes, I believe you. I'm totally cereal.' Gore assures him that the meeting won't waste his time, that he has real information about 'manbearpig.'
So the boys meet with Gore, and go into his 'manbearpig' headquarters, where the ex-VP has millions of dollars of sophisticated tracking equipment and computers. The boys plan was to come and leave immediately, but as soon as they begin to leave, the 'manbearpig' tracking device goes off, showing that the creature is in the famous 'Cave of the Winds', which is a super-cereal situation. Gore tells the kids they've GOT to get over there. Cut to them in line at the tour of the caves, where Gore is armed to the teeth and wearing camoflauge. They break off from the tour group after the guide points out numerous phallyic-style stalactites and stalagmites, called 'the hanging mushroom', 'man with helmet and two bowling balls' and double dip called 'the two sisters.' All the while, Gore is telling the kids to watch out for 'manbearpig' droppings which he tells them 'are like pig droppings, but more manbear like.' They keep going on their own, and come to a secluded cave within the cave. Gore freaks out and starts firing his shotgun, which causes a massive cave-in, trapping the boys and sending the tour group scrambling for their lives. On the surface, rescue teams show up, and Gore begins to tell them about 'manbearpig.' They don't really know what to make of this, looking at him like he's nuts (duh...REALLY!?!??!). Back in the cave, the boys have split up to find a way out of their predicament. We see Cartman, off on his own, fall down a little rock-face and stumble across 'smuggler's den', which has a shitload of gold and jewels and other treasures. Cartman, being the greedy bastard he is, decides that he's going to keep the treasure, and tells the boys that he found nothing. He tries to misdirect them and send them off, but they aren't buying it, so he tells them to stay away from his part of the cave, because he just took a huge dump. The boys are disgusted and move away from Cartman.
Back on the surface, Gore is trying to convince the rescue workers to fill the caves with hot molten lead to 'get rid of manbearpig for good.' The workers tell him the problem with this is that it would kill the boys as well, but Gore throws a valley-girl style temper-tantrum, going on about how the boys are already dead and they need to get rid of manbearpig and nobody believes him even though he's so super-cereal. His whiny voice and the ridiculousness of the subject matter make this a pretty funny scene, actually. Back in the cave, we see Cartman sneaking off every 10 minutes or so checking on the treasure. He tells the boys that he's got diahhrea, sufficiently disgusting them enough to keep them away from the treasure. Later, as the other boys are sleeping, Cartman is thinking of how to get the treasure out without those 'greedy sons of bitches' getting any of it. In a classic scene, Cartman looms over Kyle as he sleeps, berating the comatose lad about how the treasure is his and he knows they will try and steal it from him, but he won't let them. Kyle wakes up to find Cartman's face inches from his. He asks him what the hell he's doing, and Cartman tells him not much, how are you Kyle? Kyle tells him to get the hell away from him, and Cartman does, playing it off innocently as if it was totally natural for him to loom over Kyle while he slept. We then see Cartman with a bottle of 'wattur', shoving as much treasure as he can down his throat. Cartman, from his days in juvie, has the ability to hoop just about anything (see Disney Land) and the treasure is no exception. His ingestion of all that treasure leads to him becoming extremely bloated, and the boys are worried that something is really wrong with him. Feeling the situation is dire, they decide to escape, to get Cartman to a hospital.
Up above in the parking lot, the rescue squad is still trying to figure out what to do. We hear the tour guide talk about how they are probably trapped in 'smuggler's den', a spot on the tour where kids get their pictures taken with fake pirates and treasure (the very same treasure Cartman plans to shit out and use for his fortune). Gore, meanwhile, has gotten his hands on a crane, and diverts the river to flood the caves, to take out 'manbearpig' once and for all. In the caves, the boys are beseiged by the flood, with Stan and Kenny moving clear of the water, but a struggling Kyle swimming with a bloated Cartman under his arm. He tells Cartman 'you have to kick, I need help' but Cartman says 'I can't kick. You just have to save me' They are both submerged, and it looks like they're done for.
Gore is making a speech, saying how sad it is we've lost the 4 boys, and in an emotional speech goes on to state how 'kid 1, kid 2, kid 3 and kid 4' will not be forgotten. He then assures them it was all worth it, as 'manbearpig' is finally dead for good. Just as he is eulogizing the four boys, they break out of the rubble and everyone sees they're alive. Gore runs over and says 'boys, I saved you!' and Stan tells him to get the hell away from them. He rants at Gore, saying 'I felt sorry for you because you didn't have any friends, but now I know why! You just use manbearpig for attention because you're a loser!' Gore, still with his delusions of grandeur, whispers sarcastically 'oh, yah. the man who single-handedly took down manbearpig is a loser.' Stan, finished with the ex-VP, turns his attention to Cartman, telling everyone they need to get him to a hospital. Cartman begs off, insisting he's okay and just needs a toilet. He starts to walk away, but then fires a bunch of treasure from his ass just as he begins moving. People are stunned, with Kyle actually saying 'Did Cartman just crap treasure?' The tour guide waltzes up and tells Cartman that it looks like the fake treasure from Smuggler's Den, worth about $14. Cartman is devastated, and begins to throw a tantrum of his own, but this induces more treasure to be shat out. Gore, meanwhile, is very proud of himself and puts on a cape (a t-shirt tied around his neck) assuring the crowd that he's off to fight something else, or maybe make a movie. He then yells 'Excelsior!' and 'flies' away, running away on his tippy-toes. Cartman shits out a large golden urn with a grunt, and the episode is over.
It appears that South Park is still not back up to its old standards, although there were a few quite funny parts in this episode. I wasn't a fan of the 'manbearpig' angle to drive the episode, but the classic manipulative Cartman and his hooping an ENTIRE pile of treasure was priceless. Gore's whining and tantrums were pretty funny too, and the constant bashing of how much of a loser Gore is was relentless and humourous. Not one of the best South Park's by any means, but a HUGE step up from 1,000,000 Little Fibres. Watch it, but you'll only wanna watch it once. Hopefully, the boys will be back with some real issues soon. Maybe not, with Comedy Central's recent unwillingness to co-operate with some of their more radical ideas. It could be the end of South Park as social commentarry, as Stone and Parker may feel that Comedy Central simply doesn't support them anymore. Let's hope that isn't the case, as when they're writing and joking about real and pertinent issues they are at their best. No real issues here, except the threat of a 'manbearpig' prophesied by a delusional attention-seeking moron.
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