Death (South Park episode)

"Death" is the sixth episode of Comedy Central's animated series South Park. It originally aired on September 17, 1997.

Plot

The Marsh family is celebrating Grandpa’s birthday but Grandpa isn’t having a good time. He wishes he was dead, and tries to accomplish this goal while he and Stan watch Terrance and Phillip after the birthday festivities. As Grandpa is too old to do it himself, however, he asks Stan to help, but he refuses. Meanwhile at Kyle’s house, Kyle and Ike are also watching Terrance and Phillip when their mother, Sheila, comes in and gets upset by the content of the program. The next day at school Kyle discovers that Sheila has called everyone else’s parents and is leading a boycott of Terrance and Phillip in front of "Cartoon Central"'s headquarters in New York City. During the school day, Stan seeks out various adults to find out whether or not he should assist his Grandpa in killing himself, but no one wishes to discuss the issue (not even Jesus Christ himself), so Stan talks to the guys about it. Meanwhile Kenny is experiencing a bout of explosive diarrhea. The condition eventually spreads to the whole town, particularly to the adults protesting Terrance and Phillip. Despite their protest of the show, they are shown laughing at various bits of "real life" toilet humor. At home, the boys have been left alone to watch Terrance and Phillip at their leisure, as most of the community has followed Sheila to Cartoon Central to demand the show be taken off the air. All the while Grandpa Marsh is trying to convince Stan to kill him. In order to show him what it's like to live like him he traps Stan in a room playing a gibberish version of Enya's Orinoco Flow, at which point he and the rest of the boys agree they must do it. They hang a cow from a tree to drop on Grandpa when Death shows up and begins to come after the boys. Meanwhile, Grandpa is yelling, "I'm over here, you son-of-a-whore!" Back in New York, the protesters have given the network an ultimatum: take the show off the air or they will kill themselves. Although a dozen people have been slingshotted and smeared on the face of the network building, the network refuses to take Terrance and Philip off the air until an executive comes out (in a gas mask) and announces; "Ladies and gentlemen, your nazi-esque tactics of trying to stink us out with rancid faeces... has worked. Therefore, today we will be officially taking Terrance and Phillip off the network and replacing it with reruns of She's the Sheriff starring Suzanne Somers." In South Park, while chasing the boys, Death stops at the window of a TV store and watches an episode of Terrance and Phillip. The boys join him in watching until the announcement of its cancellation. Extremely angered at this development, Death touches Kenny, and Grandpa argues with Death about not taking him. Then, Grandpa’s Grandpa shows up and tells him to not kill himself or he'll end up in limbo like himself; it must be from natural causes. The parents come back and put on She's The Sheriff, are dismayed by the content, and go back to New York for another protest. As the boys brood over what they will do for entertainment (breathe gas fumes, smoke crack, or watch "those porno movie thingies"), Grandpa Marsh comes in and tell them he's taking his Grandpa's advice and is planning a trip to Africa where over 400 people are "naturally" eaten by lions every year. The boys laugh at this, then Kyle farts similar to the way Terrance and Phillip fart and the laughter increases.

Kenny's Death

• Kenny is Touched by Death and dies almost instantly. Afterwards, Stan comments that it was Kenny that Death was after from the start. His spirit is seen leaving with Death and Stan's great-great grandfather.

Series firsts

"Death" proved to be a milestone in the South Park canon, introducing numerous plotpoints and gags which would become reoccurring throughout the show's run:

• This is the first episode to heavily satirize censorship and free speech, a theme that would become South Park's signature in later episodes and in the movie.
• Grandpa Marsh is seen for the first time, and it is established that he believes Stan's name is actually Billy (according to DVD commentary, South Park co-creator Trey Parker's own grandfather insisted upon calling him Billy)
• This is the first episode of the series to feature Kyle's mother, as well as her opposing viewpoints on society and motherhood, in a prominent role. Here, Kyle's and Stan's mothers are both called Carol; eventually, Kyle's mother's name was settled on as Sheila and Stan's mother's name as Sharon. Carol would be given to Kenny's mother, who is unseen in this episode.
• This is the first episode to depict the parents of South Park reacting unreasonably to a situation they believe puts their children at risk; from the second/third season on, most episodes of South Park deal, at least in part, with the stupidity of the adults of South Park versus the simple common sense of the children of South Park.
• This is the first episode to feature Terrance and Phillip's television show, and Terrance and Phillip themselves, as a major part of the plotline as opposed to incidental characters. It is also the first episode to blatantly imply that Terrance and Phillip are meta-references to the television show South Park itself. Terrance and Phillip themselves, and more often their program, would become important plot elements in numerous future episodes, and especially the South Park movie.

References to other South Park episodes

• Stan's line "I can't kill you grandpa, I can't even kill a deer" is a direct reference to episode 103, Volcano.

Censorship

• Canadian network Global censored two lines in this episode. Cartman's line "Kyle's mom is a dirty Jew!" was omitted (even though "dirty" was bleeped for comic effect). Later, Grandpa Marsh's line to Cartman about his mom, "...and I humped her like a little bitch!" cuts the line off after "...and I humped her..." As with other cuts made to the series by Global, both of these lines are uncut when aired on The Comedy Network.

External links

• "Death" at South Park Studios
• "Death" at tv.com