The List (South Park)

“The List”
South Park episode
Some of the ugly kids Kyle has to hang out with.
Episode no.	Season 11 Episode 167
Written by	Trey Parker
Directed by	Trey Parker
Production no.	1114
Original airdate	November 14, 2007
Season 11 episodes
South Park - Season 11 March 7, 2007 – November 14, 2007
With Apologies to Jesse Jackson Cartman Sucks Lice Capades The Snuke Fantastic Easter Special D-Yikes! Night of the Living Homeless Le Petit Tourette More Crap Imaginationland Imaginationland Episode II Imaginationland Episode III Guitar Queer-o The List
← Season 10
List of South Park episodes

"The List" is episode 1114 (#167) of Comedy Central's South Park, and was the Season 11 finale. ^[1][2] It originally aired on November 14th, 2007. Season 12 is expected to begin on March 12, 2008.

Plot

The plot summary in this article or section is too long compared to the rest of the article. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot.

Butters tells the boys in a panic that the girls in their class have a list that ranks the boys from cutest to ugliest. The boys become obsessed with finding where each ranks on the list, with the exception of Kyle. Cartman lays out a plan to steal the list, which involves kicking the list-keeper in the balls. The plan fails, of course (because "girls do not have balls"), but the boys don't give up, and Cartman comes up with a new plan, which succeeds in taking the list. The boys post it on the wall of the boys' bathroom. This is the list:

1. Clyde 2. Token 3. Stan 4. Bradley 5. Jason 6. Leroy 7. Kenny 8. Tweek 9. Kevin 10. Jimmy 11. Butters 12. Craig 13. Timmy 14. Francis 15. Cartman 16. Kyle

On Cartman's cruel advice, Kyle begins to hang around the ugly kids in other classes. As Kyle's spirits sink lower and lower, Stan gets increasingly concerned, and finally asks his ex-girlfriend Wendy why Kyle was ranked so low. Wendy personally voted Cartman the ugliest and it doesn't seem right to her either, so she takes Stan to the legislative committee of girls who make all the girls' lists. The committee room is filled with pictures of teen idols who young girls usually like. There is a picture of Corbin Bleu, Zac Efron, Orlando Bloom, Justin Timberlake, and two pictures of Joe Jonas. The girls are reluctant to alter a previous list without cause, but as Wendy investigates further, she discovers that the votes for cutest boy don't add up, and goes to discuss the matter with Rebecca, who counted the ballots. Rebecca warns Wendy to drop the subject, or she might discover a secret she "couldn't handle". Wendy and Stan eventually discover that several of the committee members, including Bebe, were in on a plot: Clyde's father owns a local shoe store, and by fixing the votes on The List to make Clyde popular, the girls could justify dating him and end up getting free shoes. Wendy, horrified that they would abuse their positions, threatens to reveal the truth to the other members. However, the others say they will make a new list for the "biggest liar" and put Wendy at the top of the list. Wendy attacks the person holding the real list by kicking her in the crotch (referring to a joke earlier in the episode) and manages to steal it from them before fleeing with Stan. Meanwhile, Kyle plots to burn down the school, when he is visited by the ghost of Abraham Lincoln, who tries to show him that being ugly is a gift, not a curse. Lincoln takes Kyle to various houses (in a similar manner to the Ghost of Human Kindness in the season 6 episode Child Abduction is Not Funny), including Clyde, who has begun to lounge around, chatting with girls on the phone; Lincoln explains that in the process he is becoming a "douche," while ugly kids like Jamal have to work to achieve things and thus build character later in life. Kyle tells Lincoln that he cannot wait that long to be happy and that he is still miserable. Lincoln responds by calling him "a fucking asshole" and driving away in his late 1980s-model Honda Accord. Kyle then goes to carry out his plan to burn down the school, when Stan and Wendy show up and tell him that The List is fake. Moments later, Bebe intervenes, and holds the three at gun point. She admits that Kyle was a "casualty" of their plan, as moving Clyde necessitated moving many other boys. The police, alerted by Wendy, soon arrive, and Wendy takes the opportunity to attack Bebe. As Wendy wrestles the gun from her hands, a shot goes off, which misses both girls, and instead hits Kenny, halfway across town in his house, where he is eating Pop-Tarts for dinner. The policemen arrest Bebe and take her away. Stan and Wendy offer to show Kyle where he really ranks on the list, but instead he decides to burn it, explaining that he would rather not know and thus not get an inflated ego if he happens to be one of the cutest. Wendy tells Stan that she has enjoyed being around him again, and that she feels he has changed. Stan comments that sometimes things change, and, in a near identical scene to the ending of Cartman Gets an Anal Probe (which marks the beginning of their original relationship) they lean in to kiss, before Stan vomits all over her, an old running joke in the show that ties into his relationship with Wendy.

Kenny's death

Bebe's stray bullet flies through the window of Kenny's kitchen and blows out the back of his head as he sits at dinner, to the great shock of his family, who are eating Pop-Tarts (as referenced by Cartman throughout the episode). This is Kenny's first actual death in the show since "Best Friends Forever", which occurred two seasons prior. It is his 79th death overall.

Goofs

In this episode it is stated that the girls alter the list in order to make Clyde more popular, thus justifying any relationship with him; and allowing them to get free shoes. This implies that none of the girls have previously had a relationship with Clyde, however Bebe is clearly shown dating Clyde in the Season Two episode Clubhouses. This is of course a much earlier series of the show when the characters are younger and in a lower grade in school, so it is only natural to assume that their popularity and the rules of the girls' clique have changed since then.

Deleted scenes

• After Cartman tells Bebe she'll be eating Pop-Tarts if she marries Kenny, Kenny slaps Cartman. Cartman then says, "Oww, Kenny, don't be an asshole." This brief moment was cut from the televised airing.^[3]
• In an extended/alternate ending, after Stan vomits on Wendy, she smiles at him (because Stan still likes her). Kyle declares that no one will ever know who was really on the bottom, and Wendy comments that she looked, and it was Cartman. Afterwards, Cartman is seen sitting miserably with the ugly kids. Butters teases him by saying "Hey, ugly bugly. Did Adolf Zitler launch a Zitzkreig across your face!? Hahahahaha!" then Cartman says "Oh well, that's fine, what really matters is the kind of person I am on the inside!" Realizing what he just said, he bangs his head down on the table and mutters, "Oh God damn it." The ugly kid who asked for Kyle's pickle earlier then steals Cartman's. The entire cutscene is available on the Official South Park Studios website for viewing as well as downloading for free.^[4]

References