South Park has been running for nearly three decades now and, given how Season 27 (which swiftly dovetailed into Season 28) became such a watercooler conversation starter, it’s clear Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s animated comedy classic has lost none of its relevance. But, as solid as they are, do these new episodes really rank among the best? Just about every season of South Park possesses substantial merit, be it its timely takedowns of pop culture figures or its daring replications of real-life public figures. But without a doubt some seasons stand above others. They’re just more consistently hilarious, smart, or a combination of the two.
It’s not an easy task narrowing down 28 seasons to the five best. Admittedly, the latter half of the show’s run hasn’t been as remarkable as the first, but low points for South Park are still excellent television.
Parker and Stone have themselves effectively disowned the first four seasons and, of those four, have been the hardest on Season 2. And to a degree it’s not hard to see why they feel that way. But here’s the thing, those early years hold a very specific late ’90s charm. Furthermore, while the writing isn’t as layered and complex (which seems to be the duo’s chief issue), they make those seasons ideal check your brain at the door entertainment.
Season 2 is the most rewatchable of those first four years, with “Chef’s Chocolate Salty Balls,” “Summer Sucks,” “The Mexican Staring Frog of Southern Sri Lanka,” “Chickenlover,” and “Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods” all holding an imminent rewatchability. And, while most of the episodes scripts are mostly the boys trading barbs with one another or some great threat threatening their hometown, it’s not as if the season didn’t have any episodes that were a bit deeper, e.g. “Clubhouses” and “Gnomes.” But the icing on the season cake is “Spookyfish,” which stands as one of the series very best episodes all these years later.
“Trapped in the Closet” may have cost them Isaac Hayes, but there is no better example of just how much guts Parker and Stone have. Well, going to the Oscars on acid is up there, too. Undoubtedly, “Trapped in the Closet” is one of the show’s best episodes, but Season 9 also excels in having great displays in how Mr. Garrison (Mrs. Garrison at this point) gets hilariously enraged whenever things don’t go her way, e.g. in the hysterical “Follow That Egg!”
But the best part of Season 9 is its narratives that seem to come out of nowhere. Like Season 8, it’s political here and there, but not overwhelmingly so, and there really is no better example of a season with some truly random episodes. At the top of that list is “Free Willzyx,” which just works because, like in the early days, its events kick off by a simple misunderstanding on the four boys’ part. They’re so earnest in their desire to save this whale, which they believe is an alien who wants to go home. Their kidnapping of the animal truly comes from a good place. But the end result is it dead up on the surface of the moon with its tongue hanging out. The credits roll over that image, and it’s so funny that tears (which you feel kind of bad about) are inevitable.
Season 6 deserves respect because it really did try to change things up by getting rid of Kenny. But, as Season 7 proves, it’s just nice to have him back.
The season gets off to a strong start with “Cancelled,” which has the show analyzing how it had come so far. Yet even though it had lasted so long (which is a length that is funny to think of now, considering it’s 22 years later), Parker and Stone were utterly unwilling to deliver anything short of new, even when the episode has a major focus on re-doing the pilot. Just take a look at “South Park Is Gay!,” which ends with the notorious Crab People. Parker and Stone have always been embarrassed by the Crab People, but they just go to show that even when the duo includes what they perceive to be their worst work, it’s still hilarious. That said, “Red Man’s Greed” is a rough episode. Fortunately, it’s surrounded by masterpieces such as “Lil’ Crime Stoppers,” “Christian Rock Hard,” and “Casa Bonita.”
Season 5 really did feel like a step forward for the show. It was more willing to toy with the audience’s emotions (e.g. in “Kenny Dies”) and take bigger risks, e.g. capping off the season with an episode focused entirely on Butters, who at that point was still a relatively fresh character, at least in terms of actually having speaking lines. Then there’s the fact it introduced Towelie and, in his debut episode, cut to a live-action sequence fully acknowledging that many in the audience are going to absolutely hate him while others will absolutely love him, with none in-between. That’s a massive level of prescient self-awareness, because that’s exactly how reaction to the character has always been.
Then there’s “It Hits the Fan,” which had Parker and Stone finally allowed to say “sh*t.” And what did they do? They said it 162 times. But outside the season’s boundary-pushing accomplishments, it also housed what is largely seen as the best episode of the series: “Scott Tenorman Must Die.” If there’s a better-written and more well-paced 22 minutes of comedy television, it’s awfully hard to imagine what that might be.
Season 8 is that perfect middle ground between delivering laughs and political commentary in equal measure. In other words, as was said in Season 10’s “Cartoon Wars Part II,” it had yet to get “preachy and up its own ass with messages.”
There are 14 episodes in this season, and not a dud in the bunch. As far as perfect episodes go there’s “Good Times with Weapons,” which pushed the show’s animation style in a new direction, “The Passion of the Jew,” “Awesom-O,” “The Jeffersons,” “Douche and Turd,” “Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes,” “Stupid Spoiled Wh*re Video Playset,” and “Woodland Critter Christmas.” The latter is the best Christmas episode the show has ever produced. In summary, over half of the season’s episodes couldn’t be any better than they are and it’s all capped off with a masterpiece of a holiday classic.
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