‘South Park’ Breakdown: ‘Informative Murder Porn’

South Park Informative Torture Porn

(SPOILERS AHEAD, so proceed with caution, South Park fans!)

Season 17, Episode Two: “Informative Murder Porn”

Written and Directed by: Trey Parker

As smart as South Park can often be, no other TV comedy is quite as good at stupid. The best moment in “Informative Murder Porn” wasn’t its fake catharsis, Stan philosophizing about the evils of televised “murder porn” (found on the ID Network) to a gang of snobby cable company employees; it was the unexpected moment that followed — when those three employees engaged in a surreal triple-nipple rub, gaining sexual pleasure from the annoyance of their customers.

Where stupid is concerned, “Informative Murder Porn” was South Park at its excessive best. But, like the season’s lackluster, NSA-spoofing premiere episode, it was a bit inconsistent in the smart department.

Quick Breakdown

Trey Parker and company love lampooning the absurdity of modern television (their recent spoof of Ancient Aliens was quite hilarious), and this episode’s “murder porn” conceit was brilliant, twisting an old convention (TV’s sex and violence are negative influences on children) on its head, with the town adults using shows like Southern Fried Homicide as a disturbing aphrodisiac. But the episode was muddled by an awkward Minecraft B-story, as Randy and Sharon (along with the rest of the town adults) scramble obsessively to unblock the computer game-related password. It’s as if Parker thought of three promising individual ideas (the absurdity of “Murder Porn,” the idiocy of cable networks/companies, and the strange magnetism of Minecraft) but couldn’t think of an ideal way to connect the dots.

The episode kicks off with a classmate presenting his book report on murder porn, which is designed to “make spousal murder more titillating.” “How long before one of our daddies dresses up in lingerie and bashes Bobby’s head in with a brick?” he asks, with Cartman applauding triumphantly.

Stan returns home, where his parents are using the ID network as kinky foreplay. “This is news,” Randy says. “This is informative. Parents like informative stuff.”

(It’s an interesting observation in itself: Many TV watchers — myself included — refer to these shows as “guilty pleasures,” assuring ourselves we watch it partly for the intrigue of the story. But it’s hard to shake Parker’s notion that, yes, at the end of the day, it’s pretty vile shit.)

Turns out “murder porn” isn’t just used as a bizarre sexual fetish in South Park. A local man murders his wife after watching one of these shows, though he tries to maintain his innocence (“He‘s the one who stabbed that nagging bitch in her fat face!) And so, in classic South Park tradition, the roles are reversed: The adults are the idiots being negatively influenced by inappropriate messages on TV, and the kids are left to clean up the mess, heading down to the local cable company in an attempt to get these inappropriate channels (including “the Oprah network”) blocked from TV.

As the adults frantically try to master Minecraft (and unblock the “murder porn” with the unknowable cable password), they become obsessed to the point of delirium, living out their twisted fantasies in the virtual world rather than in real life. The episode’s second act is a bit scattered, but it’s redeemed with the climactic scene: In a call-back to the first sex scene, Randy decides he and Sharon need to “focus on us,” so they transfer their sexual blood-lust into the game, with Sharon stabbing Randy in the head with a pick-axe as they moan passionately. “We don’t need informative murder porn to find passion in our marriage,” Randy notes.

Rating

B

Whether you’re binge-watching murder porn or getting your jollies from torturing cable subscribers, there’s a danger in fetishizing power. Parker and company crafted some biting commentary (and churned up quite a few belly laughs) last night. Too cluttered and inconsistent to be a classic — but it’s a firm step in the right direction.

Now for some random thoughts and my favorite moments of the night…

“I was just playing Mi — my — my banjo.” — Randy

“trying to harvest sugar cane with a hammer”

“The customer is always our bitch.” — Cable company executive

“Ouchy, ouchy. Mommy rape my no-no.” “If I’ve been caught lying about something, that’s exactly what I would have said.” — Cartman

“Maybe you should go live with Jaden Smith, dad!” — Stan

“How about the hours of 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. all of November?” — Cable guy scheduling an appointment time, while rubbing his nipples

Hot Load Case Files” — sounds like an ID smash

Randy strategically blocking Little Randy with the remote control

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