The Spirit of Christmas
The gist of it- Jesus fights Santa over who truly owns Christmas.
Personal Thoughts- The one that started it all. Not considered an actual episode, but I couldn’t do this list without including this five minute short. What was essentially a Christmas card from two Colorado goofballs, became legendary in Hollywood circles and kicked open the door for their own series. The animation is rough and the voices are shaky, but you could see the potential for comedic greatness the show has received since.
Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo-
The gist of it- Kyle, chastised for being a Jew, befriends a living, singing piece of shit. Everyone thinks Kyle’s insane for talking to Mr. Hankey (Probably because Mr. Hankey has a Michigan J. Frog like tendency to be inanimate when anyone else looks at him.) which gets him committed. Meanwhile, Kyle’s Mom tries to make the annual Christmas show P.C. and hires Phillip Glass(“Just an evening?”) to do the music for it, which ruins it. Luckily, Mr. Hankey comes through in the end and teaches everyone what Christmas is all about.
Personal Thoughts- I remember seeing this in ninth grade and busting a gut over the live-action ad with the baby who eats feces. That’s humor gold! As is the “Kyle’s Moms a Bitch” song, Jesus singing happy birthday to himself, and seeing Kenny live through the episode after surviving several precarious situations.
Merry Christmas Charlie Manson
Cartman has a family reunion and Charles Manson breaks out of prison.
Personal thoughts- I vaguely remember this one, outside of Cartman’s extended family. You knew they had to show them eventually, and their portrayal lived up to my expectations
Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics-
The gist of it- Ten musical numbers that act out songs from the album.
Personal Thoughts- This was during my several years ban of South Park that started after the second season. I’ve since wised up and have tried to catch every episode since then, but haven’t seen this one replayed, probably because it was basically a twenty-minute commercial (or at least that’s what I gathered from the synopsis I read).
A Very Crappy Christmas
The gist of it- The boys meet Mr. Hankey’s family.
Personal Thoughts- The “Circle of Life” parody is one of my favorite South Park moments. The Hankey family (Cornwallace!!) was priceless. Watching the boys make their own cartoon (And all the inside jokes that go a long withb it) is a highlight of the series.
Red Sleigh down
The gist of it- Santa tries delivering toys into Baghdad but gets kidnapped and the boys have to rescue him/
Personal Thoughts- A disappointing episode. I watched this with a friend who was cracking up the whole time and I just didn’t get it. The joke got old really fast, and the show didn’t have the lasting power this years episode will.
It’s Christmas in Canada- The boys go to Canada to rescue Kyle’s brother Ike.
The gist of it-The boys go to Canada to save Terrence and Phillip.
Personal Thoughts- This is the episode that was nominated at the Emmy’s earlier this year, and I’m glad it lost. I’m one of the majority who hate Terrence and Phillip (The reason I began my boycott), and hated this episode. The Canadian stuff isn’t funny to me. It’s irritating and unfunny. I was able to endure it during the movie because there was a lot of funny stuff crammed into that film to compensate, but this episode didn’t have that to balance it. I did like how they put Saddam in at the end (he was captured a few days prior to the episode airing). The moment he was seized, I was waiting to see what Trey and Matt with do with it, and they did not dissapoint.
This is the last episode of season eight. We won’t see another one till March. Till then you can catch my Simpson reviews on Monday Mornings and my weekly column “My T.V. Reality” on Tuesdays.
