Review of South Park TV Episode Whale Whores
Cartman and Stan Make Fun of Reality TV in Season 13 Episode 11
© John Wu
Nov 3, 2009
This episode easily supplanted "Margaritaville" as the best episode of South Park in season 13, which itself was an excellent mocking of the financial crisis and bailouts that began in the United States. South Park Season 13 has had its share of mediocre episodes, and it always felt like the good episodes didn't make up for the bad ones, until now. This one is a timeless classic that will always be in a future Best of South Park marathon. This episode deserves to stand with another excellent South Park episode, "Make Love, Not Warcraft."
One of the Best South Park Episodes
What made this episode so great? First, Cartman's Rock Band rendition of Lady Gaga's "Pokerf Face" was incredibly entertaining. Between the adlib lyrics making fun of environmentalists, Cartman's heavily exaggerated "Puh-Puh-Puh-Poker Face," and Cartman's off-key singing, the song has become a rendition that many people prefer over the Lady Gaga's original song. There are remixes and full length videos of Cartman's version all over the Internet. Expect South Park ringtones in the near future with this song.
Second, this was a well done satire that attacked reality TV with several memorable quotes by Cartman.
South Park Versus Reality TV
Although South Park made fun of reality TV in general on this episode including "Deadliest Catch," the bulk of the episode's criticism involved Animal Planet's "Whale Wars."
The Animal Planet reality TV show has been harshly criticized because of the behavior of captain Paul Watson and his crew. At the end of season 1, Watson was filmed saying that he was shot even though the Japanese boat was only throwing flashbang devices. After a review of the incident, it was found that there was no evidence of Watson being shot, and that the whole incident was made up. The questionable tactics of the crew throwing stink bombs and being detained on purpose by the Japanese are further criticisms that the show is of low quality.
In the South Park episode, Stan becomes a part of Paul Watson's crew, who have no effective means of stopping the Japanese ship. After Watson is impaled by the Japanese, Stan takes over as captain and sinks the Japanese ship by shooting a flare gun into the ship's fuel depot. A subsequent interview with Stan on "Larry King Live" has Larry King saying that Watson was "an unorganized incompetent media whore who thought lying to everyone was okay as long as it served his cause."
The news headlines shown while Cartman sings "Pokerface" continue the tirade against Watson.
Memorable South Park Quotes
There are many great South Park quotes in this episode The best one is Cartman's rendition of the "Pokerface" song. But there are other great quotes from Cartman as well.
Here are the best quotes from Cartman in this episode:
- "I'm in a Japanese prison lawwwd, Don't belong here, my eyes are round."
- "Stan, me and Kenny don't give two s---- about stupid ass whales."
- "We're talking about Wales, the country."
- "I don't give a crap about whales so go and hug a tree." (while singing "Poker Face")
And here are the news headlines making fun of Paul Watson after Stan takes over as captain:
- "Whale Wars Gets Better - Things Actually Happen Now!"
- "New Captain Not a Fat Liar Like the Old One"
- "New Cast Member - Turns Vegan Pussies Into Actual Pirates"
Not everything in this South Park TV episode was perfect. For example, the Enola Gay photo felt like a plot device and was not funny. Nevertheless, this is a South Park episode for the ages.
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