South Park, Season 16, Episode 13: A Scause for Applause Review

South Park again took a stand against cheaters in episode 13 titled: “A Scause for Applause.”

Matt and Trey take this episode and absolutely go off on the doping scandals and charity causes (or “Scauses”). They open the episode with the anger and sadness of a prominent figure letting the public down. Turns out everyone is cutting their “What Would Jesus Do?” bracelets off because scientists discovered that Jesus performed his miracles while on Human Growth Hormone or HGH. 

They indirectly go after Lance Armstrong’s rise to fame after beating cancer and winning the Tour De France seemingly every year by saying that Jesus rose with drugs and called it a “miracle.” Stan doesn’t want to take off his bracelet and becomes an icon for it, prompting his own bracelet to take South Park by storm. These miracles and good deeds have a monetary value that can be exploited through creating a product for a cause and that’s just what Matt and Trey go after in the second half of the episode. 

Although here at Den of Geek we fully support the Livestrong Foundation and their fight against cancer, I thought the episode hit its stride when the Dr. Seuss character that peddled “Scauses” bracelets or “Selling a Cause” bracelets was introduced. After Stan is ousted for cutting off his bracelet when he said he didn’t, he denies all wrong doing, claiming the greater good is what everyone should focus on.  This is clearly a swipe at Armstrong’s personal stance with regard to doping allegations. 

Interestingly enough, this episode does not end with Stan “coming clean.”  Instead, Stan holds his ground and continues to deny that he cut off his bracelet, despite all the evidence to the contrary . . .

The Good:

Jesus returns! They use God’s son to make a point about doping

The Dr. Seuss sequences and rhymes 

The Bad:

The resolution at the end with Jesus was a little flat, but otherwise a strong episode.

Quotes of the Episode: 

“You’re going to have to put an asterisk next to Jesus every time his name comes up.” – Butters 

“Jesus Asterisk Christ.” – Cartman

“You need to Bill Clinton this.” – Kyle 

Predictions for Next Week: 

Cue the sadness. It’s the Season 16 finale. 

Last week I predicted a Lance Armstrong episode. Boom. I’m 1 for 1. As for next week, with the east coast hurricane causing a stir, a perfect storm episode might be fitting. Since Colorado is in the west and South Park is unaffected by Sandy’s wrath, and they already did a similar episode, I’m predicting another Election Day episode, similar to four years ago when Obama was elected (“Boom Baby!”). You can always count on Matt and Trey to find some humor in what could be a tight race to the White House.