South Park: You’re Not Yelping Review

South Park Season 19 Episode 4

Two weeks after reaching peak gentrification, the sun is still sparkling off the fancy new Whole Foods in South Park. SoDoSoPa and CtPaTown are bustling with new restaurants. South Park is growing at the expense of its low-income families, but diversifying in ways we never thought imaginable — there’s finally a hispanic family in town! Walking down the street past Historic “Shi Tpa Town” in the updated, revitalized South Park is just another day in paradise.

So begins the slow unspooling of PC South Park.

Randy and Co. fought hard to display a highly exaggerated sense of social consciousness in “The City Part of Town.” In achieving Whole Foods, South Park became a place where Mr. Gueermo and the Penn State rape joke guy, ghosts of South Park’s un-PC past, can shop alongside a hispanic family relocated from… Boise. The Whole Foods commercial montage that ended the last episode was a perfect segue to “You’re Not Yelping,” an episode that further unpacks the idea that the lunatic behavior in South Park over 19 seasons was a product of its environment.

In many episodes, the group-think in this small mountain town becomes parasitic. How often have we seen them go into a frenzy over some new craze or technology? With Cartman running the town’s dining scene, or so he thinks, Yelp, which for those of you just logging onto the internet for the first time today is a site where you can posts reviews on small businesses, is as good as currency. It almost immediately goes to the extreme. Gerald turns his Applebee’s review into a 50 pager, even if the ‘bees treated him near that of a gladiator most decorated, and Whislin’ Willy, a town mainstay, loses his mind and kicks the Yelpers right out on their asses.

[Related: The Complete Guide to South Park Movie Parodies and References]

The Yelpers, while annoying enough for chefs to want to put boogers and cum in their food, could be key in returning South Park to its proper form as the shitstain redneck town even Jimmy Fallon couldn’t help but throw barbs at. Matt and Trey will have to be careful with how the un-gentrify the town. After three strong episodes, “You’re Not Yelping” gets the lowest ratings from me so far as I’m beginning to think we’re hitting a saturation point with the show getting by on Cartman pointing and laughing at minorities.

Life was too good in South Park two weeks ago. Let’s go back home. But what the hell do I know, I’m just some asshole giving things star ratings on the internet.

You can read all of our South Park season 19 coverage here.