"South Park" Fantastic Easter Special (2007)

User Rating:

8.5/10   

Director:

Trey Parker

Writers:

Trey Parker (creator) &
Matt Stone (creator)

TV Series:

"South Park" (1997)

Original Air Date:

4 April 2007 (Season 11, Episode 5)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy

Plot:

In a parody of "The daVinci Code," Stan discovers the real reason behind Easter, decorating eggs, and the Easter Bunny. |

Plot Keywords:

Easter | Easter Bunny | Rabbit Suit | Secret Society | Vatican

Cast

Anthony Sant'Anselmo

...

Ninja (voice)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Quotes:

[at Stan's room, Randy explains things to his son]
Randy Marsh: I wanted to keep this from you, Stan. I really wanted to wait until you were older, but... you just had to keep asking questions!
Stan: Why were those other rabbit guys chasing me?
Randy Marsh: We have to be careful when we think somebody's onto us.
[turns around to face Stan]
Randy Marsh: We are all part of a secret society, Stan. A very ancient, very important society of men, who follow the Way of the Rabbit, and protect the secret of the Easter Bunny. We are called... The Hare Club For Men.
Stan: [not impressed, but curious] Does Mom know about this?
Randy Marsh: Duh, it's The Hare Club For Men! Chicks wouldn't understand.
Stan: *I* don't understand!
Randy Marsh: I belong to a secret society that has been around for thousands of years! Our identities have to be protected!
[...]

Movie Connections:

References Blade (1998)

Keeps on going and going and going...

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Wow. All I can say is, South Park has amazed me this season. There has only been one weak episode so far, and the other four have been pretty good to really great. This week added another strong entry to the Season 11 repertoire: Fantastic Easter Special.

Suffice to say, South Park has run this long and never done an Easter Special. They send up the Da Vinci Code, as Stan learns his father is part of a secret organization that protects the real story behind Easter. When Bill Donohue messes things up, it's up to Stan to discover the secret and rescue the bunny Snowball.

The last third of the episode is by far the best part of the whole episode. Trapped in a cage together, Jesus (who hasn't made an appearance since the end of season six) and Kyle are trying to get free to prevent disaster. When that proves futile, Jesus decides to have Kyle kill him so he can resurrect where the problem is. This is probably the biggest laugh of the season, as Kyle makes Jesus, "promise not tell Cartman." And then Jesus dies in the most hilarious fashion.

The rest of the episode only directly copies one scene from the Da Vinci Code when it makes a random stop at some British scholar guy's house (we never learn how his name was acquired by Stan and Kyle). He explains how St. Peter was really a rabbit, and how the Catholic church denies this constantly.

So far this season, South Park has offended by using the N-word 42 times, annoyed gays with it's Cartman Sucks episode, and really riled the British with Queen Elizabeth II's suicide at the end of The Snuke. Now the Catholic Church has been hit again, and they probably won't let Parker and Stone off easy (remember the Bloody Mary episode?).

One thing I admire about South Park is it continues to make headlines with it's various episodes, from the Jesse Jackson episode to the Queen Elizabeth episode. Catholics shouldn't really be offended, since this is a send-up of a book that initially offended the Catholics. The only bad Catholics in the episode are Donohue and his team of ninjas.

Episode 6 and 7 is where the season usually starts to lose it's steam. By this time Parker and Stone have been working full throttle on each episode, procrastinating as long as they dare. I appreciate they're ability to throw together a good episode, but sometimes I feel the final episodes would be better if the team hadn't run out of steam on the last episode. Our last season half finales were Stanley's Cup (mediocre), Tsst (okay, but not a good finisher), Bloody Mary (only remembered because of the controversy) and Erection day (worst of the above mentioned). Woodland Critter Christmas and Goobacks were two great season half finishers for the 8th year. Hopefully Parker and Stone have saved up some really good stuff for us. We can only hope.