The town of South Park has seen some really dark stuff.
South Park prides itself on being offensive, confronting, and going to dark places. Of course, it does this better than most adult animated shows, as South Park is, first and foremost, a satire of life and popular culture. But even amongst its own content, some episodes stand out in their darker tone above others.
They deal with extreme character choices, take a more serious stance on a specific subject matter, and discuss topics more confronting for a mainstream audience. Of course, it’s mostly all down with the classically cynical sense of humor South Park is known for. But sometimes, even South Park goes to darker places than expected, with some of its most disturbing episodes often being its best or most controversial.
South Park
- Release Date
- August 13, 1997
- Cast
- Trey Parker , Matt Stone , April Stewart , Mona Marshall
- Seasons
- 26
- Studio
- Comedy Central
10 “The Return of Chef”
Season 10, Episode 1 (2006)
After Isaac Hayes left the show, the character of Chef had to be retired, and it’s as tragic a retirement if there ever was one. Chef returns to South Park after spending some time traveling with the Super Adventure Club. The boys find that Chef has changed dramatically, talking weirdly and expressing unsavory desires for them.
They go to the Super Adventure Club, only for them to reveal they’ve brainwashed him to follow their evil practices. When they try to save him, Chef ends up being struck by lightning, set on fire, jagged by rocks, and mauled by mountain lions. It’s a legitimately sad and horrifying end for such a beloved character to go out on, making it an emotional South Park moment no fan will soon forget.
9 “Woodland Critter Christmas”
Season 8, Episode 14 (2004)
Out of all the Christmas specials South Park has produced over the years, this one is easily their darkest and best yet. A few days before Christmas, Stan finds a group of talking woodland critters making a tree. They’re excited because Porcupiney the Porcupine is going to give birth to their savior. But what begins as wholesome fun soon descends into hell – especially since the critters are actually Satan worshippers.
They discover Kyle is the perfect vessel to ingest the Anti-Christ’s spirit and usher in a new era of darkness. Now Stan must stop them with the help of a group of orphaned cubs and a gun-toting Santa Claus. Not a conventional Christmas by any means, and certainly a dark offering from South Park.
8 “Britney’s New Look”
Season 12, Episode 2 (2008)
“Britney’s New Look” is the rare episode revolving around a celebrity that seems to take pity on them rather than mock them. A new piece about Britney Spears appears to be hitting the airwaves of South Park every day, and Stan & Kyle decide to get a photo of her to sell for cash.
But the more time they spend with her, the more they realize she’s desperate to escape the press, which soon escalates to comically unhinged levels. As the episode continues, Britney is pushed to the limit, literally blowing half her head off, and eventually photographed to death by the paparazzi as part of an ancient sacrifice.
7 “Butter’s Very Own Episode”
Season 5, Episode 14 (2001)
Butters’ parents have shown themselves as terrible people before, but “Butters’ Very Own Episode” brought them down to a new low. In what many consider to be the best Butters episode in South Park, after discovering her husband’s seeming infidelity, Butter’s mom tries to drown him inside a car in the river in grief-induced hysteria.
Once she calms down and realizes what she’s done, the two lie to the press and claim their son was abducted. Little do they know that Butters survived and is borderline oblivious to his parents’ terrible behavior. Butters seems to have a knack for falling into traumatizing situations that shatter his innocence.
6 “Kenny Dies”
Season 5, Episode 13 (2001)
Until this point in the series, Kenny would die in almost every episode and return the following week without explanation, making it almost an expected running gag for any fan. But in the episode “Kenny Dies,” he is faced with a terminal illness and is played straight dead, seemingly forever.
The rest of the boys have their distinct reactions – Kyle stays in the hospital to be by Kenny’s side, Stan refuses to see him out of grief, and Cartman decides to profit off it to lift a ban on stem cell research. Thankfully, and after much backlash from viewers, Kenny came back a year later and has remained alive since.
5 “Stanley’s Cup”
Season 10, Episode 14 (2006)
After Stan’s bike is towed away, he’s stuck coaching a hockey team for little kids. One of the kids, Nelson, has a terminal illness, and only a win against the Detroit Red Wings can be enough to save his life. Unfortunately, the team is not precisely well-trained for playing in the big leagues.
Of course, audiences expect sports stories like “Stanley’s Cup” to end with the team winning and the illness being beaten or mitigated. Instead, it ends on a decidedly cruel note that may be uplifting for one team but is utterly devastating for another. It’s another fantastic example of South Park parodying genres in hilarious ways.
4 “Cartman Joins NAMBLA”
Season 4, Episode 5 (2000)
In a characteristic display of narcissism, Cartman decides his regular friends aren’t “adult” enough for him anymore. So he decides to find some adult friends on the internet, only to run afoul of a group called NAMBLA eventually. The group invites the boys to hang out at a hotel, but it’s apparent the members don’t exactly have their best interests at heart.
Meanwhile, Kenny finds out that his mom and dad are trying for another baby, and he tries everything he can to ensure that the baby isn’t conceived. The two plots collide in a cavalcade involving Marlon Brando lookalikes, a Scooby-Doo-esque chase through the hotel, and Kenny’s dad needing a hot bath.
3 “Crack Baby Athletic Association”
Season 15, Episode 5 (2011)
In a typically evil Cartman scheme, he, Butters, Craig, and Clyde have decided to form the Crack Baby Athletic Association. For this new company, they film drug-addicted babies fighting each other and post their videos online. Soon they become ridiculously popular, as they receive offers from EA Sports to make a video game out of them.
While horrified by Cartman’s actions, Kyle directly participates in the schemes, causing conflicting feelings to arise. Unfortunately, the happy ending the boys receive still doesn’t entirely diminish the shock that they’ve used babies’ drug addictions for profit. Audiences who had to sit through that one were also likely left scratching their heads.
2 “HumancentiPad”
Season 15, Episode 1 (2011)
When it comes to traumatizing events faced by the boys, Kyle is only second to Kenny in exposure. But no South Park episode has put Kyle through a worse predicament than in “HumancentiPad,” which references the gross horror movie The Human Centipede. One day, he downloads his latest iTunes update but makes a near-fatal mistake when he does not read the terms and conditions.
Once Steve Jobs and his Apple agents capture him, he is forced into a horrific punishment right out of The Human Centipede, which is jarring to watch in the animated show. In the end, the only happy note the episode ends on is when Cartman is struck by lightning after angering God, which is arguably not as bad as the actual punishment he deserves.
1 “Scott Tenorman Must Die”
Season 5, Episode 4 (2001)
“Scott Tenorman Must Die” marked a turning point in Cartman’s character from a racist bully to a borderline psychotic supervillain disguised as a kid. In this episode, he finds himself a target of pranking and bullying by teenage punk Scott Tenorman. No matter what Cartman tries to do for payback, Scott always seems to be one step ahead.
In perhaps Cartman’s most evil action to date, he decides to take a page out of Titus Andronicus’ book. Cartman has Scott’s parents killed, makes them into chili, and feeds it to a horrified Scott for a final act of revenge. The darkly comedic moment has since earned a reputation for being one of the show’s most controversial and darkest moments.
This article was originally published on collider.com