Entertainment Weekly: "This is the best South Park season in over a decade"

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South Park has never had to believe in anything. That’s a good thing, because it doesn’t need to subscribe to any one philosophy. But clearly, the show’s creators believe in something. And there’s an argument that Parker and Stone always trended more conservative than their potty-mouths imply. The Book of Mormon makes wild fun of the Mormon Church, but it ultimately lands on the idea that there really can be a White Savior of African poverty. This is either a joke or just a happy-ending-ish way to end a lighthearted play; surely it means something that the white guys get all the best songs.

But the best thing about South Park season 19 is that the show clearly realizes that the central point of its comedy — our new politically correct culture — is also the central point of the new wave of reactionary animosity. The season’s second episode, “Where My Country Gone?”, is the least essential of this current run, but it served a purpose as a kind of protective shield. Should you ever find yourself accusing South Park of racism or sexism or any other kind of -ism, you will have to also acknowledge that South Park raped and murdered a Donald Trump caricature for laughs.

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Something else changed in the show’s production schedule. “We always used to bank a show,” Parker explained, noting that the staff used to conceive one non-topical episode that could be plugged in anywhere during the season. “Those episodes are notoriously the worst episodes,” he said, specifically referencing “Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Posers,” a low-point season 17 episode. “Last season was when we first said we’re not doing that anymore,” said Parker.

Maybe that’s why, starting with the season 19 premiere, South Park has launched a sustained world-rebuilding narrative arc that doubles as a satire of the new wave of PC outrage. Political correctness isn’t a new target for South Park — you could argue it is the target — but what’s new is how the show keeps rooting its comedy in the larger changes underpinning its little mountain town.

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