framptonhollis

We are all looking for one solid gold answer that will justify the needless suffering, greed, and mass psychosis of This Moment in America. We have atomized ourselves into a billion branches of different hysterical truth seekers with a magnificent network of conspiracies. Only, it gets hard to tell whether that all-powerful conspiratorial cabal has implemented thoughtful symbolism or are just indulging in random chaotic sickness.

For this season's entire run, the difference between a non sequitur and a meaningful plot point has been impossible to determine. The final scenes of this episode seriously examine whether Answers or Screaming Nonsense can be distinguished in our overstimulated, unanswerable void of a contemporary society.

This whole season has been parodying typical notions of TV mystery. Just about every cliffhanger has been a joke (how about that episode 5 ending huh? That got you talking! And for what?), and this one - just when things feel as ominously pivotal as ever - is the biggest, stupidest joke of all. You should be upset but, more than that, you should be laughing your ass off.

This episode is maybe the most unsettling yet, with some moments that are not only unexpected but are psychologically oppressive. Luckily, we can wash all these down with a laugh.

Here's to season 2!

It was worth getting a ticket for turning left on a right only lane on cough syrups after watching this badass movie at the theater. A high voltage action thriller that does not let go. Michael Bay is a douche but he is not a hack, at least not always. This movie is astounding visually, the story could be told entirely without words by Bay and could be just as effective. We learn everything about the characters through their faces, their casting, their introductory shots and glances. That doesn't stop them from shouting witty Michael bay banter that varies in hilarity, but regardless this is an impressive feat of uniquely personable blockbuster movie making and matches a high speed chase that refuses to let up. For two hours the adrenaline keeps pumping, the incessant drone shots keep swooping, and I'm giddy in my seat watching this. Watching Bay go full Bay and milking this movie's budget with badassery and the kind of thrills only imagined by fugitives from the psychiatric ward. Plus it's about how black people are good and American healthcare is bad.

For all its scatological nastiness and misanthropic apathy, South Park can be sincerely sweet when necessary. Butters, as a character, has all kinds of psychological, even physical torture inflicted upon him by Cartman throughout the series, but his contagious optimism and childhood innocence anchor and counterbalance the mean spirited farce. Nowhere is this more apparent than in "Cartman Sucks" which sees the titular troublemaker verging on his pettiest stunt yet, and certainly his gayest one. I expected, based off the title, that this would be a capital-c Cartman-centric episode (like Cartmanland or Scott Tenorman), but what made the biggest impression on me was Butters' b-plot. Matt and Trey are good satirists because they're hilarious in spite of missing the mark like 40-50% of the time, but their parody of gay conversion camps is an unabashed indictment of American evangelism and homophobia (especially inflicted upon impressionable, confused kids). Butters' final speech marks an important step in maturity for the series, its legitimately sweet and precedes a memorably hilarious final moment with Cartman. An all around wonderful piece of TV.