15 'South Park' Episodes That Are Perfect From Start to Finish

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South Park

South Park has been one of the most widely influential television shows of the last two decades, and has surprisingly been able to maintain a consistent level of quality as it delves into new material. South Park may have initially made a lot of noise because of its controversial content, but it eventually developed into a surprisingly thoughtful analysis of politics, world events, the entertainment industry, and small-town values.

While even some of the greatest comedy shows of all time have a few missed opportunities, the best episodes of South Park are as good as television can get. While most fans would argue that the show’s best episodes are in its earlier days, several new installments from the show’s more recent seasons have also managed to win over new fans. Here are ten South Park episodes that are pretty much perfect.

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Release Date August 13, 1997

Seasons 26

Studio

Network Comedy Central

15 "The Death of Eric Cartman"

Season 9, Episode 6 (2005)

Eric Cartman peels the skin of KFC's fried chicken and eats it, leaving the chicken meat behind.

“The Death of Eric Cartman” is one of the most complex episodes about Cartman, as it explores how genuinely challenging it is to punish someone who shows no signs of wanting to redeem himself. After the other boys stage a dark version of It’s A Wonderful Life in which they pretend that their most obnoxious friend does not exist, Cartman decides to enlist Butters in a mission to discover the truth.

“The Death of Eric Cartman” shows the extremes that Cartman is willing to go to in order to get attention, even though genuinely being a better person would have solved these issues; he even goes so far as to manipulate Butters. Arguably, the team-up between Cartman and Butters is one of the episode’s best elements, as it feels like a throwback to classic action movies like Lethal Weapon and 48 Hrs.

14 "The Losing Edge"

Season 9, Episode 5 (2005)

The boys prepare to play baseball in 'The Losing Edge' (South Park)

“The Losing Edge” is a hilarious satire of inspirational sports movies like The Sandlot and The Bad News Bears, as it shows how challenging it is for the kids of South Park who hate nothing more than playing baseball. Stan, Kyle, Kenny, Cartman, and Butters all play baseball because they feel obligated to by their parents; as the season proceeds, they decide to sabotage their own success in an attempt to end the season early.

“The Losing Edge” is a great way of showing the generational divide within South Park, as it is evident that the value that the parents placed upon baseball and athletics is not shared by their children. South Park is always great when it gets to make fun of cliches that were popular in other genres, and the show’s anarchic lampooning of family-friendly baseball stories produces some truly shocking moments of humor.

13 "The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs"

Season 14, Episode 2 (2010)

South Park is packed with relatively interesting notions of social satire, which are often made more compelling thanks to the use of gross-out humor. “The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs” is a surprisingly scathing takedown of literary criticism; after the boys grow frustrated with having to read The Catcher in the Rye at school, they decide to write a vulgar book of their own to prove that there isn’t really anything worth praising in J.D. Salinger’s work. However, the plan backfires when their book receives immense praise, and Butters is subsequently hailed as a literary genius.

“The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs” underlies a problematic aspect of all forms of criticism, in which value is ascribed to something that wasn’t intended to be a standout. Although it’s a surprisingly salient point that has grown even more relevant in recent years, the episode includes enough vomit-related jokes to keep regular South Park viewers entertained.

12 "Simpsons Already Did It"

Season 6, Episode 7 (2006)

South Park characters drawn like Simpsons characters looking at a fish tank in Simpsons Already Did It

Although the series has shown disdain towards many of their rival adult animated shows (particularly Family Guy), South Park does seem to have a lot of respect for The Simpsons, as it was such a groundbreaking series that clearly ranks among the best ever made. The issue is that since The Simpsons has been so consistently great for several decades, it can be hard for shows like South Park to do something significantly different that does not feel like a complete retread.

“Simpsons Already Did It” examines the pressures put on South Park writers, and explores what it is like to be innovative within the realm of animated comedy in the post-Simpsons world. While South Park is usually quite scathing when it makes references to other programs, it does appear that Parker and Stone seem to have some genuine respect for The Simpsons.

11 "Dead Kids"

Season 22, Episode 1 (2018)

Cartman hiding with Butters in 'South Park'

“Dead Kids” is easily one of the darkest and most controversial South Park episodes, as it deals directly with the crisis of school shootings that have become even more common in the United States. The bleak portrayal of the future that South Park imagines is one where having to dodge gun violence is just a reality that Cartman, Kenny, Kyle, and Stan have to deal with; the issue becomes so extreme that Randy has to calm down his wife and ensure her that nothing that is happening is a big deal.

“Dead Kids” calls attention to the overabundance of violence on television, and how it has desensitized viewers to actually caring about the safety of children. While many fans would agree that South Park has not been as strong in its recent few seasons, “Dead Kids” proved that the series still had the ability to shock.

10 "Scott Tenorman Must Die"

Season 5, Episode 5 (2001)

A shocked Scott Tenorman pulls his mother's finger from the chili Cartman has served him.

While it has always been a fairly dark series, “Scott Tenorman Must Die” is arguably the most disturbing episode in the history of South Park, as it details a particularly cruel plot of revenge that Cartman enacts to get revenge on a school bully. What is most ironic is that even though Cartman is genuinely one of the most selfish and rude characters on the show, viewers may have some sympathy early on when he is relentlessly bullied and humiliated by the older student Scott.

“Scott Tenorman Must Die” showed just how dangerous Cartman could be when determined to take someone down, and proved that the show was not afraid to paint its characters in an unsympathetic light. It wouldn’t be a classic South Park episode if there weren’t more than a few moments that made viewers uncomfortable at what they were supposed to be laughing at.

9 "Casa Bonita"

Season 7, Episode 11 (2003)

Eric Cartman being served food at Casa Bonita in South Park

“Casa Bonita” is another great episode that shows just how selfish Cartman can be, as it examines his continued attempts to get invited to a fancy Mexican restaurant that he has determined is the best in the world. It’s particularly amusing to see any instance in which Cartman is forced to act kind-hearted in order to get something he wants, as it goes against all of his basic instincts as a character.

“Casa Bonita” may have the best quotes out of any South Park episode, as the various insults that Cartman spouts out when he gets mad are among the show’s best. It’s arguably the episode that best identifies why Cartman is such an unusual protagonist, but Stan and Kyle do get some funny moments as well as the voices of reason who try to rationalize what makes Casa Bonita so special.

8 "Woodland Critter Christmas"

Season 8, Episode 14 (2004)

Stan with the Woodland Critters in South Park

Considering that the show began as a series of holiday specials that were created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, it makes sense that some of the best South Park episodes were the Christmas-themed installments. “Woodland Critter Christmas” takes a dark turn on a typical holiday animated special when Stan ventures off into the woods to discover a group of magical talking animals; the twist is that they are actually involved in a ruthless evil ceremony.

South Park is often at its best when it is able to marry the absurd with the disturbing, and it's frankly rather shocking that “Woodland Critter Christmas” was able to get away with as much graphic content as it did. South Park has never been a show for the faint of heart, but the graphic animal murders committed in “Woodland Critter Christmas” may be enough to get even the most strongly stomached viewers to turn away for a few moments.

7 "Trapped in the Closet"

Season 9, Episode 12 (2005)

South Park always outdoes itself when it has the opportunity to make fun of celebrities, but few impressions incited quite as much controversy as the depiction of Tom Cruise in “Trapped in the Closet.” The episode takes Cruise to task for his involvement in the church of Scientology, and then goes on to imply that he is a closeted homosexual who is hiding his sexuality from his fans.

“Trapped In the Closet” was particularly effective as a piece of satire because South Park was not punching down; Cruise was arguably the biggest star in the world, and it's possible that the episode significantly hurt his standing as a popular culture icon. The fact that the episode became the subject of such considerable backlash from Cruise himself only makes what Parker and Stone managed to pull off seem even more impressive.

6 "Cartoon Wars"

Season 10, Episodes 3-4 (2006)

The two “Cartoon Wars” episodes of South Park are among the few episodes that aren’t available on streaming (you can still track them down for purchase though), as networks like Max and Paramount Plus found them to be way too dark, even by the show’s standards. In a particularly ruthless jab at the rival adult animated show Family Guy, the “Cartoon Wars” episodes explore the controversy surrounding a supposed episode of Seth MacFarlane’s animated sitcom that makes jokes at the expense of Muslims.

Although much of the episodes bring up classic South Park themes about censorship, the most hilarious moment in “Cartoon Wars” involves showing the writing process of an episode of Family Guy, which involves merging random cutaway gags with niche celebrity references. Although a majority of fans haven’t seen these episodes because of their inaccessibility, “Cartoon Wars” is so nasty that it would be almost impossible to view Family Guy the same way again.

5 "Make Love, Not Warcraft"

Season 10, Episode 8 (2006)

The boys play in front of computers in Make Love Not Warcraft (2006)

South Park has often explored the world of video gaming, but “Make Love, Not Warcraft” served as the show’s best depiction of the obsessive communities that emerge on massive multiplayer online games. After a rival player keeps killing them, Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny team up to dedicate their lives to perfecting their World of Warcraft characters, and become increasingly lazy and unhealthy as a result.

The incorporation of realistic World of Warcraft footage within “Make Love, Not Warcraft” was particularly effective, as the show had a strong sense of how the actual game mechanics work. The sight of the four boys transformed into obsessive slobs who can barely move away from their screens because they are so enticed by the game is one of the single greatest (albeit most disturbing) sight gags that South Park has ever managed to pull off.

4 "Imaginationland"

Season 11, Episodes 10-12 (2007)

Cartman breaks through a glass window, angrily pointing at someone as he stands in a high-level military facility.

South Park has pulled off a number of brilliant multi-part storylines, but none have been quite as successful as the trilogy of “Imaginationland” episodes that aired as part of the eleventh season. The episodes broke from the traditional mythology of the series to take place in a fantastical dream vision in which the boys have to prevent their protective imaginations from being taken over by evil forces.

“Imaginationland” contains no shortage of popular culture references to Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and various superheroes, but also gets to be rather surrealist and weird at times. The trilogy was so successful that Comedy Central briefly released the episodes as a combined direct-to-DVD movie that served as the closest thing fans may ever get to a sequel to the 1999 theatrical release of South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut.

3 "Fishsticks"

Season 13, Episode 5 (2009)

Kanye West stands on a peer ready to embrace that he is a gay fish in the 'South Park' episode "Fishsticks" (2009)

Many fans may have forgotten that Bill Hader helped write a season of South Park that included one of the show’s most insightful examinations of the way comedy clips can go viral. The episode follows Jimmy and Cartman as they get into a feud over the ownership of a joke, and how it eventually involves Kanye West when he takes offense to its implications.

“Fishsticks” combines a genuinely compelling satire about the ease at which creative ingenuity can be subverted with some really funny insults, showing that South Park is often much more level-headed than it is often given credit for. The episode also ends with a terrific original song of the same name that certainly ranks among the greatest musical moments in the history of South Park, which is no small statement considering that Parker and Stone are also Tony award-winning musicians.

2 "You’re Getting Old"

Season 15, Episode 7 (2011)

Stan grapples with identity in a Season 15 episode of South Park, "You're Getting Old."

“You’re Getting Old” broke with the traditional standards of a South Park episode by telling a more serious story about how Stan is forced to cope with growing older, which starts a feud amongst his friends. After his birthday comes along, Stan begins to feel very depressed about the state of the world, as everything literally “turns to shit” in his eyes.

“You’re Getting Old” was praised for its surprisingly tender depiction of mental health trauma, as it personified the feelings that many viewers may have had in a way that felt very authentic. Seeing a character who had earned as passionate of a fanbase as Stan face his fears directly in the eye was surprisingly moving, but “You’re Getting Old” still featured the same amount of shocking gross out humor that fans of the show would have come to expect.

1 "Member Berries"

Season 20, Episode 1 (2016)

“Member Berries” has become such a popular episode of South Park that it has crossed over into the larger popular culture landscape of film criticism, as the term is often used when referring to the use of nostalgia in franchise legacy sequels. The episode explores the concept of how the use of nostalgia, while refreshing in the moment, can be an addictive means of generating enthusiasm for something that is no longer relevant.

“Member Berries” also helped to continue the season-long storyline that revolved around the Presidential election, in which Mr. Garrison became a right-wing extremist candidate that was directly inspired by Donald Trump. Since the show was airing throughout the election cycle itself, Parker and Stone were able to continuously show Garrison’s surprising rise to success, leading up to the moment in which Trump was elected in November.

NEXT: The Best 'South Park' Episodes of All Time, Ranked According to IMDb

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