This feels like the South Park I had in High School. Yes, because it's a single self contained episode dealing with one issue in a cartoonish over the top way, but more-so because it feels like it was written in 2010-2014 and shelved for almost a decade. Maybe I'm the one who is out of touch, but Airsoft, to my knowledge, was big about 10 years ago. Has it had a resurgence? I don't know but it still feels like an incredibly dated reference. The episode as a whole, however, isn't just about the weirdness of Airsoft. It's mainly about how annoying Teenagers are. Which, while accurate, also seems strange and almost off putting. And, surprisingly, their portrayal of Teenagers seemed incredibly dated as well, aside from the one relatively recent word "Bruh" being used often.
Just... just a lot of incredibly weird things in this episode that ultimately felt like a bunch of the writers' children are finally Teens and they're using the show to vent their frustration.
On the technical, more nitpicky side, the voice acting seemed off. The main cast were on point, all of them being voiced either by Parker or Stone, but the Teenagers sounded like they were in a can. Almost like they recored the lines in an inferior booth then compressed the files to send them to editing. Almost like the Zuckerberg bit they did but clearly not intentional. That, and other weird details in the animation solidified my feeling that the episode seemed lost in time. Namely Randy's attire returning to his original Blue Shirt w/ Pens in the pocket look. And not his Farmer look he's had for a while.
Before anyone jumps in, yes I know that it's not possible that this episode was written a decade ago. They may not do this anymore but I do know that during that time period and for a long time since they wrote and animated each episode in a weeks time. But I hope I'm not alone in my feeling that this episode feels like it's out of place temporally.
In general, I feel that so much care, focus, and attention was poured into Post Covid 1&2 that the regular season this season has suffered. By no means are these episodes Bad by regular TV standards, but by the standards set by South Park-especially in recent years-they've all been lacking. While I respect a return to form mentality, South Park has always been a show about moving forward and innovating... and farts.
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