With no end in sight of the Coronavirus and 2020 being one of the most interesting years in history, Trey Parker and Matt Stone have made an hour-long special of the very clever show South Park. This particular episode was one of the most brilliant South Park episodes talking about world events. It was able to summarize the year very nicely. Parker and Stone were able to use humor in a way to bring some light-heartedness to a crazy year like this one. South Park has always been one of the best shows when coming to social commentary, but this episode shines through the other ones because of its accuracy as to what happened during 2020.

   The episode is about what the characters in South Park would do in the pandemic. The special includes almost everything that has happened this year including the virus, controversial events here in the United States, and events even in other parts of the world.

   It features the kids of South Park going about their lives in school. It shows the kids in their remote learning “Google Meet” type classes, the school reopening, as well as the advantages and the disadvantages of doing so, social distancing, and even a breakout of Coronavirus in the school. 

   The Pandemic Special tackles more controversial topics such as police brutality. In the episode, none of the teachers want to come back to the school because of the virus and they have cops become the teachers. The character Token, who is African American, was shot by the police in class due to “the virus” when in reality he was doing what he was supposed to. The police tell all of the parents that this is the reason. All of the kids have to quarantine in the school for two weeks. The creators and writers of the show handled something that has really made us angry and sad as a society very well. Especially since this show is a comedy show, they did not seem like they were being disrespectful of the families of people who were attacked by the police.

   The special pokes fun at people who refuse to wear masks and do not take the virus seriously. They make fun of the people who wear their masks just over their mouth or people who just wear it on their chin, calling the mask a “chin diaper.” The characters completely overreact when Dr. Fauci (inside of South Park) makes mask mandates. They react very similarly to how people in real life were told to wear masks.    

   The Pandemic Special also shows how many of us have gotten stir crazy. While the kids of South Park are quarantining at the school, a character named Butters goes crazy because he wants to build a bear at Build-A-Bear. In a new way, they show how people want to go back to their lives.

   The special truly encapsulated what has gone down in 2020 which is why the South Park Pandemic Special is most definitely the best Coronavirus-centric episode of television that will be broadcasted. They cover controversial issues that are hard to talk about with humor, and the story of the special is very relatable.

   The South Park Pandemic Special is available to stream on southpark.cc.com for free.