So 15 years is lots of time. The show that likes to poke fun at everything finally seemed to poke fun at itself in the last episode, to the point where the ending of the episode not only wasn't funny, it was depressing, but not because the episode was bad. Being a South Park fan it pulled at my heart strings a bit. For those of you who didn't watch, the episode titled "you're getting old" basically describes itself.

The episode starts off in normal South Park affair, making fun of dubstep or something. The parents think it literally sounds like shit, much as how the kids think their music sounds like shit. But the episode takes a turn. Stan turns 10 and everything starts to change. He finds everything shitty now and has become very cynical. Everything to him appears as shit except for Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny... until the end. Like everything else, Kyle becomes shit to, and their friendship is over.

Meanwhile Randy is trying once again to be cool and do the in thing. However it doesn't work out for him too well since he was forcing himself to like the dubstep stuff (Known as tweenwave in the episode). Sharon get's mad at him and drags him home where they have a fight. And this is when the episode takes a turn. It breaks the fourth wall. It mentions how every week, the same plot happens, and then every week it resets like nothing happened, only things get just a bit more ridiculous every time. Randy and Sharon realize they're both unhappy. And then the final montage begins.

But unlike previous montages in South Park history, this one was more serious. The song landslide plays in the background. It shows Kyle thinking about patching things up with Stan at Stark's Pond, and then leaving before he says anything. Randy and Sharon divorce. You see their house put up for sale as they pack all their belongings. Randy moves his own way, and Sharon and the kids move another. Stan continues to live a miserable existence because everything he sees is awful, even in a new location. While playing video games together, Kyle looks over at Cartman, and they share a smile as they were enjoying each others company. And at the end, you see Stan lying in his new room, with a blank sad expression on his face. And then the credits roll.

The show talked about itself through it's characters. There's a lot of ways to interpret this, they could be talking about the fan base or themselves. This episode ended with no "To be continued" however due to the nature of the episode I see these changes actually sticking. And if this is the case then I see the last few episodes of this season being very different then the show has ever been.

They possibly wrote Stan and Randy off the show, and Kyle and Cartman actually like each other. No more Randy antics, and Stan feels like everything is shit and is cynical.

I think Matt and Trey are just tired of the show. 15 years is a long time. And this episode would have made a good series ender, but with at least 2 more years under contract, it'll be interesting to see where they bring this show in the future.

I agree mostly with your interpretation there. I felt like they definitly threw a curve ball with the serios tone. But as you said an the episode said, "It all starts again next week like nothing happened." wouldn't surprise me if this was the case and everything simply goes back to normal.

You could take the analogy further and say its a reflection of the creaters own increasing alienation from pop culture as they age and their saying they simply don't know whats funny anymore. Their seeing that they themselves find they can only be disparaging and cynical about anything to find the humour.

I would have found it a very cynical yet poinant ending to the cartoon as it essentially entails them flipping off the audience and saying "You find this shit funny? Retards." But like you say their still contracted for a couple years so the tone set here I would imagine is simply a flash in the pan. It'll be business as usual next week.

Think it's like one review said, They're getting tired of their own sense of humour.


Trey said that he doesn't know how he's gonna get through the season. I think they'll carry on though and this is just a display of exasperation at how hard it is to put out episodes on a weekly basis.