The Jeffersons

"The Jeffersons" is episode 117 of South Park, first showing on April 21, 2004.

Synopsis
Michael Jackson, under the assumed name of 'Michael Jefferson', moves to South Park where he gets a little too close to the boys.

Plot
Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny are riding their Big Wheel's when they noticed that someone new has moved into South Park. When they stop to inspect the house a little boy named Blanket comes outside to say hello, and tells them they moved to South Park to escape city life. He invites them inside but they decline, but rethink the offer when Blanket tells them they have Arcade Games inside. They then realize the House is filled with toys and games, and the backyard is a circus. Michael Jackson (calling himself Michael Jefferson and wearing a fake mustache) then shows up and greets the boys to his home. He invites them to play with him and climb 'his wishing tree' and bursts out into song. Blanket can't climb up though, and Kyle tries to tell Mr. Jefferson who ignores him. Later that day the four boys go to Stark's Pond where they tell all the kids of Mr. Jefferson and his cool house, and that he has invited everyone over to play.

Kyle begins to notice Mr. Jefferson is neglecting his own son and paying more attention to the other children. Blanket scrapes his knee, and Kyle has to clean it up on his own. Blanket then reveals he is a test tube baby and doesn't have a mom while Kyle is tending to his wound. He starts to feel bad for Mr. Jefferson's son and brings it up with his friends, to which Cartman claims Mr. Jefferson is the best thing ever to happen to South Park and if he screws it up he will 'rip his balls off with his bare hands'. Stan tells his parents about the Jefferson's and Sharon Marsh decides to invite them over to the Dinner party they are having with Gerald and Sheila Broflovski and Stephen and Linda Stotch. The adults try to talk with Mr. Jefferson later that night at the dinner but he is more shy around adults then children, and manages to creep out the other parents when he praises the kids. Cartman is jealous that they are having Mr. Jefferson over without him and shows up to see what they were doing only to have the door slammed in his face by Stan.

At the Park County Police Station Harrison Yates gets a new report of the Jefferson's that says they are wealthy and black, so the whole department sets off to frame him for a crime. At Stan's house, he is woken by a knock on the window which turns out to be Mr. Jefferson dressed up as Peter Pan who wants to play. Cartman then comes through the window after Mr. Jefferson not wanting Stan to have Mr. Jefferson all to himself. Kyle then shows up at the door with Blanket who he found alone in his backyard. Mr. Jefferson wont take him home though because they think there is a ghost in their house, so all of them sleep over at Stan's house in the same bed, including Mr. Jefferson. That next morning Stan's parents walk in to see Mr. Jefferson and tell him to leave, and he does with Blanket before paying Randy and Sharon Marsh $100 dollars each to be quiet. It works on Randy but Sharon forbids the boys to see Mr. Jefferson anymore, none who have a problem with it except Cartman who tells Sharon, "Excuse my French Mrs. Marsh but you can just suck my fat hairy balls."

The Police had spent all last night planting drugs and blood in Mr. Jefferson's home and staked out, waiting for him to come home. When Mr. Jefferson returns with Blanket though from Stan's house they see he really isn't black and they abort the operation, sick with themselves that they had almost put an innocent man who wasn't black in jail. Mr. Jefferson refuses to let Blanket outside anymore because he thinks everyone is against them, and Blanket watches sadly as Stan, Kyle and Kenny pass by. He says hello to them from his window and they invite him to go chop wood with them, but Mr. Jefferson interrupts them and begins to dangle Blanket outside the window playing. Stan, Kyle and Kenny scream at him to put him down and Mr. Jefferson does so before shutting the windows. Mr. Jefferson then calms Blanket down by pretending to take his nose, only to have the game turn on him when Blanket really takes the nose off of his dad and panics.

Harrison Yates returns home planning on quitting the force, but his wife talks sense into him telling him 'framing wealthy black people is in his blood', and encouraging him to stay on the force. Harrison agrees and decides to check into the Mr. Jefferson case to see what went wrong. Mr. Jefferson mean while is desperately trying to stop his face from falling apart from year of plastic surgery, and calls his Plastic Surgeon in California to see if he can fly out and put his face back together that it falling apart.

Kyle, Stan and an unhooded Kenny sneak into Mr. Jefferson's home while he is on the phone in hopes that they could rescue Blanket. They replace Blanket with Kenny in his bed to cause a distraction. Harrison Yates at that time is calling the Santa Barbara Police Department, the place Mr. Jefferson moved from, and they tell him they framed a rich Black man of Molestation who didn't look black at all, and he ran away before the trial.

Stan and Kyle try and smuggle Blanket out of the house but are confronted by a horribly disfigured Mr. Jefferson who wants them to play. They run away to Blanket's room and Mr. Jefferson sees Kenny dressed up like Blanket, and begins to toss him in the air playfully but throws him to high and he is killed when his head goes through the ceiling. Mr. Jefferson chases the other three outside where the Police Department is waiting to arrest him for the Molestation charges put on him by the Santa Barbara Police force and a crowd gathers around. Cartman then jumps to the defense of Mr. Jefferson saying he is tired of all the 'lies' being spread about Mr. Jefferson, and that he may be different but it was only because he had to work all the time when he was young, and never had a Childhood of his own, which was why he associated more with children. Kyle then counters saying if that was all true, that the police really do spend all their time framing people (the police look at each other nervously at this point) then fine, he understands that it's sad that Mr Jefferson never had a childhood but he has to grow up because he had a child of his own now. Mr. Jefferson then sees what he should do and decides to be more of a father to Blanket and give away their wealth to the needy, no longer leaving a reason for the Police to arrest him since he was no longer rich.

Kenny's Death

 * While posing as Blanket, Kenny is killed when Michael Jackson begins to toss him in the air playfully, mistaking him for his son. Jackson throws Kenny too high, however, and he is killed when his head crashes through the ceiling, causing Stan and Kyle to cry out their catch-phrase for Kenny's death. This is the second episode in which Kenny dies unhooded, the first being "Super Best Friends" and third being "Pee".

Quotes
Cartman: Mr Jefferson, I wish I could be around you all the time, you're awesome Jefferson: I think you're awesome4 too, Cartman Cartman: Yeah? Jefferson: Yeah Cartman: Yeah? Jefferson: Yeah Cartman: Yeah? --Jefferson and Cartman lean in to kiss-- --Stan screams as he wakes up-- Jefferson: What's the matter, Stan, did you have a bad dream? Stan: Yeah, a really bad dream, oh jesus

Trivia

 * The episode has not been aired since Michael Jackson's death as some of his fans may be offended by it due to it seemingly poking fun at the Child molestation case (Although the episode seems to show that he didn't do it and therefore pokes fun at those who try and sue rich people, in this case Black people, for money). This is no longer true as of October 13, 2009.
 * Though he wears a mask, Kenny is shown without his anorak and talking clearly to Stan and Kyle, a first in the series. He is voiced by Eric Stough, who is a producer of the show and the Director of Animation at South Park Studios.
 * Mr. Jefferson calls Cartman by his family name while Stan and Kyle are usually the only ones to do so.