Elementary School Musical

"Elementary School Musical" is the thirteenth episode of the twelfth season of South Park. It aired on November 12, 2008 In Canada, the episode aired on November 21, 2008.

Synopsis
The boys must embrace the latest fad to hit South Park Elementary or risk their status as the coolest kids in school.

Plot
The boys are at lunch and while Eric Cartman taunts Kenny's lunch, Butters announces he's going to see the movie High School Musical 3 again. The boys question what this is and realize they're clueless about the newest fad. Wendy Testaburger, along with other girls and a handsome Zac Efron look-alike third grader named Bridon, begin singing in the cafeteria in the High School Musical fashion. Soon the boys are the only children present who aren't singing and they go home. After watching the movie, the boys hate it, and vow never to become a part of it, and Cartman attempts suicide due to frustration concerning this fad (at school, he explains that he tried to induce carbon monoxide poisoning by sleeping in his mother's running car, but failed, explaining "Frickin' hybrids man, they just don't do the trick anymore").

The next day at school the boys find everyone singing again in class, and Stan fears that Wendy is becoming very close with Bridon because they are close together during songs. He confronts Wendy, who tells him that he's being ridiculous and that she wouldn't leave him because Bridon could be with any girl he wanted. Stan is still uneasy, believing that Bridon will develop a crush on Wendy. After refusing to sing his own HSM-style song to several kids as he walks through the hallways, he talks to Bridon in hopes of directing him away from Wendy, and finds out Bridon would prefer to play basketball instead of singing. However, Bridon's theater-crazed metrosexual father refuses to allow him to play a "sissy" sport.(Bridon's wish to play basketball is a reference to Zac Efron's High School Musical character, Troy, because Troy plays basketball.) Stan convinces Bridon to stand up for himself, but Bridon's father slaps his mother after she suggests Bridon should be allowed to play basketball (his very weak flamboyant slaps are depicted as a painful deterrent).

Stan prods Bridon to try out with the basketball team anyway by going up to Mr. Garrett, but Bridon's father finds out and drags him away. Stan reports this to Child Services, but Bridon's father slaps them until they flee. Later, Bridon tries to run away, but his father stops him and threatens to slap him. In retaliation, Bridon punches his father in the nose, causing him to cry, and his mother, never realizing that it was an option, begins beating his father senseless as well. The next day, Bridon plays at a basketball game and does well; his father enjoys the musical aspects and choreographed cheering to Rock and Roll Part 2 by Gary Glitter and We Will Rock You of Queen.

Meanwhile, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny are hanging out with an unpopular boy named Scott Malkinson, who is ridiculed by fellow students for no particular reason other than his lisp and diabetes. At school, the kids try to persuade Stan to sing again, but instead of performing a modern impromptu pop song, he sings off-key versions of old folk songs, making a fool of himself. Despite having vowed against it, Stan then decides to join the trend and studies the High School Musical series intensively. The boys try to convince him otherwise, reminding him of their vow, but he counters by explaining that things are changing and that Butters is now more popular than they are.

The next day Wendy asks Bridon where he was and he explains he was at basketball. Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny then successfully perform a song along with an equally elaborate dance routine about Bridon following his own dreams, but everyone else is uninterested and goes to watch Bridon play Basketball instead. Scott stops them after their long dance routine and explains the school kids just liked Bridon and not the fad itself. Stan begins to complain that they had put forth so much effort to become good for no reason at all, and this lasts into the end credits.

Continuity

 * At the beginning when Jimmy Vulmer asks the boys where the hell they have been, Craig replies "Peru", referencing Pandemic and Pandemic 2: The Startling.