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 Guermo, 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 overly flamboyant theater-crazed metrosexual father (it is assumed that he is only metrosexual due to him being married to a woman) refuses to allow him to play a "sissy" sport. 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.

Trivia

 * In this episode, the boys rip on Scott Malkinson for having diabetes. Kyle also has diabetes, as mentioned by his mom in Season 4's Cherokee Hair Tampons. However, only Stan and Kyle would know this, and as such wouldn't mention it.
 * The school hall in which the kids dance is the same as the one in Middle Park Elementary, as seen in Quest for Ratings.
 * At one point when the boys are eating lunch during the High School Musical number you can see a poster of a visitor which says: "Have you seen me?"
 * A Clip from this is used for Stan and Kyle's line in the theme for Season 14.
 * Despite having no musical or dancing talent until the end of this episode, Stan, Kyle and Cartman all participated in musical scenes in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, and Kenny proved himself to be a talented opera singer in Quintuplets 2000.

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.


 * The Marshes appear to have a Television in this episodes despite Cartman stealing it in About Last Night, although this may have simply been that they bought a new T.V.
 * Kyle is shown to be a good dancer at the end in his episode, however in Rainforest Schmainforest, Kyle proves to have absolutely no dancing talent, supposedly because of the fact he is Jewish (at least according to Cartman). The events of "Rainforest Schmainforest" are also contradicted in Something You Can Do With Your Finger and Helen Keller! The Musical.

Popular Culture

 * The episode parodies High School Musical, a movie produced by Disney.
 * The 'Go with the Status Quo' song is a parody of the High School Musical song 'Stick to the Status Quo.'
 * Bridon's wish to play basketball is a reversed reference to Zac Efron's High School Musical character, Troy, because Troy plays basketball but wanted to be in the school musical
 * The moves of 'Go with the Status Quo' are of the High School Musical song 'All For One'
 * Also the 'We're so happy to be in school again' song is a parody of 'We're all in this together.'
 * Kyle's hair is redesigned from his normal jewfro, to look like Corbin Bleu's hairstyle, who played the supporting part of Chad in High School Musical.
 * When Bridon tries to run away his father threatens to slap him and says, "Go ahead, make my day."

Quotes
Wendy: East Side? West Side? Whatever side that you're on.

Bebe: As long as we have each other, we can still get along.

Kyle: Oh, man.

Cartman: Well, I'm out, guys. If this is what is cool now, then I think I am done. I no longer have any connection to this world. I'm going to go home and kill myself... goodbye friends!