Scott Tenorman Must Die

"Scott Tenorman Must Die" is episode 66 of the Comedy Central animated series South Park. It originally aired on July 11, 2001. It is widely considered to be one of the most famous episodes of the show, due to its very dark humor. It also features the band Radiohead as guest stars.

Plot
Eric Cartman excitedly brags to the other children that he is the first to reach puberty, since he's gotten his first pubes. It turns out, however, that he bought them from Scott Tenorman for ten dollars.

Cartman tries to get back his $10 through various methods, but is always outwitted by Scott. He even loses an additional $6.12 in the process. As he plots his revenge he first attempts to get his friends on his side, but because Cartman is the only victim, none are interested.

Cartman's first major plan involves training one of Farmer Carl Denkins' ponies to bite Scott's wiener off. He trains one to attack a scarecrow with a hot dog hanging from its pants. The pony doesn't bite it off the first time, instead giving it a blowjob. Jimbo Kern and Ned turn up, stating that the best way to humiliate Scott is to exploit his weaknesses. They stake out the Tenorman house that night where Cartman discovers that Scott likes the band Radiohead, Cartman comes up with a scheme. Ned and Jimbo are distracted however by the fact that Mrs. Tenorman is naked. They along with several other men are caught by Jack Tenorman and run away.

Cartman's plan meanwhile involves dubbing his voice over that of Radiohead to make it appear that the band is telling Kurt Loder that Scott Tenorman is "totally not cool." This plan fails, and Scott further humiliates Cartman by showing the entire town a video of Cartman pretending to be a pig in order to get his money back. Cartman abruptly becomes a laughing stock in front of the whole town: Kenny even dies from laughing too much at the video.

Cartman then proceeds to carry out a variation of his plan to get Scott's wiener bitten off. He invites Radiohead (Scott's favorite band) to come to South Park to meet Scott (who is, according to the letter, dying from cancer in his ass) and asks if they are free "next Tuesday around 5." Stan and Kyle betray Cartman, telling Scott about Cartman's plan. Cartman invites Scott to a chili cookoff, telling him that he can have a free pony ride at the event. Scott, who thinks he knows what Cartman's plan is, tells his parents that there is an abandoned pony at Farmer Denkins' place. The parents go to Farmer Denkins in order to have the pony sent to an animal shelter. Scott decides to humiliate Cartman once again by having all the kids in South Park put their pubic hair in Scott's chili and watch Cartman eat it.

At the cook off, everybody is waiting for Cartman to get humiliated (except for Chef, who brought his own chili). Scott eats Cartman's chili first, and then taunts Cartman to do the same. When Cartman has eaten most of a bowl of Scott's chili, Scott begins to tell Cartman what he did. However, Cartman has anticipated Scott's move, and reveals that he switched Scott's chili with Chef's. He explains that he knew that Stan and Kyle were going to tell Scott about his original plan. He also explains that he knew that, as Scott wouldn't want his wiener bitten off, he would send someone to get the pony for him, most likely his parents. What Scott didn't know is that Farmer Denkins is a crazy redneck who shoots trespassers on sight. Knowing this, Cartman warned Denkins that violent pony killers were in the area, as Denkins wouldn't want his favorite pony killed. Denkins shot Scott's parents when he saw Scott's dad's flashlight. Cartman stole the bodies and spent the night chopping the bodies up with a hacksaw, cooking them into his "Mr and Mrs Tenorman Chili", which Cartman reveals he has just fed to Scott. After that is revealed, Scott pulls out his mother's finger out of the chili with a diamond ring on it. Scott (and everyone else present) is horrified and devastated at the loss of his parents. At that moment, right on cue (and exactly on Cartman's schedule), Radiohead shows up. They see Scott sobbing and mock him for being a "crybaby" and "totally not cool".

Finally, as Scott is crying over the death of his parents, Cartman licks the tears off of Scott's face, remarking that they are "yummy and sweet" as well as calling them "the tears of unfathomable sadness". Kyle remarks to Stan, "Dude, I don't think we should ever piss off Cartman again", to which Stan agrees, both horrified at the depths to which Cartman went for revenge. The episode ends with Cartman imitating Porky Pig in homage to old Looney Toons cartoons.

Kenny's Death
While watching a video that Scott recorded of Cartman begging for his money back, and oinking/singing like a piggy, Kenny laughs so hard that he dies, and even his spirit that flies from his body continues to laugh.

Trivia

 * In episodes that were aired shortly after Scott Tenorman Must Die (particularly in Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow and Here Comes the Neighborhood), Cartman can be heard saying "I will make you eat your parents." Cartman also makes references to this episode in The Death of Eric Cartman and Cartoon Wars Part II.


 * During an early confrontation at Scott's house, Cartman claims that his grandmother is close to death and needs $16.12 for an operation. Two weeks later, his grandmother actually does die!


 * Cartman's speech to the other students trying to convince them to join his plan is modeled on William Wallace's pre-battle speech to his warriors in the film Braveheart.


 * Cartman's plan to make the "Mr and Mrs Tenorman Chili" and feed it to Scott is reminiscent of the revenge taken by Atreus on his brother Thyestes in Greek mythology and the revenge taken by Titus Andronicus in the play by Shakespeare.


 * Cartman says to Scott Tenorman, "Haha, charade you are." This is a reference to the Pink Floyd song Pigs (Three Different Ones).


 * When Mr. Tenorman yells at Jimbo and Ned (as they were watching Mrs. Tenorman undress) and warns that he knows who they are and will call the police, several other men come out of the other bushes and run off. Among the others, Sergeant Yates, Stuart McCormick, Richard Tweak, Gerald Broflovski and Randy Marsh can be seen wearing masks in order to avoid being recognized.
 * When Kenny dies from laughter you can see a laughing ghost rising from his dead body.
 * In the episode "201" it is revealed that Cartman's father is Mr. Tenorman; meaning he fed his father to his half-brother.

Popularity and Reception
In an official poll held by Comedy Central, this episode ranked 8th most popular of all time; and in another poll, it was named Cartman’s Greatest Moment.

This episode is currently the highest-rated on IMDb, and appears on the South Park: The Hits DVD as well as the Cult of Cartman DVD.

In the recent UK poll Paramount Comedy's Top 10 Episodes, this episode was ranked number 2.

Although this episode was a hit, some people (mostly parents who are afraid their children will copy Cartman's deed) describe it as "controversially overrated".