Member Berries

Member Berries is the first episode of Season Twenty, and the 268th overall episode of South Park. It aired on September 14, 2016.

Synopsis
Garrison is still on the campaign trail as the National Anthem gets a reboot by an American Icon.

Plot
The episode starts in the elementary school gym,  the girls are playing a school volleyball game. As the national anthem starts, the girls start to sit out the national anthem. Heidi Turner is the first one to do so, followed by Megan Ridley and finally Nichole, Steven walks out saying “That was great” The gym is shown into view again, with only 4 people watching as they start the actual volleyball game.

PC Principal is addressing the girls, saying that he respects their decision to protest. Heidi then demands that Cartman be punished for his trolling ways as Skankhunt42. Cartman appears, with a shirt saying “Token’s Life Matters”.

At the Capitol in Washington DC, senators are being addressed about changing the national anthem. They say that only J.J. Abrams can save the country.

US Military Helicopters are shown flying to J.J. Abrams house. They ask him to reboot the national anthem. He turns on a light, signifying that he is willing to do so.

Back at South Park Elementary, Cartman is addressing the school in the gym. He demands Wendy to come up on stage, he tells her to say something funny and she responds by saying “I’m not funny” Cartman then tells her rudely to sit back down, which she does. He then goes over to Bebe, her only response is her angrily telling him to  “Get the mic out of my face”. He asks Nelly for comment, and she replies by saying “Yeah I got one, you’re a fat fuck”. Butters starts laughing hysterically as Nelly starts to tear into the boys for the Skankhunt comments, Cartman responds by saying that what she said is not funny, just angry and hateful.

The Marsh residence, Randy is watching CNN, they are talking about how J.J. Abrams will reboot the national anthem. A pollster knocks on their door and asks if Randy will be voting for the Giant Douche or Turd Sandwich. Randy says that both him and Sharon will be voting for the turd sandwich Hillary.

At the dinner table, Randy starts ranting about the Giant Douche Mr. Garrison/ Donald Trump being up in the polls. Stan sighs in annoyance, saying he doesn’t understand why they do this every 4 years.

Turd Sandwich is holding a press conference where she reassures people not to panic about the new polls.

At the Garrison Jenner HQ, Garrison and Caitlyn Jenner are dancing around to “Cake by the Ocean” as they celebrate being up in the polls. He quickly turns off the radio and panics about not having a plan if they did win the election.

Back at the school, Mr. Mackey is talking to Kyle. Kyle is asking Mr. Mackey about how the Germans felt guilty about not speaking up about Hitler's actions. He then says that he can’t control Cartman’s trolling and in return he shouldn’t feel bad for what Cartman is doing.

Mr. Mackey tells Kyle that everything will be fine because J.J. Abrams is rebooting the national anthem. Kyle says that Member Berries is not the answer to everything and then walks out. Mr. Mackey pulls out the Member Berries who are “membering” various topics.

The HBC News Commander In Chief forum is shown, Giant Douche is asked about “fucking everybody to death”. They show a tape showing Garrison saying that he will fuck various people to death across various cities. He says that it is achievable to fuck this many people to death in his first year as president.

Back at the school, in the Kindergarten classroom. Cartman comes in to read the class a story. His story called “Little Red Riding Kyle” is portraying Kyle as gay.

While telling his story, Kyle comes into the classroom and pulls him out of the classroom and closes the door behind him. Kyle starts yelling at Cartman as he grabs the book from him and throws it to the ground before angrily walking off.

At Skeeters Wine Bar, Randy, Jimbo and Steven are talking about the election. Steven then invites Randy over to his house to try Member Berries. At the Garrison Jenner HQ, Garrison is talking to his advisors about how to fuck people to death, Chris Christie suggest that he swims in a pool in Florida and contract the Zika virus and slowly fuck everybody  to death. Garrison is ashamed that he looks like a total jackass either if he wins or if the Turd Sandwich wins.

At the school, Butters is laughing looking at his phone seeing a new post by Skankhunt42. Kyle grabs his phone and asks if the boys care about how the girls are feeling about this.

Cartman is running across the school hallway, yelling for help. He said that the girls beat him up and drew a vagina on his face, it is a vagina with balls drawn on them. Kyle tells Cartman that he will not allow Cartman to divide the school anymore.

Back at the Garrison/ Jenner headquarters  Mr. Garrison is making campaign calls to try to get people to vote for turd sandwich. The news cuts in to say that J.J. Abrams has finished the new national anthem. Garrison comes up with the idea to sit out the new national anthem.

At the Marsh residence, Randy is hypnotized by the Member Berries who are membering about times past. He snaps out of it and sits up in shock.

At the Broflovski residence, Kyle is on the toilet doing his business using his iPhone as Cartman bursts in. Kyle looks up in shock and then becomes angry as Cartman says that Kyle was right about him trying to start a gender war at the school. Kyle promises to track down Skankhunt42 and make him pay.

At the football game, both presidential candidates are in attendance. As the anthem starts, Garrison quickly becomes freaked out because it is now okay to stand or sit or kneel during the new national anthem. The girls are watching on TV, starting with Wendy who quickly turns off the TV in anger, followed by Bebe and Nichole.

At the Broflovski Residence, Kyle is laying on his bed as Gerald comes in and asks if he is okay, Kyle replies by saying “Yeah dad, just thinking”. Gerald goes into his office and turns on Smooth Jazz. He goes over to his computer and goes to the South Park Elementary School message boards, where he is seen putting in “Skankhunt42” in as the username. He had a evil look on his face as the episodes comes to an end.

Critical Reception
The AV Club awarded this episode B+. Esquire said it was "disjointed and rather bland." IGN said "topical humor alone can’t make up for the lack of a good, solid story ... "Member Berries" boasted some clever ideas and funny gags, but the many warring subplots failed to coalesce into a satisfying whole. The show is never at its best when it tries to cram too much topical humor into one episode."