Grey Dawn

"Grey Dawn" is episode 710 of Comedy Central's South Park. It originally aired on November 5, 2003.

Plot
At the South Park Farmer's Market, Priest Maxi is holding a memorial service for the nine people who died the previous day when they were run over by a senior citizen who still holds a driver's license. The proceedings are marred by another unfortunate senior related driving incident. Stan Marsh asks his father Randy Marsh why old people are still allowed to drive.

Grandpa Marsh overhears his son's opinion and lets his own feelings on the matter be known, he still wants to be able to drive. Out on Stark's Pond, a man is fishing in his boat fishing until a senior couple drives their Buick off the bridge trying to find Country Kitchen Buffet and runs him over, killing him. The news covers the recent rash of senior-related driving tragedies. Grandpa Marsh and the other seniors have a meeting at the community center to decide what to do. Naturally, they have trouble remembering why they are all there. They eventually remember and Grandpa Marsh decides they should have a meeting. They then realize that they are having a meeting.

When Randy finds out about the meeting he realizes that when the it is over, all the seniors will be driving on the road at the same time. Horrified, Randy runs into the town and the farmer's market and shouts out a cry of alarm, causing mass panic. He asks Gerald where the boys are. The boys are playing street hockey. As Randy runs toward the boys, Kenny spots all seniors driving. Randy manages to save the boys and they flee from the many cars recklessly wandering the streets, eventually hiding in an abandoned house. Moments later, the house gets overrun by seniors making the wrong turn and going the wrong way (even on the second floor). It is later revealed that despite Randy's warning, the seniors managed to run down even more helpless victims across South Park sparking public outrage.

The state of Colorado has demanded all seniors turn in their driver's license and the seniors are unhappy. Stan's grandfather wants Stan to accompany him, in the car, to go and pick up his new Hover Round. All the boys accompany Grandpa Marsh on the trip, theorizing they'll be safer if they are in the car. Grandpa's driving is at the current senior standard of bad and Officer Barbrady pulls the car over and takes Stan's grandfather to jail. Randy is reluctant to bail his father out, but his father doesn't care, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is sending their aid.

Outside of his classroom, Mr. Garrison sees a large number of old people dropping out of the sky. The AARP has airdropped in reinforcements. They begin taking hostages and liberating their colleagues from the retirement home. "The revolution is on" and the AARP has taken over the town. To show they mean business, the AARP starts killing hostages.

More reinforcements arrive but then so does the Veteran military. The seniors list their demands, their driver's licenses, more Medicare and keeping those kids and their skateboards off the sidewalk. The AARP leader realizes they could even take over the whole country. The children find their parents under lockup. Randy tells the boys that since they get up early, they are the only hope for getting the town back. Fleeing to the woods, the Wolverines of South Park strategize on how to save their town, their parents, and possibly the whole country. Cartman suggests attaching stolen explosives to Kyle, and then sending him as a suicide bomber to blow up the Country Kitchen Buffet. It is a restaurant so popular among elders that they are dependent on it. Stan suggests that they just lock the doors from the inside, which is exactly what they do.

The AARP plans on taking stronger action, such as killing off anyone under 65 which is something even Grandpa doesn't think is a good idea, but their plans are thwarted when they start starving to death outside of the Country Kitchen Buffet at 6:00 AM, just like the boys predicted. Their defenses weakened by famine, the hostages are released. Grandpa is turned back over to his family. Stan sums up the lessons learned by the Marsh family today, that Randy shouldn't treat his father like a child and that Grandpa should be proud to be a senior, but he should realize that he is a killing machine when he is driving. They all go home laughing, except the kids. As he walks offscreen, Stan mutters, "Dude, I hate my family."

References to popular culture

 * The restaurant that all the elderly eat at is named Country Kitchen Buffet, which is a combination of the names of two similar restaurants; Country Kitchen Restaurants and Old Country Buffet.
 * The topical reference of this show is George Russell Weller's fatal car accident at the Santa Monica farmer's market in July 2003, in which he killed 10 people. The car Weller drove, a Buick LeSabre from 1992, is also featured in the episode, as the car which killed a man who was fishing when the car was driven off a bridge. This scene also parodies the movie Jaws, using the theme music from the movie.
 * The title of this episode and many of its scenes are a parody of the 1984 movie Red Dawn. Specific examples include the AARP troops parachuting into the town while Mr. Garrison lectures his class on Genghis Khan and sees them outside the window. Also many of the townspeople rounded up and held inside a prison camp, with Stan's dad talking to the boys through the fence and shouting "Avenge me!" Red Dawn also toke place in Colorado.
 * The sequence where a convoy of elderly drivers are seen approaching (with Randy shouting for the boys to get off the road) references a sequence in John Carpenter's 1983 film adaptation of Stephen King's Christine, with similar staging and music to this scene where Christine chases a victim at a slow pace before running him down.
 * Stan's grandfather states that he is "mad as hell", which is a reference to the 1976 movie Network.
 * The Buick driven by the senior citizens in the lake scene is exactly like the one driven by Ted in "Night of the Living Homeless".

Continuity

 * "Mostly hippies go to farmer's markets. Mostly" - harkens back to "Cat Orgy" and Aliens
 * USGS, from "Volcano." Randy is made aware of something going on outside once again.
 * Randy's line, "That's our Grandpa" and the ensuing laughter echoes Stan's line in Death, "That's my silly grampa." After that line, the family laughs.
 * In the news theme, there are clips from: "Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub", "Tooth By Fairy Tats 2000", "Simpsons Already Did It", "A Ladder to Heaven", "Red Man's Greed", and "Christian Rock Hard".
 * The Buick driven by the senior citizens in the lake scene is exactly like the one driven by the visitors in "Cancelled"

Goofs

 * Randy and Sharon both called Marvin Marsh "dad," even though Randy is Marvin's birth son. Sharon, however, could be speaking in the sense that Marvin is her father-in-law.