Lice Capades

"Lice Capades" is the third episode of the eleventh season of South Park. The episode parodies many apocalypse movies, but most likely The Day After Tomorrow, which was released not long before the episode was made.

Synopsis
A hair lice infection hits South Park Elementary. Clyde discovers he is the cause of it. Can he hide his secret from the class?

Plot
Everyone is called to the hall for hair lice inspection. Clyde discovers he is suffering from it and has to visit a doctor who prescribes a special shampoo.

In the lices' world, a louse called Travis informs the President that they may be facing a problem. He believes that the world (Clyde's head) might be reacting to their activity. It starts raining, but Travis notices something wrong with the rain (Clyde's shower).

Soon they begin to die in the acidic shampoo. Travis, his wife Kelly and their daughter Hope flee to the trees with other lice. Kelly loses grip and falls to her death after a gust of wind.

Next day, Cartman asks Ms. Garrison who had lice, but she will not say. Cartman discovers a way to find out.

The surviving lice (including Travis and Hope) make their way into "The Forbidden Zone" (Clyde's face) in hope that from their they can travel to another world.

Cartman's test (which doesn't actually work) suggests Kenny had the lice because he is poor. They then decide to give Kenny a sock bath. Kenny runs for his life.

At Clyde's house later on the boys tell Clyde they're going to sock bath Kenny and that he should come. Clyde says he'll come in the minute. As the boys leave he phones Ms. Garrison and tells her what's going to happen.

At the park the boys prepare Kenny for the sock bath when Kyle stops them and tells them it was him. Stan is surprised since he thought he had them. Then, even Cartman reveals he had the lice and he was trying to frame Kenny. Ms. Garrison arrives and explains to them how quickly lice spread. As a result, all the students (except Clyde) give Kenny the sock bath as a punishment for lying about his case of lice.

Travis the louse is shot in the knees upon entering "The Forbidden Zone" (the back of Clyde's neck) by the Vice-President (he had a micro-sized Glock 17), who then - to prove his point - shoots the ground six times, saying, "If the world were conscious, it would feel this" or something like that. Next thing he knew, Clyde's fingers grabbed him and threw him onto the sidewalk, as Travis muttered a low, crying laugh, effectively disproving the Vice President's laugh. As Travis lays dying a fly lifts him up and takes him to a new place where bigger red lice are, where they have lived in peace for "generations". They help Travis and Hope and welcome them to their land. It soon turns out this place is Angelina Jolie's pubic hair and the lice were crabs.

Trivia

 * In the original run, Clyde's last name was Harris but the in rerun it was changed back to Donovan.
 * Cartman's experiment, of course, parodies the film "The Thing".
 * Craig's hair is revealed to be black. It was black in "South Park is Gay" but changed to brown in "The Losing Edge". Here it reverts back.
 * During the scene where the Crab-like lice get Travis, he is seen walking. He couldn't be walking, even with help, because both of his knees were shot by the Vice-President.
 * The Vice-President louse appears to be wielding a Glock 17 pistol.
 * The lice climb the hairs to avoid the green goo, just as the passengers climb the rails to avoid the sea in the 1997 film, Titanic. Similarly some also fail to hold on and fall in the same manner as kelly.
 * When one of the lice went to check on the green stuff which melted his hands, he is then standing in it and begins to melt away. This is a reference to Tommy Lee Jones 1997 film, Volcano where a rescue worker is carrying a man through the lava and throws the man to the other rescuers as he melts in the lava.
 * When Travis is saved at the end by the fly, it is similar to the scene in Lord of the rings: Return of the King(2003) when Frodo and Sam are saved by the Eagles from Mount Doom.
 * In the episode, Travis tries to warn his people that their world is doomed, but is rejected, and he had only his wife and new born child to turn to. This concept is very reminiscent of Superman's origin, where Superman's father Jor-El, tries to warn Krypton of its imminent destruction, and he has only his wife Lara and his new born son.
 * The lice refer to the hair as "trees".
 * Kenny's voice is heard unmuffled in this episode; when he is given the sock-bath, he is stripped to his underwear and he can be heard shouting "Nooo! No not the socks!" His face is still not seen, though when Butters shifts positions we can see part of his eye.
 * When the boys first attack Kenny with the bars of soap and socks it is a reference to the movie "Full Metal Jacket" where they use similar tools to beat a character.
 * The music playing as Travis is carried away by the fly is Pie Jesu from Gabriel Fauré's "Requiem"
 * At the doctor's office, Clyde's mom is seen reading a magizine with Paris Hilton on it.

Quotes
Cartman:All right, Kenny. You know what has to happen! SOCK BATH! Everyone wash Kenny with the soap and dry him off with the socks! [the boys gang up on Kenny and give him the sock bath]

Kenny:Nohoho! No, not the socks! Ahhhgh, stop!!

Clyde:I can't... the pain!

Kyle:Wait... stop it, stop it! [he walks away; the others stop and look at him] I can't let Kenny be sock-dried

Craig:He had cooties and he lied about it!

Kyle:[looks over his left shoulder] Kenny didn't have the head lice, all right?! [looks away] It was me.

Clyde:What?

Kyle:I was the one. I was too afraid to say anything, but I can't let Kenny be sock-bathed for it.

Stan:Why are you saying that, Kyle? You can't be the one who had head lice. [walks up to him] Because I was. You're just trying to make me feel bad because you figured that out, didn't you?!

Clyde:Wait a-wait a minute, what?

Cartman:Oh I get it. [walks up to Stan and Kyle] This is some kind of big trick on me! You've known I was the one with head lice all along, huh?!

Stan:You had head lice??

Cartman:Of course! Why do you think I went through that elaborate bullcrap experiment to frame Kenny?!

Mrs. Garrison:[offscreen] You all had head lice! [the boys look up and off to the left. Mrs. Garrison walks up to them on the court] Every single person in the class! The boys and the girls! Lice spreads fast, you dumbasses!

Craig: I thought I was the only one!

Butters:Me too!

Cartman:But that means... that means Kenny was lying! Sock bath!

Everyone: Sock bath! 