Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut

"Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut" is episode 202 of Comedy Central's series South Park. It is the conclusion to the cliffhanger finale of season one. This episode was originally scheduled to be the premiere of Season Two. However, because that day was April Fools Day in 1998, the creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, decided to air a completely irrelevant Terrance and Phillip episode. This upset many viewers, but the episode finally aired three weeks later.

Plot summary
Right as Mephisto is about to announce who Eric Cartman's father is, Kenny miraculously reappears (after having died in the first episode). The electricity goes out, the room is darkened, and two gunshots are fired. As the lights come back on, everyone discovers that Mephisto was shot. Chef feels his pulse, sees that he is still alive and rushes him to the hospital.

Upon entering the hospital, they meet a doctor, and a nurse with no arms; they are the only ones working in the hospital. Meanwhile, back in town, the America's Most Wanted crew shows up, wanting to base an episode on Mephisto's shooting mystery. They run through auditions for Mephisto, Chef, Officer Barbrady, Mr. Garrison, and Kevin to play out a reenactment.

In the hospital, the doctor finally manages to get Mephisto on a life support system, but has many other patients to tend to. Outside, a terrible snowstorm brews, preventing any other doctors from driving to the hospital, so the doctor along with the nurse have to help everybody.

When shooting the reenactment for the TV show, a tree falls on the power line and the power goes out, so all the adults are stuck in a little building until the storm lets up. After only a few minutes, Jimbo comes up with the reckless solution of cannibalism in order to stay alive, since no one has had any food in hours. They choose to eat Eric Roberts first, who played Kevin in the re-enactment, and later the rest of the production crew (who in fact opposed the very idea).

Back in the hospital, the power goes out, so they have to come up with a plan to put it back on. The doctor suggests that they all switch into two teams: Team A and Team B.
 * TEAM A: Eric, Stan, Kyle, Chef, the doctor, and Nurse Goodley
 * TEAM B: Kenny

Team B's job was to go out and reconnect the generator, while Team A's job was to go upstairs to a lounge, watch television, and drink hot cocoa. Unfortunately, the trip to the generator involves first wading through a sewer, and then going outside, fending off any velociraptors that may attack. Kenny later learns that there is a nice heated path to the generator, but only after arriving. Once Kenny got to the generator, he discovered there was no wire connecting the cords, so he decided to make the connection himself to restore the electricity, electrocuting himself in the process.

Thanks to Kenny, the power is back on so Mephisto can survive. At the closing of the episode, Mephisto gathers with everyone in the emergency room to finally reveal Eric Cartman's father. The answer: Mrs. Cartman.

Explanation? Mrs. Cartman is an intersex person, meaning she has both male and female genitals. She actually ended up getting another woman pregnant, who gave birth to Eric, which arose the final question: Who is Cartman's Mother? Is it Mrs. Crabtree, Sheila Broflovski, Mayor McDaniels? Cartman however, exasperated by the events of this episode, its first part, and the intervening Terrance and Phillip episode, refuses to pursue the issue further, and Cartman says, "FORGET IT!"

Kenny's Death

 * Kenny has to restore power to the hospital to save the life of Mephisto, so in an act of bravery, he grabs both electrical connections, which results in his own death, but the restoration of power. Additionally Stan, Kyle, and Eric (after giving their brief respects) decide to hit him with a snow shovel to see if he will shatter.

Trivia

 * There is an alien "visitor" among the father candidates at the end of the episode.
 * A voice-over announcer asks questions throughout the episode, giving three possible answers to each question. The first two are logical questions, being "Who is Eric Cartman's father?" and "Who shot Mephisto?"  This sets up a running gag throughout the episode of seemingly random questions that have nothing to do with the plotline, up until the end, when Mrs. Cartman is revealed to be Cartman's father instead of Cartman's mother, and the voiceover asks, "Who is Eric Cartman's mother?"  This question is never answered.
 * On the compass for the back up generator S and the E on the map are reversed.
 * The Map to the back up generator is the same as the USO Show base map on South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

References to Pop culture

 * Certain parts of the plot are a parody of the film Jurassic Park.
 * In this episode we hear Cartman sing "Come Sail Away" for the first time..
 * The song that plays towards the end of the episode when the townspeople are emerging from the snowed-in studio is "Ave Maria" by Aaron Neville. This is a direct reference to the movie Alive: The Miracle of the Andes.