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"A Ladder to Heaven"
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Episode no. Season 6
Episode 12
Production no. 612
Original airdate November 6, 2002
Episode chronology
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"Child Abduction is Not Funny" "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers"
List of all South Park episodes

"A Ladder to Heaven" is the twelfth episode of Season Six, and the 91st overall episode of South Park. It aired on November 6, 2002.[1]

Synopsis[]

Kenny died with the winning ticket to a prize of endless candy in his pocket. The boys decide to build a ladder to Heaven where they expect to find him and get the ticket back.[1]

Plot[]

SPW pic -- Spoiler Spoiler warning!
Plot details follow.

The boys have won an all-you-can-grab candy prize from Lolly's Candy Factory and they have come to claim their prize. However, they realize that they gave the ticket to Kenny to hold on to before he died, because the rest said they would lose it. Upon visiting Kenny's house, it is shown that Kenny was cremated, and his ashes were put in an urn. The boys have never heard of cremation, and after they steal the urn from Kenny's house, they expect to find Kenny's body in the urn. They are disappointed when they find Kenny's ashes, which Stan, Kyle and Cartman assumes is a chocolate milk mix. Cartman mixes the ashes with plain milk and drinks it, therefore "drinking Kenny."

The boys decide to build a ladder to Heaven to find Kenny so he can tell them where the ticket is. The adults, who think that the boys only want to see their dead friend again, are touched by their concern for their friend. The whole country gets involved in supporting the ladder to heaven, and even Alan Jackson is there to sing his song and "capitalize on people's emotions". When the boys announce they have run out of stuff to build the ladder, the adults consider telling them the truth that they are not actually going to reach heaven. Yet just then the military arrives and starts to build a reinforced tower in order to beat the Japanese to heaven.

Suspicious photos taken of heavenly clouds are reported to the President as indicating a potential factory making weapons of mass destruction run by Saddam Hussein, now dead and permanently living in Heaven. The US decides to bomb heaven, believing Hussein to be building nuclear warheads there.

Meanwhile, Cartman starts channeling Kenny, while the adults try to tell the boys to get back to their lives. When the boys express their urgency to see Kenny, the adults inform them about Kenny's cremation. When they try to show Kenny's ashes, they discover that it has been replaced by kitty litter. Cartman then admits that he drank Kenny's ashes, to the disgust of the others and Liane Cartman scolds Cartman for drinking Kenny's ashes. Now realizing why he has been channeling Kenny, Cartman goes to an abortion clinic in an attempt to get rid of Kenny from his body. His subsequent argument with the nurse there causes a woman to reconsider her own abortion. Cartman ends up getting hit by the woman's boyfriend and remembers where the ticket is. The boys lose interest in the ladder after they get the ticket and their confectioneries.

Meanwhile, it is announced via television that the Japanese have reached heaven, and, although the "heaven" depicted is obviously set in a studio, this convinces the adults that heaven is real. They continue building the ladder and preparing an attack on heaven when they spot the boys. They are disappointed to find out the boys were "only interested in candy", to which Cartman replies, "I've never heard the word 'only' and 'candy' in the same sentence before."

The boys explain that heaven is not some white fluffy place. In fact, Kyle adds, "Maybe heaven is this moment right now." The general responds by ordering his subordinate to hold off on firing on heaven, and instead he issues an order to "Fire on this moment right now." Before he does, Randy Marsh stops him and says, "Instead of waiting to get into heaven, we should be trying to create heaven here on Earth." The crowd sighs in acknowledgment of this pithy truth and disperses. As the boys are about to go home to enjoy their confectionery, Kenny starts speaking through Cartman.

The episode ends with a shot of heaven, where Saddam Hussein is in fact building a WMD factory, disguised as "Saddam's Heavenly Chocolate Chip Factory". When God suspects this, Hussein uses reverse psychology by saying, "Look God, if I was building a chemical weapons plant, I wouldn't make it look like a chemical weapons plant, would I? No! I would make it look like a chocolate chip factory or something," which God promptly falls for. Saddam exits laughing as he mutters "stupid asshole".

References[]


  612: "A Ladder to Heaven" edit
Story Elements

Lolly's Candy FactoryKenny McCormickGeorge W. BushHeaven • "A Ladder to Heaven" • Saddam Hussein

Media

ImagesScriptExtrasWatch Episode

Release

South Park: The Complete Sixth Season

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