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Butterballs "Butterballs" "I Should Have Never Gone Ziplining" "Cartman Finds Love" Cartman Finds Love
"I Should Have Never Gone Ziplining"
Episode no. Season 16
Episode 6
Guest stars Eric Meyers
as Narrator
Michael Zazarino
as Stan Marsh
Eli Bildner
as Kyle Broflovski
Brandon Hardesty
as Eric Cartman
Josh Beren
as Kenny McCormick
Production no. 1606
Original airdate April 18, 2012
Episode chronology
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List of all South Park episodes

"I Should Have Never Gone Ziplining" is the sixth episode of Season Sixteen, and the 229th overall episode of South Park. It aired on April 18, 2012.[1]

Synopsis[]

The boys' ziplining adventure becomes a terrifying test of survival.[1]

Plot[]

Spoiler warning!
Plot details follow.

The episode opens dramatically, with the boys screaming for help while a male voice narrates their misfortunes. The voice continues to narrate, and reveals shortly after that it is the last day of spring break.

As Kenny, Stan, Kyle, and Cartman argue and try to decide what to do on the last day of spring break, they suddenly find themselves in a unanimous agreement over a plan to try ziplining that Kyle recommends for the first time. ending their argument as they agree with this. After they get dropped off by Jimbo Kern, the activity proves tedious, with a lot of safety briefings, small talk and very long waiting and traveling times. The boys decide to leave after the first descent, after which they find the ziplining experience boring; however, they are horrified after the tour guide tells them that there are 16 more ziplines on the tour. An employee then prepares for them to go ziplining; he later reveals that there are other people ziplining as well. After watching a safety video, they, much to their chagrin, realize that they have to take a shuttle to the ziplining spot.

After they arrive at the spot, the boys go ziplining, learning that it is, in fact, very boring. This upsets them severely, as they realize they are wasting their last day of spring break. After learning that there are sixteen more ziplining spots to go, they scream for help. Cartman, who is loaded with fast food from the previous night as well as having sugar and caffeine from drinking excessive amounts of Mountain Dew, constantly farts; instead of stopping, he goes on to drink "Double Dew" which has twice the caffeine and sugar of Mountain Dew. After being further delayed by a free lunch of wet sandwiches, the boys use twigs to form the word "HELP" on the ground and wait. Cartman gets a diarrhea attack and tries to find a restroom; Kyle tries to persuade him to use the forest as a restroom, but Cartman claims the diarrhea would attract beavers. Cartman and Kyle later start arguing over who came up with the idea of ziplining in the first place, however, Stan breaks up this argument, saying they can make it out somehow. They later make up an excuse to leave, telling the employees that Kenny is bleeding severely from his cold sore (herpes). The employees say that they cannot do anything from zipline down, however, one of the employees recommends going to a horse ranch near the ziplining site, saying that they could ride back.

After arriving at the horse ranch, they realize that it is a tour group as well. After Kyle starts to give up, Stan notices that there is boating dock nearby, saying they should get on, as it will be fun. The screen then flashes to a viewer discretion warning stating that the program contains reenactments; from here on in the episode, the boys misfortunes are reenacted by live-action actors. They realize they made the same mistake, as the boat is only allowed to go five miles per hour, making the trip boring once again.

Kyle and Cartman resume their earlier argument over who recommended they go ziplining. However, Cartman begins to have diarrhea, attracting beavers that they fight off. Kenny is later revealed to have died of boredom, once again inciting Kyle and Cartman to argue. Stan, fed up with the drama, reveals he was the one who recommended they go ziplining. Cartman and Kyle ask why, resulting in Stan revealing that, if he signed up three friends, the ziplining company would give him a free iPod Nano. After briefly becoming angry with Stan and contracting herpes from sharing the Mountain Dew, they all begin crying.

Shortly afterwards, Mr. Hankey comes to bring them back home, taking them aboard his "Magical Helicrapter", his "7-turdy-7" airplane, and his "Poo-Choo Express".

The voice, continuing its narration, reveals that Kenny's corpse was left at his families' home, Cartman and Stan were treated for their (cold sores) herpes, and Kyle was put in the hospital for twenty-seven days, as he had to have fecal matter removed from his nose. After Stan was treated for his condition, he successfully raised awareness about the dangers of ziplining through popular videos, resulting in him once again masturbating in San Diego. Two weeks after he was treated, Cartman begins drinking Diet Double Dew again, namely because he believed that "diet soda doesn't give you diarrhea".

Critical Reception[]

AV Club gave "I Should Have Never Gone Ziplining" a "C-" rating saying: "The thing that’s most frustrating is that, on paper, this episode certainly had potential. Having the kids go zip-lining and getting stranded in the woods—as the episode implied early on—had shades of “Weapons” when Butters got the throwing star in the eye and things spun out of control in a glorious way from there. But, instead, the zip-lining aspect is completely abandoned and milking satirized drama from the boys being bored just doesn’t cut it. Had this episode been created on a more typical production schedule, there could have been time to iron out what didn’t work. The show still has plenty of moments, and, given the performance over the past couple of seasons, it still has plenty of gas left in the tank. But the show is maddeningly inconsistent, and tonight’s episode was a microcosm of that problem."[2]

IGN gave "I Should Have Never Gone Ziplining" a "7.5" rating saying: "Nevertheless, this was an otherwise entertaining episode, particularly the first half or so. It was even, dare I say, very close to becoming a South Park classic. Unfortunately, between the arbitrary live-action sequences and the puzzling final scenes with Mr. Hankey, "Zipline" never quite tapped its full potential."[3]

References[]


  1606: "I Should Have Never Gone Ziplining" edit
Story Elements

MichaelBackcountry Adventures • "Little Green Frog" • Michael ZazarinoBrandon HardestyEli BildnerJosh BerenEric Meyers

Media

ImagesScriptExtrasWatch Episode

Release

South Park: The Complete Sixteenth Season

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