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"South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" | "South Park: Post COVID" | "South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covid" | 
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"South Park: Post COVID" is the first in a series of South Park television specials for the streaming service Paramount+ and premiered on November 25, 2021. It is also considered to be the 310th episode overall of the television series.
Synopsis
In SOUTH PARK: POST COVID, we’ll find out the answer to the question: what happened to the children who lived through the pandemic? Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny survived, but will never be the same post COVID.
Plot
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Spoiler warning! Plot details follow. |
Forty years into the future, the COVID-19 pandemic is waning. Stan Marsh has moved away from South Park, Colorado, is employed as an online whiskey consultant, and lives with a sentient, nagging Amazon Alexa. Stan receives a call from Kyle Broflovski, now the guidance counselor at South Park Elementary, who informs him that Kenny McCormick has died.
Working as a scientist, Kenny had been researching the origins of COVID-19 and the possibility of a cure. He revealed that in the event of his death, his closest friends would know where to find his missing data by retracing their steps. Stan returns to South Park to pay his respects to Kenny; he is reluctant to reconnect with Kyle and rebuffs his suggestion that they search for Kenny's missing data. They attend Kenny's wake and reunite with several of their former classmates. Eric Cartman has converted to Judaism, become a rabbi, and is raising a family, to Kyle's skeptical annoyance. Also in attendance are Tweek Tweak and his partner Craig Tucker; Wendy Testaburger and her husband, Darwin; Jimmy Valmer, who has become a late-night talk show host; Toikien Black, now a law enforcement officer; and Clyde Donovan. Stan leaves the wake early and watches a report on Kenny, where he notices "Tegridy Weed" in Kenny's notes.
At Kenny's funeral, a furious Stan believes that Kyle set him up to coerce him to visit his father, Randy. As Stan departs, a scientist confirms Kenny's cause of death to be a new COVID-19 variant, causing widespread panic. Military forces quarantine South Park as Stan attempts to leave, forcing him to take shelter at South Park Elementary. With the refuge at total capacity, a reluctant Kyle allows Cartman and his family to stay with him.
Stan eventually relents and visits Randy. Following the pandemic, Randy's wife, Sharon, filed for divorce; however, Randy refused to relinquish his stake in Tegridy Farms, resulting in constant arguing. Frustrated, Stan burned down the farm, unaware that his sister, Shelly, was inside the barn and was killed. Distraught over Shelly's death, Sharon committed suicide, and Stan and Randy became estranged. They escape the nursing home to what is left of Tegridy Farms, where Randy admits his responsibility for the pandemic. Randy reveals that he had smuggled marijuana seeds in his rectum, prompting Stan to realize that Kenny did the same with his data.
In Stan and Kyle's absence, Token, Craig, Tweek, Wendy, Jimmy, and Clyde try searching for Kenny's data themselves. They attempt to contact Victor Chouce, Kenny's only surviving associate, but find he is institutionalized. Clyde refuses to be vaccinated, preventing the group from visiting the asylum. They discover Kenny's secret laboratory in the school and learn that he was attempting to perfect time travel to prevent the pandemic from happening.
Stan, Kyle, and Cartman visit the morgue and retrieve Kenny's flash drive from his rectum. They reunite with their friends at the school and discover a video of Kenny's time travel experiment on the drive, in which his colleague reveals that he faulted Stan, Kyle, and Cartman for letting the pandemic drive them apart, indirectly causing the dystopian future. Because Kenny was not wearing a mask, a malfunction killed all the scientists. Kenny briefly disappears, returning after having contracted COVID-19 in the process. Reflecting on their childhood, Stan and Kyle vow to finish Kenny's work. Cartman also volunteers at first, out of fear for his family. However, he flees with them, not wanting the future to be changed. Meanwhile, Randy finds a small sprout of marijuana and vows to protect it. At the asylum, it is revealed that "Chouce" is a mispronunciation of "Chaos", suggesting him to be Butters Stotch.
Production
Development
On August 5, 2021, Comedy Central announced that Parker and Stone had signed a $900 million deal for extending the series to 30 seasons through 2027 and 14 feature films, exclusive to the Paramount+ streaming platform owned and operated by Comedy Central's parent company, ViacomCBS. Two of these new films were confirmed to be released at the end of 2021. Parker and Stone would later state that the projects would not be feature films, and that it was ViacomCBS who decided to advertise them as movies. Subsequent advertising and branding has indicated that these are more properly classified as television specials.
Working process
South Park Studios, the production company for the series, closed when the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States began in March 2020, forcing the crew to work remotely. Stone stated that the film is a made-for-TV film, and was not on a theatrical budget, an experiment he explained the production sought to continue, because "We're at where a lot of people are at, which is the future kind of sucks. We would like to get back to where each week we can do something totally different."
References to popular culture
The episode's depiction of the future as a dystopia overrun by consumerism, geisha video billboards and flying cars is a reference to Blade Runner. The movie also has references to The Godfather Part II and Beverly Hills Cop.
Continuity
- The movie serves as a continuation of the events in "The Pandemic Special" and "South ParQ Vaccination Special", although whether or not it is canon remains to be seen.
- While in the destroyed Tegridy Farms, Randy reveals to Stan the events of "The Pandemic Special", where he makes love to a pangolin that started the pandemic.
- With the movie taking place 40 years later, Kenny's discovery for the cure of the COVID-19 virus was to bring back his "broships" with the boys.
- In response to the Cartmans making love in Kyle's house, Kyle admits to Yentl that Cartman had given him AIDS in "Tonsil Trouble".
- With Kyle praying for help, Christmas music was heard and believed that Mr. Hankey would appear from his toilet. With the fact that he was already fired in "The Problem with a Poo", he is driven away to Springfield with The Simpsons.
- Kenny's Rats, whom are designed and animated differently, are seen invading Kenny's body in the morgue. They last appeared in "A Very Crappy Christmas".
- Sharon had divorced Randy twice in "Clubhouses" and in "You're Getting Old" and had a failed attempt before the events of the movie.
- Clyde seems to be heavier than most of the other kids as an adult, other than Cartman. Clyde was previously stated by the other students to be the "second fattest kid next to Cartman" in the Season Four episode "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000".
- When criticized for wanting to "pound beers", Stan insists what he is doing is called a Smorgasvein, repeating Randy's line about it from "Freemium Isn't Free".
- Kyle and Cartman arguing about who could insert their finger onto Kenny's anus is a reference to "Cancelled", where Kyle is forced to insert his finger inside Cartman's but fails.
- This marks the second time Cartman has converted or claimed to have converted to Judaism, with the last time being at the end of the episode "Jewpacabra".
- This is another episode where Kenny's death is taken seriously.
- Other times include "Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty S***", "Spontaneous Combustion", South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, "Jewbilee", "Kenny Dies", "Wing", "Best Friends Forever", "The List", "The Ring", "Sexual Healing", and "I Should Have Never Gone Ziplining".
- Kenny hiding a flash drive in his ass is a callback to when he previously shoved a tampon up his ass back in the Season Three episode "Are You There God? It's Me, Jesus".
References
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Alexa • Menorah Cartman • Moisha Cartman • Yentl Cartman • McCormick Science Wing • Shady Acres • South Park Mental Asylum Plus • COVID-19 • "Mikhelm, Mikhelm" • "Stir It Up" • "We Are Living in the Future" | ||||
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