The 20 Best South Park Episodes, Ranked (2023)

Twenty-six seasons, various specials and blockbusters. And it continues today. The legacy South Park has built since its premiere on Comedy Central more than two and a half decades ago is immense, and the show has had an indelible impact on pop culture along the way. Looking back, it's amazing how many classic episodes there are, making it incredibly hard to pick a favorite... but we thought we'd try the challenge anyway.

We've already written about itSouth Park's most controversial episodesithe darkest moments of the series, we've done our very best to identify the top 20 episodes of the beloved animated series, and as we work on number one, we'll start with…

20. "Kenny Dies" (Season 5, Episode 13)

In Season 5, the idea of ​​killing Kenny on South Park was old, but that's part of what makes "Kenny Dies" so special. The episode features a shockingly emotional story where Stan can't handle the idea of ​​losing one of his best friends... stem cell research could clone Shakey's Pizza with a horde of aborted fetuses.

19. "Britney's New Look" (Season 12, Episode 2)

Like some of the other entries on this list, "Britney's New Look" is an episode of South Park that focuses on a specific moment in pop culture, but also has broader commentary that is sharp and excellent. The titular Britney is, of course, Britney Spears, and her titular new look is blown on the head by a suicide attempt caused by the paparazzi and tabloid reporters who constantly harassed her. It's a brilliant take on the horrors of celebrity obsession, topped off with an exquisite nod to Shirley Jackson's terrifying and beloved short story 'The Lottery'.

18. "Crack Baby Athletic Association" (Season 15, Episode 5)

Considering how much college athletes earn for their schools and the fact that said institutions can sell their names and likenesses, should they be paid? South Park makes the case for "Yes" with the outrageous and hilarious Season 15 episode "Crack Baby Athletic Association". history of the show where Cartman is able to successfully corrupt Kyle.

17. "It Hits the Fan" (Sezona 5, Epizoda 1)

It's okay to say the word "shit" on television these days - be it network, basic cable or premium - but that wasn't the case back in 2001...and "It Hits The Fan" can be cited as the reason why we saw how things have changed over the last 22 years. South Park viciously mocks the pomp and circumstance surrounding the use of a simple four-letter word and does so with glee, eventually characters saying the word over 160 times.

16. "The Death of Eric Cartman" (Season 9, Episode 6)

Trey Parker and the South Park writers tend to strike gold when they come up with new ways to torture poor, innocent Butters, and while "The Death of Eric Cartman" isn't the best example, it scores high. It takes a very childish idea (all the kids choose to ignore Cartman, making him think he's dead) and takes it to hilarious places - culminating in Butters' traumatizing trip to a mental institution.

15. "Damien" (Season 1, Episode 10)

When South Park first premiered in 1997, the amount of outrage it generated was comical in retrospect, and no episode in that debut scared people like "Damien." The incredible idea of ​​Jesus battling Satan in a boxing match made faces around the world blush — and sent an important message about the show's penchant for transition.

14. "Good Times With Guns" (Sezona 8, Epizoda 1)

While the young characters in South Park tend to act mature as adults, the reminder that they're still just kids regularly yields wonderful results, and "Good Times With Guns" is proof of that. Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny are just fooling around and playing ninja when a shuriken is planted right in Butters' eye socket - and their attempts to stay out of trouble are as funny as they are brutal.

13. "Woodland Critter Christmas" (Sezona 8, Epizoda 14)

What does a Christmas fairy tale from the mind of Eric Cartman look like? That's the question monstrously answered by "Woodland Critter Christmas," which isn't nearly as adorable as the title suggests. It starts out cute enough, but it goes straight to hell pretty quickly after it's revealed that the cute forest animals are devout satanists who like to participate in bloody orgies and want to cause the apocalypse by giving birth to the Antichrist. It's a special kind of insanity that only South Park can pull off.

12. "Cripple Fight" (Season 5, Episode 2)

The controversy over gay adults being part of the Boy Scouts hasn't been an issue since 2015, when the organization changed its policy to lift the existing ban, but "Cripple Fight" has kept its timeless qualities thanks to South Park using the episode to introduce a new character: Jimmy Valmer. The conflict that ensues between Jimmy and Timmy (the latter insanely jealous of the attention the former receives) is brilliantly irreverent, and the remake of the classic fight from John Carpenter's They Live is a stroke of genius.

11. "Imaginationland" (Season 11, Episodes 10-12)

South Park has delivered a string of incredible multi-part episodes, from the time-traveling craziness of "Go God Go" to the anti-Family Guy rants of "Cartoon Wars," but "Imaginationland" is its best serialized story yet of the show. Set over three episodes in Season 11, it's the ultimate movie/TV crossover that we'll never see in live action, as fiction's greatest heroes and villains face each other in battle, and the story revolves around a bet on whether or not they are leprechauns. there's the classic Cartman vs. Kyle.

10. "The Wacky Molestation Adventure" (Sezona 4, Epizoda 16)

There's no arena too dark or too taboo for South Park to explore, and that's effectively summed up in Season 4's title, "The Wacky Molestation Adventure." Riffing on Stephen King's Children Of The Corn, all the kids in the Colorado town of the same name on the show get rid of their "oppressive" parents by accusing them of the "M-word," and there's a fun mix of horror and comedy as everything descends into anarchy and warring factions are created.

9. "Trapped in the Closet" (Season 9, Episode 12)

When South Park swings, it swings, and "Trapped In The Closet" is one of the most eye-catching moves. The episode is one big blow to Scientology, and while it had the unfortunate side effect of breaking up the show's relationship with Scientology member Isaac Hayes, the battle between Stan and the nemesis-antagonist is priceless - perfectly punctuated by John Smith's and Jane Smith's closing credits after Stan calls the church to sue him.

8. "The Passion of the Jew" (Sezona 8, Epizoda 3)

Cartman mocking Kyle for being Jewish was part of South Park's brand of irreverence from the start, but the 2004 release of Mel Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ really got Trey Parker's creative juices flowing, resulting in the genius which is "The Jewish Passion". Cartman's attempt to reboot the film's fan-filled Third Reich may be one of the meanest things the show has ever done, but by far the best thing about this episode is Gibson's portrayal as a madman at Looney Tunes level.

7. "Fish Fingers" (Season 13, Episode 5)

Long before his own anti-Semitic attacks exposed him as a poisonous figure, South Park made Kanye West a prime target for satire, and the show ravaged him as a self-righteous jerk with a ridiculous ego in "Fish Sticks." The "fag chick" joke at the center is incredibly silly, but effectively elicits giggles; Cartman's credit battle with Jimmy seamlessly escalates; and the parody of "Heartless" at the very end is one of the show's best musical moments.

6. "Casa Bonita" (Season 7, Episode 11)

How far would you go to visit a really cool restaurant? As passionate as you are, I doubt you would go as far as Eric Cartman. “Casa Bonita” is another great example of Butters being tortured for our entertainment, with Cartman basically convincing him that there has been a nuclear war so the straw-headed kid will be locked in the hideout for a few days. It's brutal and insane, and easily one of South Park's best Cartman-centric episodes.

5. "Awesom-O" (Season 8, Episode 5)

It might be funny to watch poor innocent Butters get tortured on a regular basis in South Park, but it's even funnier to watch Cartman get tortured when he tries to torture Butters. This idea is at its peak in season eight's "Awesom-O," where Cartman accidentally gets trapped while posing as a hyper-advanced robot. After delving into the lack of originality in Hollywood and Adam Sandler films and discussing the ethics of dealing with artificial intelligence, a fart proves to be the perfect way to end the story, with all of Cartman's colleagues laughing at him as a video of him dancing. to a clipping of Justin Timberlake.

4. "The Simpsons Did It" (Season 6, Episode 7)

You can see this started with frustration in the writing room. By the time South Park was halfway through its sixth season in 2002, The Simpsons was in its 14th season and had over 300 episodes.they used a lot of great ideas before South Park could. Thankfully, that foil turned out to be a fantastic backdrop to one of the series' best chapters. The madness and frustration of Butters' villainous alter-ego Professor Chaos is consistently hilarious as he tries to come up with original ways to terrorize his hometown, and is matched by a truly disgusting but tense plot where Cartman creates a "SeaCiety" by mixing sea monkeys and seeds.

3. "Osama Bin Laden Has Farted Pants" (Season 5, Episode 9)

In the aftermath of the horrific events of 9/11, the film and television industries were challenged to respond appropriately, but South Park took its own course at a time when history was changing. "Osama Bin Laden Has Farting Pants" aired less than a month after the 2001 terrorist attacks and provided incredible catharsis for fans, who were able to take in the commentary on military operations in Afghanistan while also laughing hysterically at Cartman's torture of the titular evil fanatic. like Bugs Bunny.

2. "Scott Tenorman Must Die" (Season 5, Episode 4)

Eric Cartman let a teenager eat his parents. I'll say it again. Eric Cartman let a teenager eat his parents. Since then, South Park has gone to some particularly dark placesfirst in 1997, but it was never blacker than for the fourth episode of the fifth season. "Scott Tenorman Must Die" technically doesn't live up to its title, as the eponymous character ultimately survives his battle with pop culture's most notoriously bony fourth grader, but his fate is undeniably worse than death. After all, not only did he accidentally become a cannibal by feeding on the people who gave birth and raised him, but the members of Radiohead also embarrass him.

1. "You're Getting Old" (Season 15, Episode 7)

"Maturity" has clearly never been a South Park thing (factored into the main characters being perma-teens), but that's part of what makes "Growing Up" so special. It certainly has its immature aspects - namely, two farmers whose mission is to protect Randy's underwear when he starts performing musically.shit in your pants– but above all it is a powerful and honest meditation on aging, the development of taste and the cynicism of adulthood. If the 2011 episode had been the series finale, it would have been the perfect ending to the series, but Trey Parker and Matt Stone have decided to make us laugh in new, inventive, and timely ways over the past 12 years. First I declared "Stariš" asSouth Park's best episode2012, and it's a feeling I'm still getting off.

Every episode of South Park is available to stream alongSubscription to HBO Max, although you also need itParamount+ subscriptionto lookvarious specials of the show, uključujući "South Park: Post Covid" en "South Park The Streaming Wars."