Butters' Very Own Episode
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| South Park episode | |
| "Butters' Very Own Episode" | |
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| Episode no. | 79 |
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| Airdate | December 12, 2001 |
| South Park - Season 5 June 20, 2001 – December 12, 2001 |
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| ← Season 4 | Season 6 → |
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| List of all South Park episodes | |
"Butters' Very Own Episode" is episode 514 of the Comedy Central series South Park. It originally aired on December 12, 2001.
[edit] Plot
Butters' Very Own Episode is presented as if it was not an episode of South Park, but rather "the Butters Show," complete with its own theme song (a parody of "Windy").
In this episode, Butters is excited because his parents' anniversary is coming up, and the whole family is going to Bennigan's to celebrate. A few days before this event, Butters' mom asks him to go and spy on his father, to find out what gift he was buying her. However, Butters (without understanding what he was seeing) finds his father going into a gay movie theater and bath house to have casual sex with homosexual men. He blithely reports back what he finds (complete with photographic evidence) to his mother, who goes completely insane. Mrs. Stotch then begins painting over everything and talking obsessively about making "everything clean, everything new..."
Butters' father returns home later, apparently oblivious to his wife's strange behavior. He asks Butters what he should get Mrs. Stotch for their anniversary and, when Butters cannot think of anything, announces that he is going out "shopping" again. Butters' mother is visibly distressed by this, and Butters goes to follow his father again, despite what his mother said, thinking that his mom would want a new paintbrush, and he is going to tell his dad. Butters then sneaks into the bath house (where he briefly encounters Mr. Garrison) and decides to surprise Mr. Stotch, whom he finds lying naked on a bed masturbating. Butters is cheerfully oblivious to the true nature of the situation and greets his father, telling him he'll see him at home. Mr. Stotch concludes that Butters must know the truth, and later advises Butters not to tell what he's seen, saying it's okay to tell a little white lie (echoing the justification Butters' mom used for having Butters spy) if it keeps people from getting hurt. Butters responds that that won't be an issue, as he has already spilled the beans to his mother, which in turn alarms Mr. Stotch.
At that moment Mrs. Stotch (who has decided to kill herself) enters the room and dully announces that she will be taking Butters for a car ride; Mr. Stotch, she states, will be staying home alone so he can think about what he has done. Mr. Stotch is concerned, but momentarily at a loss for words. It is revealed that Butters' mom intends to kill him so that he won't be left without a mother, but Butters is once more oblivious to her motivations and proceeds to confide in her about difficulties he has been having at school. She sends her car with Butters in it into the river, expecting him to drown, and then returns to their house to hang herself. Butters assumes that the incident with the car was an accident, and when his car is washed ashore, he tries to go back home so that their anniversary won't be ruined and they will still be able to go to Bennigan's.
Meanwhile, Mr. Stotch walks in on his wife writing her suicide note, and prevents her from taking her own life. He admits to his affairs, explaining that his fascination with homosexuality grew out of experimentation on the Internet, and likens it to an addiction and a sickness. Butters' father refuses to take responsibility for his actions however, blaming the Internet itself for everything that had transpired. Mr. Stotch insists that he still loves his wife and wants to save their family, but upon finding out that Butters is "dead", he agrees to help cover up the deed and the two concoct a story about Butters being abducted by "some Puerto Rican guy."
As the media centers in on the "missing child" case, the pair are inducted into a "club" of people whose loved ones have "mysteriously vanished", including Gary Condit, O.J. Simpson, and the Ramseys. Butters reappears in the end and, when his parents begin fighting over which version of their story he must tell, he scolds them for lying and trying to teach him to lie as well. Agreeing with their son, the two go before the press and reveal everything that has happened; the father's homosexuality and affairs, the mother's attempted murder, and the whole cover-up. This is followed by a lengthy scene in which Butters' father repeatedly screams about "slimy scumbag liars" and "murdering murderers" while the camera cuts to the blank but smiling faces of Condit, Simpson, and the Ramseys. Butters, having been completely ignorant of the truth, is aghast and deeply traumatized. When Stan, Kyle and Cartman look at him in shock, he attempts to respond with a joke. He then explains to the boys that, while the knowledge of what really transpired is horrible and his faith in the inherent goodness of truth is shaken, he's certain a delicious meal at Bennigan's will get him feeling back to normal: "I'm gonna be ok!" The boys are stunned and Stan asks "Really?" to which Butters sadly replies "No, I'm lying."
He then leaves to join his family at Bennigan's.
[edit] Development of Butters
This episode is perhaps most notable for marking the point where Butters became a popular and important character. Before this, he had been little more than a supporting character. With Kenny dead (having died "permanently" in the previous episode), a spot had been opened, temporarily at least, for a new main character, a role Butters held until "Professor Chaos" the following season. In DVD commentary, Parker and Stone indicate they already planned to make Butters the fourth group member, and created this episode as a prelude to him assuming a more prominent role in the series. He still remains a common character today, appearing in large roles in many episodes even after Kenny was resurrected.
[edit] Trivia
The scene at the resturant, where Simpson, the Ramseys, and Condit start chanting, "One of us, one of us, gooble gobble, gooble gobble," is a homage to the famous scene in the 1932 horror film, Freaks.
| Preceded by: "Kenny Dies" |
South Park episodes | Followed by: "Freak Strike" |
