Red Man's Greed
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| South Park episode | |
| "Red Man's Greed" | |
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| Episode no. | 103 |
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| Airdate | April 30, 2003 |
| South Park - Season 7 March 19, 2003 – December 17, 2003 |
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| ← Season 6 | Season 8 → |
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| List of all South Park episodes | |
"Red Man's Greed" is episode 707 of the Comedy Central series South Park. It originally aired on April 30, 2003.
[edit] Plot
The boys and their parents go to a casino on a Native American reservation, where Kyle's dad ends up losing the house betting on blackjack. It turns out he's not the only one. The entire town is bought out by the Native Americans, who plan to tear it down so that they can build a superhighway connecting their casino to Denver. The entire town is forced to leave their homes, and have no way to buy back their town.
The boys meet with some of the other kids in town to come up with an idea. An unfamiliar, "new boy" called Alex Glick points out that they have to save the town. The boys advise their parents to get all the money they have, and then go bet it at the casino. If they win a round of roulette, they would have enough money to buy back the town, plus $50,000. Amazingly, they win, but then, feeling greedy, the adults bet all their winnings again, and lose. However, they refuse to give up, and stand in front of the Native Americans' bulldozers, blocking their path. Alex rejoices with the rest of the townspeople. The casino's owner, Chief Runs With Premise, plots another way to get the townspeople gone.
He decides to deliver them all blankets, after infecting them with S.A.R.S. using naked Chinese men; the whole town gets sick, except for Stan, and his father tells him that if he doesn't find a way to cure SARS, only 98% of the town would be left. At the same time, however, the casino owner's son gets infected with S.A.R.S. accidentally, and none of the Native Americans' herbs are able to cure him. The owner decides to take out his anger on the townspeople with Operation Shock and Awe. Stan meanwhile goes to a wise old man in a trailer in another town, who gives him an "inward journey" brought on by sniffing paint thinner. He discovers the middle-class white man's way to cure sickness by utilizing Campbell's chicken noodle soup, Dayquil and Sprite. The people of South Park all recover.
The casino chief, Runs With Premise, arrives and is shocked to find not half-dead people, but healthy people. He begs them for the cure to S.A.R.S. for his son, and they give it in exchange for their town back. Alex gives the lesson that the South Park is really more than a town, it's a community of people. Stan finally asks who he is, and Alex explains that he's some guy named Alex Glick who got to do a guest voice. Kyle tells him to "get the hell out", and Alex leaves, waving to the home TV audience, sending a greeting to his family.
[edit] Trivia
- Alex Glick won a guest voice role in a charity auction, and appeared on the show as a child with a red sweater emblazoned with his first name.
- The story is an ironic inversion of American history, switching the historical and economic roles of American Indians and European settlers. In history, American Indians were displaced from their homes by the U.S. expansion. In the episode, American Indians own a huge economically advanced casino, and the superhighway they want to build through South Park is reminiscent of the First Transcontinental Railroad, which was built through Indian lands. Also the idea of giving the South Park residents S.A.R.S is a reverse satire of the Native Americans in history catching smallpox from the European settlers.
- The Indian leader's name is "Runs with Premise," and his son is named "Premise Running Thin."
- Randy Marsh's eyebrows seem to appear and disappear throughout the episode.
[edit] References to popular culture
- The song the townspeople sing is Love Is a Battlefield by Pat Benatar with acapella "BA BUM BUMM" emphasis as in the rock video percussion part for lack of a background soundtrack. This is the second appearance of the song.
- The first time the Chief is moving into the town and the boys standing in his way is a reference to the famous Tank Man.
- SARS was a disease which was very prominent in the news when the episode originally aired, largely afflicting persons from Asia.
- Shock and Awe was a catchphrase used for the strategies employed during the operation to invade Iraq, which had begun when the episode originally aired.
- The using of blankets to give the townspeople SARS is a reference to an infamous incident in Pontiac's Rebellion (1763), when British officers gave American Indians blankets exposed to smallpox in an attempt to infect them.
- Chicken soup, NyQuil / DayQuil and Sprite commonly appear on many message boards as a lower-middle-class cold remedy. [1]
- Mr. Garrison says "You had me at 'free blanket'," a reference to Jerry Maguire.
- When the kids reminisce about the times they've had in South Park, a dragon attacking a TV Studio is shown from the episode It Hits The Fan, however this did not happen in South Park.
| Preceded by "Lil' Crime Stoppers" |
South Park episodes | Followed by "South Park Is Gay!" |
