Cartman's Incredible Gift
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| “Cartman's Incredible Gift” | |
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| South Park episode | |
 Cartman counts his reward money |
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| Episode no. | Season 8 Episode 124 |
| Written by | Trey Parker |
| Directed by | Trey Parker |
| Original airdate | December 8, 2004 |
| Season 8 episodes | |
| South Park - Season 8 March 17, 2004 – December 15, 2004 |
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| ← Season 7 | Season 9 → |
| List of South Park episodes | |
"Cartman's Incredible Gift" is episode 124 of the Comedy Central series South Park. It originally aired December 8, 2004. Though a minor part of the episode, it marks the last appearance of the sometimes-seen South Park Elementary school bus driver Ms. Veronica Crabtree. The episode also continues South Park's critical view of psychics, previously seen in the episode "The Biggest Douche in the Universe".
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[edit] Plot synopsis
Cartman attempts to fly by jumping off of his roof with cardboard wings attached to his arms. He goes into a short coma, and wakes up in the hospital, where he shares a room with a victim of a serial killer. The killer cuts off the left hands of all his victims. Just as the police are lamenting the victim's death, Cartman manages to guess the hospital food's dinner and a few other obvious, routine things, which leads the gullible cop Harrison Yates to believe that Cartman is a "child wunderkind" with psychic powers. Cartman is taken to the scene of one of the murders where he has "visions" of ice cream and Double Stuff Oreos (which no doubt have more to do with his own cravings than the actual crime). Yates makes the connection to Tom Johannsen, the owner of the ice-cream store, and he is brutally arrested. Cartman ends up getting more innocent people arrested, including a group of rival "psychics". The left-hand murders continue, but the gullible cops believe these are copycat killings rather than being committed by a single killer (who is seen to be rather eccentric) still on the loose. At every crime scene a disturbed man in a blood-spattered rain slicker named Michael Deats appears. He says to Kyle, Stan and Kenny, "They're never gunna catch the killer, he's too smart." then takes out a female mannequin torso and speaks to it as if it is his sexually abusive mother before walking away.
Kyle realizes that Cartman is a fraud, and is frustrated by the police's stupidity. Though he has followed Deats to his home and obtained fingerprint and blood samples, he is completely ignored by the police. Deciding he has to do something to stop the killer, he imitates Cartman's attempted flight so that he passes into a coma, and when he wakes up claims to have psychic powers and gives the police his original findings. Yates is skeptical but goes to investigate the suspected murderer anyway, who, by this point, has abducted Cartman, furious that the self proclaimed psychic has credited his work to others.
When Yates arrives, he finds many hands on the killer's wall, but ignores them, claiming that they were right hands. He says that when looking at one's left hand (with the palm facing the viewer), the thumb points to the left. The hands on the wall are nailed with the palms facing the wall, making the thumbs point to the right. Although Cartman is gagged up in the basement, Yates cannot hear him and leaves the house unsatisfied, but he questions his own observation about the hands. He goes back to the station, and after a montage depicting running elaborate criminology tests, exercising, and even losing track of what he was doing, he figures out his mistake, returns to Deats' house, and, he kills Deats, right before Deats was about to kill Cartman.
Back at the hospital, Mr. Johannsen and the psychics are released from prison, along with Yates and Cartman, and praise Kyle as the real psychic. Kyle then tells them that there are no psychics and says that there is a logical explanation for every psychic story ever heard. The other "psychics", however, decide to reignite their conflict with Cartman, and engage in a "final battle". But just as they begin to gesticulate and vocalize as if acting out a psychic duel, Kyle yells at them to stop, at which point the light bulbs in the room explode and some electronic devices fall off their shelf. Kyle is surprised, but asserts that there must be some logical explanation for this while everyone looks at him with raised eyebrows.
[edit] Cultural references
- When Butters tells Kyle not to fly too near to the Sun or else he will fall into the ocean he is referring to the Greek myth of Icarus, where his wings of wax melted when he flew too close to the Sun and fell into what is now known as the Icarian Sea.
- Most of Cartman's story arc in this episode — falling into a coma, waking up with "psychic abilities", and then searching for a killer — is based on Stephen King's The Dead Zone.
- The killer bears many similarities to Stephen King's character Frank Dodd from The Dead Zone, in particular the fact that he wears a raincoat when he kills. The killer also mentions that Cartman would be his nineteenth victim, a recurring number throughout King's works.
- The noise that accompanies Cartman's psychic powers is reminiscent of the noise made during Ty Webb's blindfolded putting scene in the film Caddyshack.
- On the wall in the serial killer's cellar, the word 'paw' in written. This is probably a play at the title of horror movie Saw, which is also about a sadistic serial killer.
[edit] Red Dragon references
This episode relies on Thomas Harris' book Red Dragon heavily, especially in regard to the serial killer's scenes:
- Michael Deats, the killer, has a cleft lip, just as Francis Dolarhyde did in the book. His overall appearance seems to parody the character as portrayed in Michael Mann's film adaptation, Manhunter (film).
- Cartman is bound to a wheelchair by Deats, just as Freddy Lounds was in Harris' book.
- The projector scene is a parody of Red Dragon as well. Cartman, just like Lounds, was forced to watch slide shows of the killer's "work". In this scene, Deats says "Do you see?" after every slide. Dolarhyde does this in the book in a sharp series of dialogue between himself and Lounds.
- Deats identifies himself to the police as "God". Dolarhyde, in the book, had a God complex which was explained by Will Graham in a briefing to the police.
- The killer likes to cut the eyes out of photos. In Red Dragon, Dolarhyde cuts the eyes out of some of the photos in his scrapbook. Also, he inserts mirrors in the orbital sockets of the Jacobi and Leeds families, which would have a similar effect to cutting the eyes out of photos.
- Deats, like many serial killers, likes to return to the scene of the crime. Dolarhyde does this to a degree.
- Cartman tries to repent his 'sins'. Lounds does the same, regarding the lies he told in the Tattler.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by “Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset” |
South Park episodes | Followed by “Woodland Critter Christmas” |
