Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut

"Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut"
South Park episode

Cartman is told that his mother is a hermaphrodite.
Episode no. Season 2
Episode 2
Directed by Trey Parker
Written by David Goodman
Trey Parker
Production code 202
Original air date April 22, 1998
Episode chronology
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South Park (season 2)
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"Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut" is the second episode of the second season of the animated series South Park, and the 15th episode of the series overall. It premiered on Comedy Central in the United States on April 22, 1998. This episode concludes the storyline of the season one episode "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut", where everyone was about to find out who Cartman's father is, until Mephesto was shot. Rushing to save him, the four boys and Chef drive him to Hell's Pass Hospital. Meanwhile, the town of South Park experiences a massive blizzard.

The episode premiered after the season premiere "Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus" was aired in its place four weeks earlier as a April Fools' Day prank. Upset viewers wrote over 2,000 complaints to Comedy Central within a week of its premiere date. "Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut" was originally to air on May 20, but it was moved up in response to the angry feedback.

Contents

Plot

Right as Mephesto is about to announce who Cartman's father is, the electricity goes out, the room is darkened, and two gunshots are fired. As the lights come back on, everyone discovers that Mephesto has been shot, which raises the question: Who shot Mephesto? Chef feels his pulse, sees that he is still alive and rushes him to the hospital. Upon entering the hospital, they meet Dr. Doctor, and a nurse with no arms named Nurse Goodley; they are the only ones working in the hospital. During that time, he manages to get Mephesto on a life support system, but has many other patients to tend to. Outside, a terrible snowstorm brews.

While the rest of the adults in town and a visiting television crew film a reenactment for America's Most Wanted, a tree falls on the power line causing the power to go out. All of the adults are now stuck in a little building until the storm lets up. After only a few minutes, Jimbo comes up with the reckless solution of cannibalism in order to stay alive, since no one has had any food in hours. They choose to eat Eric Roberts first, and later the rest of the production crew. The power also goes out back in the hospital. Regardless, a plan must be made to put it back on. Dr. Doctor suggests that they split into two teams: team A, consisting of everyone in the room except Kenny and team B, consisting of Kenny. His job is to reconnect the generator, while Team A goes upstairs to a lounge, with Dr. Doctor giving advice to Kenny via walkie-talkie. Kenny is later told by Doctor that there is a nice, heated path to the generator, but only after arriving, much to his annoyance.

Once Kenny gets to the generator, he discovers that there is no wire connecting the cords, so he decides to make the connection himself to restore the electricity, fatally electrocuting himself in the process. Thanks to his brave deed, the power is back on at the hospital so Mephesto can survive. He gathers everyone in the emergency room for a surprising revelation of Cartman's father: his mother Liane. The group is shocked upon hearing this and Mephesto explains that Liane is a hermaphrodite, someone with both male and female genitals. He also reveals that hermaphrodites cannot have children, so Liane must have made another woman pregnant on her intercourse spree, and that woman gave birth to Eric, which prompts the narrator's final question: Who is Cartman's mother? An angered Cartman, however, refuses to pursue the issue further.

Production

Written by series co-creator Trey Parker and David Goodman, and also directed by Trey Parker, "Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut" was rated TV-MA in the United States. It originally aired in the United States on Comedy Central on April 22, 1998.[1] This episode continues the storyline from the season one episode, "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut".

This episode was originally to air on April 1, 1998, four weeks after "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut" was first broadcast,[2] but instead of continuing the storyline from "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut", Parker and co-creator Matt Stone made an episode regarding the South Park minor characters Terrance and Philip, called Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus", as an April Fool's Day prank on viewers of the show.[3] Upset fans wrote more than 2,000 angry e-mail complaints to Comedy Central within a week of the episode's original broadcast,[4] and media outlets said some fans harbored a grudge against the show more than five years after the episode was broadcast.[5] This episode was originally set to air on May 20, 1998, but Comedy Central moved up the airdate to April 22, 1998, in response to the angry feedback from fans.[6][7]

The outcome of "Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut" was revisited in the season fourteen episode, "200", where it is revealed that Liane is not Cartman's father after all, as revealed by Cartman's hand puppet persona, Mitch Conner. In the following episode, "201", it is revealed that Cartman's actual father is Jack Tenorman.[8] Jack was also the father of Cartman's arch rival, Scott Tenorman. In the season five episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die", Cartman had Jack and Scott's mother killed, and fed their remains to Scott in the form of chili. Scott reveals that he is Cartman's half-brother, and he labels him responsible for his father's death.

The episode also starts a running gag regarding Cartman, namely that whenever he hears the lyrics to the song "Come Sail Away" by Styx, he has an overriding compulsion to finish singing it, hinting that he may have some form of OCD. The other kids use is as a source of amusement throughout the episode, in one case, when Kyle sings the first couple lines, and Cartman sings the remaining song in 37 seconds flat.

Home release

On April 27, 1999, "Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut" was released on the "South Park: Volume 7" VHS tape which also contained "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut", in a third series of South Park home video releases. Volume 7 was sold along with Volume 8, which contained "Chickenlover" and "Ike's Wee Wee", and Volume 9, which contained "Conjoined Fetus Lady" and "The Mexican Staring Frog of Southern Sri Lanka".[9]

All thirteen episodes of the second season, including "Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut", were released on a DVD box set on June 3, 2003.

References

  1. ^ Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut (Season 2, Episode 2) - Episode Guide, southparkstudios.com, http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/episodes/s02e02-cartmans-mom-is-still-a-dirty-slut, retrieved 2010-12-05 
  2. ^ Belcher, Walt (February 25, 1998). "PBS offers a nostalgic look at '40s". Tampa Tribune: p. 6. 
  3. ^ "Barbra you moron, you killed Kenny". The Sunday News: p. 31. May 17, 1998. 
  4. ^ Feran, Tom (April 4, 1998). ""Tom Jones" big, bawdy, well done". The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio): p. 1F. 
  5. ^ Clodfelter, Tim (July 4, 2003). "Lots of fun some Comedy Central shows make it to DVD". Winston-Salem Journal: p. E4. 
  6. ^ Low, Bob (1998-04-17). "The Net; Web goes toon barmy; Bob Low surfs the Net". Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland): p. 43. 
  7. ^ Johnson, Allan (1998-04-17). "On his first CD, "Raging Bully", Bobby Slayton takes no prionsers". Chicago Tribune: p. 10. 
  8. ^ "201". South Park. April 22, 2010 (2010-04-22). No. 6, season 14.
  9. ^ "The Twisted Fun Continues as All-New Wave 3 of South Park Videos Become Available April 27; But Like Kenny, Volumes 1, 2 & 3 are Dead!". Business Wire (Burbank, California). April 19, 1999. 

External links
Season 2