A Song of Ass and Fire

"A Song of Ass and Fire" is the eighth episode of the seventeenth season of South Park and the 245th episode of the series overall. The episode premiered in the United States on Comedy Central on November 20, 2013. The episode serves as a continuation of the previous episode "Black Friday", in which the children of South Park, role-playing as characters from Game of Thrones, are split into two factions over whether to collectively purchase bargain-priced Xbox Ones or PlayStation 4s at an upcoming Black Friday sale at the local mall, where Randy Marsh has been made the Captain of mall security. As with the previous episode, the clothing worn by the characters in the opening title sequence is altered to match the garb worn by the characters in the storyline, though the soundtrack has now been modified to match the tone of the storyline as well. The story concludes in the following episode, "Titties and Dragons".^[1]

Plot

In continuation from the previous episode, the children of South Park are split into two factions over whether to purchase bargain-priced Xbox Ones or PlayStation 4s (PS4) at an upcoming Black Friday sale at the South Park Mall. Kenny, role-playing as Princess McCormick, is revealed to have joined Stan's pro-PlayStation 4 faction because Cartman, who leads the pro-Xbox One faction, would not make him a princess. Meanwhile, as pre-Black Friday violence increases, the South Park Mall, where Randy Marsh has been made the Captain of security, announces a 10% increase to the discount given to the first people in the mall, leading to more shoppers gathering in front of the mall ahead of the sale.

Seeking an advantage to counter the PS4 faction's increasing ranks, Cartman contacts Microsoft, but CEO Steve Ballmer dismisses the importance of the children's conflict and the commercialization of the console wars. When Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates learns of this, he has Ballmer murdered in order to personally see to it that the Xbox wins the console wars. Gates allies himself with Channel 9's Morning News correspondent Niles Lawson, promising that the Black Friday violence will ensure high ratings. Gates then announces on that program that Microsoft is supplying guns and edged weapons to the pro-Xbox children to help them fight their way through the other shoppers. Lawson, playing both sides of the conflict, then informs Sony's CEO of this during a post-coital discussion, and in response, the CEO gives Kenny a Sailor Moon-like brooch that turns him into a "magical girl"-style princess with powers to help his side win the war.

Cartman also sends Butters and Scott Malkinson to the New Mexico home of A Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin for information on upcoming storylines, but Martin does nothing but regale the two children with plot points that emphasize male characters' penises. He persists in this, even exposing his own penis and conducting a similarly-themed chorus, stopping only when Butters informs him of their Black Friday concerns. At this point Martin tells him that he has connections with which he may be able to help their cause. Cartman also suggests to Kyle, during a walk in the "Garden of Andros", that they could damage the PS4 cause if Stan, their leader, were grounded. When Kyle objects to this as "playing dirty", Cartman informs him that Stan's father Randy is now working in the mall's security, which Cartman interprets as a dirty ploy on the part of Stan himself to more easily acquire PS4s. As he did with Kenny in the previous episode, Cartman tells Kyle that they are merely using their allies to help get into the mall to get Xboxes, and becomes angered when the elderly owner of the back yard that serves as the "Garden" informs Kyle that Cartman has used this ploy with others. Cartman is also unnerved later on when walking through the garden with Bill Gates, who uses the same line of argument with Cartman.

Lawson then reports that the mall, on Martin's suggestion, has moved the Black Friday sale one week from November 29 to December 6, and is now offering 96% off purchases to the first 100 people inside the mall, an announcement that leads to a brawl outside the mall.

Critical reception

Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode a "Great" 8.4/10, slightly lower than "Black Friday", saying: "Though not quite as strong as last week's Console War episode, 'A Song of Ass and Fire' was nevertheless entertaining and featured a number of great laugh-out-loud moments."^[2]

Marcus Gilmer from The A.V. Club gave the episode an A−, writing that the last two episodes "prove there's still plenty of life left in the show". He wrote: "Among all of these bigger thematic elements are, of course, great jokes and gags: Cartman's 'wizard and a king' exchange with the Microsoft operator; the boys having to tilt Cartman to get him through the McCormick's doorway; George R. R. Martin torturing poor Butters by not letting the wiener thing go and promising the pizzas (or dragons) are on their way and will be amazing. And, of course, the great anime-aping segment."^[3]

References

External links

• "A Song of Ass and Fire". South Park Studios.
• "Episode 1708 'A Song of Ass and Fire' Press Release". South Park Studios. November 10, 2013.