Cash for Gold (South Park)

"Cash for Gold" is the second episode of the sixteenth season of the American animated television series South Park, and the 225th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on March 21, 2012. The episode centers on Stan's irritation with J&G Shopping Network and television home shopping networks in general, as he discovers that they prey upon the elderly and fleece them of their money,^[1][2] as well as Cartman's new entrepreneurship inspired by that same idea.^[3]

The episode was written by series co-creator Trey Parker and is rated TV-MA L in the United States.

Plot

Stan Marsh's grandfather Marvin gives him a bejeweled bolo tie, saying that the Jewels & Gems (J&G) Shopping Network, from which he bought it, claimed that its 14 carat gold and diamonds makes it worth $6,000. After Cartman teases him for wearing such a tacky and unfashionable item, Stan takes it to a Cash For Gold store where he is offered $15 for it. Other such merchants similarly offer him little or nothing for the item, and Stan realizes that his grandfather has been swindled. Stan tries to talk Marvin out of buying him or his sister Shelly more worthless items, but Marvin suffers from Alzheimer's disease and instead relates to Stan an oft-repeated anecdote of a Border Collie named Patches he once had, but laments that he can no longer remember what she looked like.

Stan begins a crusade to stop such abuse, which takes him from cash-for-gold merchants to a smelting plant, and subsequently a jewel factory in India. There he realizes that the gold and jewels are on a constant loop, being made into tacky items and sold to senile senior citizens, who give them as gifts. The recipients sell them for cash, and the gold and jewels are separated so they can be reused.

Meanwhile, Cartman makes the same discovery for completely different reasons. Instead of stopping the scam, he wants to participate in it himself, with Butters as his sidekick. Cartman not only starts offering his classmates cash for gold, he also sets up his own television channel and mimics the tone and techniques of Dean, the host on J&G. He initially visits a jewelry shop to restock, but then decides to purchase directly from the factory in India. When he arrives in India, he notices the women at the shop are using the very same mannerisms as he and Dean use, revealing they are scam artists as well.

An employee at the Indian factory gives Stan a picture frame as a gift. Stan puts a picture of Marvin and his deceased dog Patches in this frame and gives it to him to jog his memory, successfully talking him out of buying jewelry for his grandchildren. Marvin looks at Stan in the studded bolo and does not remember giving it to him, but tells him it is ugly, prompting Stan to tell him that he will not wear it any more. Stan also calls the J&G host, Dean, and tells him to kill himself for having conned numerous elderly people out of their money. This sparks a trend, and Dean, deluged with calls from the elderly repeating the request, eventually complies and shoots himself in the head, splashing the worthless display with his blood.

Reception

Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode a "Great" score of 8 out of 10, noting that although the episode "did take a few scenes to really get cooking", the clips from the infomercial segments were the highlight of the episode, as was "the montage surrounding whoever smelt it denied it and rhymed it actually dealt it". Nicholson also noted the similarity of Stan's phone call to J&G, in which he angrily urges the host to kill himself, to the "Marketing and Advertising" bit from comedian Bill Hicks' 1997 album Arizona Bay.^[4]

Marcus Gilmer of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B- score. Comparing it to the previous episode, he noted, "There were plenty of lines that made me laugh" but that "the episode falls short of previous efforts at social commentary, including last week’s episode".^[5]

References

External links

• "Cash For Gold" at South Park Studios.