Titties and Dragons

"Titties and Dragons" is the ninth episode of the seventeenth season of South Park, and the 246th episode of the series overall. The episode premiered in the United States on Comedy Central on December 4, 2013. It is the conclusion of a three-episode story arc that began with "Black Friday", and continued with "A Song of Ass and Fire". The story centers upon the children of South Park, role playing as characters from Game of Thrones, 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 show's opening title sequence is modified to depict the characters in their role-playing garb, though the soundtrack has been altered to include the penis-themed chorus singing to the Game of Thrones opening theme introduced in the previous episode.

Plot

In the conclusion of a three-part storyline, the children of South Park are split into two factions over whether to purchase bargain-priced Microsoft Xbox Ones or Sony PlayStation 4s (PS4) at an upcoming Black Friday sale at the South Park Mall, a schism that sees best friends Stan Marsh (PS4) and Kyle Broflovski (Xbox) on opposite sides. Kenny McCormick, still turned into an anime princess, prevents a Microsoft naval blockade of a PS4 shipment. Needing to circumvent the thousands of shoppers now blocking the mall entrance, the PS4 faction turn their attention to the Red Robin restaurant adjoining the mall, which serves as a side entrance. As they try to figure out how to control the Red Robin in order to do this, the Xbox One faction appears at the PS4 camp to announce that they have given up, and wish to join the PS4 ranks, on account of that faction's greater numbers and increased support for the PS4. Though Stan does not trust them, Cartman and Kyle say they have a way to monopolize the Red Robin: by renting it out for a wedding party, which would require the two factions to pool their money together.

Cartman subsequently has a private talk with Stan in the "Garden of Andros", during which he suggests that Stan allow Butters and Scott Malkinson into the mall first to take on the brunt of the violent holiday shoppers, so that Cartman and Stan can sneak past the melee and acquire PS4s for themselves, which he says what the plan is entirely about, a line of persuasion that Cartman has employed with Kenny and Kyle in both of the previous two episodes. However, the elderly owner of the back yard that serves as the "Garden" informs Stan that this is a ruse on the part of the Xbox One faction, who have merely feigned surrender in order to lock the PS4 faction in the Red Robin while they acquire the console of their choice. Stan is further angered to be told that this was Kyle's idea. To prevent Stan from informing his allies of this, Cartman defecates in the old man's yard and frames Stan for it, resulting in Stan being grounded. When Kyle learns of this, he goes to Stan and tells him that he did what he did because he knew in his heart that the Xbox is better for all of them, but Stan says that Kyle betrayed what little friendship remained between them. Kyle says that Stan was not playing fair by having his father work at the mall as a security guard, but Stan reveals that he was not aware of his father's new job. He is also hurt that Kyle never bothered to ask him, and vows never to play video games with Kyle again.

As Randy Marsh's mall security guards deal with the increasing shopper violence and lives are lost, George R. R. Martin arrives at the mall to cut the ribbon that will open the mall for the Black Friday sale. However, he stalls by regaling the agitated crowd with musings on his penis, even exposing himself to the crowd. An impatient shopper charges forward, slices off Martin's penis, and cuts the ribbon, allowing the crowd into the mall, leading to mass deaths.

In the Red Robin, Kyle, Kenny and their allies turn on Cartman and his faction, revealing that they are no longer Xbox supporters. Kyle says that while he may have betrayed Stan, he will make sure that Stan gets a PS4. The standoff is then interrupted by Bill Gates and the head of Sony, whose arrival is the work of Stan, who appears to say that they are done with betrayals. Stan says that they have all been pitted against each other by Microsoft and Sony for the sake of marketing, regardless of the friendships it costs, and tells the two executives that if they desire a war so badly that they should fight it themselves. The two executives comply, and engage in a physical altercation that sees the Sony executive brutally killed and Gates and Xbox victorious, after which the children somberly journey through the blood-and-corpse-covered mall to purchase their Xbox Ones all while Channel 9 News is reporting on the successful launch of Black Friday, while in the background a very relaxed Randy walks away with a brand-new television. While playing with his new console, Cartman, still traumatized by the bloodshed, realizes that he wishes to play outside, saying that their improvised Game of Thrones role-playing over the past few weeks has been filled with so much the drama, action and romance that they do not need Microsoft or Sony to have fun.

The episode ends with an advertisement for the video game South Park: The Stick of Truth, which the narrator says is "coming to stores soon".

Reception

Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode an "Amazing" score of 9.0, writing, "The final chapter of South Park's Black Friday trilogy finished strong, with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, subtle commentary and genius satire. There were a few nitpicks—most of which were negligible—but overall, this week's episode proved that Matt and Trey can still dish out a satisfying multipart [sic] arc, with style."^[1]

Marcus Gilmer of The A.V. Club gave the episode an A− rating, praising the "Red Robin Wedding", and said, "The show’s ability to inject a bit of soul is one of the best tricks the writers have pulled off regularly throughout the show's run. Beneath all the crude jokes and the potty humor, there's legitimate heart that manages to be genuine and self-aware without ever straying into the maudlin."^[2]

References

External links

• "Titties and Dragons". South Park Studios.
• "Episode 1709 "Titties and Dragons" Press Release". South Park Studios. December 1, 2013.