South Park: ''Stanley's Cup'' Review - IGN (original) (raw)

South Park ends its tenth season on a high note.

With the episode "Stanley's Cup," the tenth season of South Park has now come to an end. And in a refreshing change of pace, there was no cliffhanger, no two-parter, and nothing to leave you waiting for the next season to start. Instead we got an excellent stand-alone episode which exemplified what makes the show so good: offensive satire."Stanley's Cup" had a plot that followed the story of the 1992 film The Mighty Ducks nearly identically. With Stan filling in for Emilio Estevez's character, Gordon Bombay, we watched as he is forced into coaching a pee-wee hockey team. But like all good sports stories the team that Stan is set to coach is a rag-tag bunch of losers who can barely skate, let alone play hockey. But that isn't stopping them from trying to win the big game for a bedridden teammate with cancer… the only problem is that they are set to fill in for the Colorado Avalanche against the Detroit Red Wings. And what totally makes this whole story is that they break every sports movie cliché in the end by having the team get beat up, bloody, hating their coach (Stan), with the cancer patient actually dying of disappointment. If this story would have just played out normally that would have been fine, but the fact that Stan is totally aware of the fact that all the events are dramatic movie parodies makes it even funnier. As an example, at the end when he assures his team that they were going to win because according to every movie ever made they were supposed to. And according to movie convention Stan's team was supposed to win, but since it is South Park they were going to lose in the worst way possible. This type of storytelling has been perfected by the show, with characters fully aware that the way things are going down are to a set pattern, so they drag themselves through it annoyed. This is in fact the best way to make fun of a full genre, by having a character aware that they are in a parody and having them reluctantly decide to go with it. Hopefully we will see more movie genres spoofed in the future as "Stanley's Cup" proved how spot on they could make this form of satire.

Stan looks shocked that his Pee-Wee Hockey team will be taking on the Detroit Red Wings.

There were many things that were absolutely hilarious about the episode but we found the fact that it played out like an underdog sports movie to be the best part. As mentioned Stan's reaction to the satire added to the level of humor, but the uses of obligatory movie scenes was top notch. From the kid with cancer (and his parents' reaction) to the flashback scene, we felt like we were watching a sports movie, but with writers that sarcastically break out of the cookie-cutter nature of the storytelling. By having Blur's song "Song 2" playing at the beginning of Stan's first pee-wee game, it made it feel like a big time hockey game - so when all the players were slipping, falling and playing with their equipment instead of playing hockey we were reminded that that is what actual pee-wee hockey is really like. But the moment that broke from the sports film stereotype best was when the team discussed what they needed in order to win their next game. Remembering movies with situations like their own, they decided that they needed to recruit a better player - a Canadian ringer. In this case it was Kyle's little brother Ike, who actually could hit the puck with a hockey stick, effectively making him better than the rest of the team.With the hilarious satire, and the parody of a well known movie genre we couldn't help but love this episode. Even though it featured sports as the theme, it wasn't any funnier for those who played hockey as a kid, but could be enjoyed by anybody that has seen this type of film. The only problem that we had with the episode was the disregard for Steve Irwin's death. South Park has never had any problems making fun of taboo topics, but it just felt like it is too soon to make these comments - and it probably wouldn't have been so bad, but they had two jokes right next to each other. Once again this is South Park's devil-may-care attitude, and like all great episodes there is always something thrown in that may offend or catch the audience of guard. And as much as these comments may occasionally bug you, you have to admit that the offensive nature of the show is equal opportunity, so just roll with the punches... because really isn't that what makes the show so great: its carefree disregard for decency.

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South Park: ''Stanley's Cup'' Review