South Park: Season 23, Episode 2 "Band in China" Review

"Dad, did you kill Winnie the Pooh?"
-Stan Marsh



"Band in China" kicks off with Randy deciding to expand Tegridy Farms in China.  As he arrives, he is immediately arrested for transporting marijuana into the country.  As he toils in a prison camp, he meets fellow prisoners; Winnie the Pooh and Piglet, who are imprisoned because Pooh looks like the President of China.  Randy teams up with Mickey Mouse to expand their businesses into China, but to do that, Pooh needs to die.

Back in South Park, Stan, Butters, Kenny, and Jimmy form a death metal band and they are approached by a music producer to film their biopic.  However, nearly every idea they have is shot down by the Chinese censors.  They decide to sell out and recruit Kyle and Cartman to reform their boy band, Fingerbang, but it's too much and the boys walk away from the biopic, not wanting China to be in charge of all of their entertainment.


What Works:

"Band in China" has a really solid first act.  Stan's band being a death metal band was very surprising and a hilarious reveal.  I want a full length music video of them jamming out.  Butters is especially hilarious.

Randy going to China is a fine premise, but it peaks when he runs into Winnie the Pooh and Piglet in the prison camp.  The voice performances are spot on and are hilarious in the South Park universe.  Pooh's death scene is also unexpectedly violent and wonderful.

Finally, I'm always on board to have Mickey Mouse return to the show.  He's one of my favorite recurring characters and I can't help but smile every time he shows up.  I wish he had gotten a chance to be more violent, but I liked what we got from him.


What Sucks:

While I loved the first act, the rest of the show got stale and repetitive, especially the Chinese censorship jokes.  We get it, China censors a lot of stuff.  It was funny once, but we need some more jokes here.

The return of Fingerbang was fun in theory, but the ending doesn't really click.  Ultimately Stan's storyline doesn't have a satisfying ending.

On the same note, neither does Randy's.  I'm getting a little sick of the Tegridy Farms plot and bringing it to China didn't do a lot for me.


Verdict:

"Band in China" started off strong, but started to get more and more stale as it went along.  There were some really funny moments, the return of Mickey Mouse, and the death of Winnie the Pooh, but the jokes got stale and the stories weren't very satisfying.


 7/10: Good 

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