PINKEYE

South Park

Season 1 (1997)

Nick has a limited tolerance for holiday episodes so I sometimes try and bribe him into watching with me by letting him pick the episode (as long as it’s Halloween related).  His choices can be surprising and he had been campaigning to watch “Pinkeye” for a couple weeks.  I’ve never been a big South Park fun—sometimes I find the satire spot-on but usually the crude humor is too much for me.  That whole longish intro is my way of saying that I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed “Pinkeye.”

The timeless story of a Rag Doll and a classroom full of Chewbaccas

It begins with the show’s trademarked “killing of Kenny,” only this time when he’s taken to the morgue some waylaid Worchester sauce gets mixed up in his embalming fluid and he’s revived as a zombie (you have to give this show major creative points for its sheer bizarreness).  As a zombie outbreak slowly spreads throughout the town, haplessly misdiagnosed as pinkeye, the kids are too caught up in their petty Halloween dramas and desire for candy to notice. 

Halloween is everywhere you turn in this episode, whether it’s Cartman’s mom decorating the front yard while singing “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” (while zombies attack a man behind her) or Chef transforming into Thriller-era Michael Jackson.  The jokes come fast and furious, from broad physical humor (Chef accidentally rips off on a non-zombified man’s arm) to the wildly politically incorrect (Cartman’s costume is first Hitler and then a Klu Klux Klan “ghost”).  Even the opening credits are “spookified,” with witches, skeletons, haunted houses and the list goes on and on.

Cuz this is Thriller...Thriller night...something something terror...Hold you tight

I couldn’t help but think of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown as I watched this (and trust me, I tried not to conflate the two in my mind).  The similar styles of animation and the characters’ dismay at their “tricks or treats” being ruined were undoubtedly purposeful—only one show reveled in youthful innocence and the other in sex, gore and some vomit thrown in at the end for good measure.

Recurring Themes: Stan’s Rag Doll Costume is a running joke throughout the episode.  Indeed the subplot is identical to the one in Home Improvement’s "The Haunting of Taylor House," in which the girlfriend convinces her boyfriend to dress as Raggedy Ann and Andy only to switch costumes at the last minute.

Halloween Quotient: Surprisingly satisfying, this ranks a 4.

See It, Skip It, Own It?

“Pinkeye” is goofy fun worth seeing and I would go so far as to say this should be one to own and add to your yearly rotation.