South Park Season 28, Episode 4: "Turkey Trot" Review

Warning: This reappraisal contains full spoilers for South Park Season 28, Episode 4!

South Park decidedly doesn’t person the champion way grounds with vacation episodes this year. The Halloween-themed “The Woman successful the Hat” turned retired to beryllium the archetypal existent misfire of Season 27/28, bringing an abrupt halt to each the momentum the bid had established up to that point. And present Thanksgiving proves conscionable arsenic hard a seed to crack, with “Turkey Trot” besides falling abbreviated of the mark. Not the astir auspicious setup for the large play finale, to accidental the least.

The 1 vantage “Turkey Trot” has implicit “The Woman successful the Hat” is that it doesn’t conflict arsenic overmuch successful tying unneurotic the 2 halves of the episode. This week kicks disconnected with the cash-starved Chamber of Commerce resorting to (what else?) Saudi Arabian backing to bankroll their yearly 5k run. That dovetails neatly capable with the show’s latest Trump Administration spoof, arsenic Secretary of Defense War Pete Hegseth shows up to rescue the imprisoned Peter Thiel astatine his boss’ behest.

It besides helps that this occurrence makes much of a repast retired of lampooning Hegseth than “The Woman successful the Hat” did with its precise brief, surface-level spoof of Stephen Miller. The amusement is each spot arsenic scathing arsenic it was with officials similar Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem (who besides makes a instrumentality quality to perpetrate much acts of canine murder). It’s amusing to spot Hegseth portrayed arsenic a glorified YouTuber successful perpetual hunt of content. The information that helium comes equipped with his ain taxable opus and spends fractional the occurrence getting pushed astir by Sgt. Yates conscionable makes the spoof that overmuch better.

But beyond satirizing Hegseth himself, this occurrence doesn’t person a batch other going for it. The Turkey Trot storyline itself falls beauteous level aft the archetypal Saudi Arabia reveal. It becomes 1 of those cases wherever the amusement repeatedly seizes connected the aforesaid fistful of beats agelong aft the novelty is gone. How galore times bash we request Cartman to rehash the aforesaid contention subject joke? Haven’t we seen him effort to exploit his chap students for his ain selfish ends 1000 times before? Maybe immoderate viewers mightiness admit a somewhat much accepted storyline involving the South Park kids, but this conscionable feels similar thing that’s been done before, and better.

At the precise least, determination was imaginable to excavation a batch deeper connected the Saudi Arabia front. Perhaps this occurrence would person been amended disconnected if that were the sole focus, alternatively than bringing Hegseth and the subject into the fray. Having him motorboat an onslaught connected the Turkey Trot contention is simply a neat capable mode to necktie things together, but it doesn’t extremity up yielding arsenic overmuch wit arsenic you’d expect. It’s each a reasonably anticlimactic mode of tying things up, close down to the overly predictable twist of Tolkien accidentally winning the contention and proving Cartman correct.

Sidebar - The amusement erstwhile again proves its gaming bona fides by showing Tolkien playing Arc Raiders, but past it instantly cancels that retired by suggesting helium was playing connected an Xbox 360. That’s a insignificant detail, but it inactive bugged maine watching Cartman carrying specified an past console done the streets.

In the end, this occurrence lone manages to marque it consciousness each the much similar the bid is spinning its wheels close now. Apart from Hegseth winding up successful the jailhouse compartment close alongside Thiel, thing present truly serves to beforehand the larger communicative of these 2 seasons. I’m inactive struggling to recognize what the constituent of that Cartman “6 7” subplot adjacent was, fixed however abruptly it's been swept nether the rug. And there’s perfectly thing this week regarding Trump and Satan’s babe oregon the caller emotion matter betwixt Trump and J.D. Vance. “Turkey Trot” winds up being a existent momentum slayer close earlier the large finale. There’s an atrocious batch of crushed to screen and escaped ends to necktie up successful lone 1 episode. We’ll soon spot if the South Park unit are up to the challenge.