There can only be one true Yelper.
Warning: Full spoilers from the episode follow.
I enjoyed South Park’s gentrification storyline in “The City Part of Town,” but I thought Matt and Trey said pretty much all they needed to say on the subject in that episode. Granted, adding Yelp to the mix gave it a slight boost this week, but overall “You’re Not Yelping” was one continuation I could have done without. Whether it was because the novelty of “Sodo Sopa” had already worn off or the fact that Yelp is a pretty old phenomenon at this point, this episode just didn’t quite come into its own.
On the bright side, I was glad to see the boys play a more central role this week, with Cartman spearheading the town’s Yelp reviewer movement — or so he thought. I was glad Matt and Trey decided to put more emphasis on Gerald and Sergeant Yates instead of resorting to yet another Randy-centric storyline. Theirs and the rest of the town’s pretentious quips to the restaurant owners and servers did offer some humorous moments, at least for a little while. Whistlin’ Willy’s outburst, for example, had me chuckling.
I also thought it was clever how Matt and Trey specifically avoided using personal pronouns during the “real food critic” scenes, resulting in everybody giving their impassioned leader speeches all at once. Definitely a highlight from this episode.
On the other hand, Cartman’s ongoing exchange with David (or “Dah-veed”) didn’t really have much going for it beyond the one, tame “bicicleta” joke — and honestly that bit was hammered into the ground by episode’s end.
I did however notice that, like Cartman mentioned at the end of the previous episode, South Park’s multicultural influx was still around. We even saw Wendy with a new Asian-American friend. I’ll be curious to see if that diversity continues to grow or takes center stage at some point, especially considering this season’s apparent PC theme. I did think it was odd though how Cartman completely dropped his own PC tendencies this week, despite his wholehearted embrace of tolerance in the premiere.
I also thought the intercutting of ISIS training videos during the Yelper riots felt lazy and not really pertinent to what was going on. If Matt and Trey were trying to draw a comparison between the two, they weren’t being very clear. But I suspect it was more just for shock value.
Again, there were definitely some clever moments to come out of “You’re Not Yelping,” but it never really hit its stride or peak. Maybe if the gentrification storyline and Yelp storyline had been combined, they would have made a better single episode. As is, I’m beginning to think that continuity is just not South Park’s strong suit. Hopefully, for the show’s sake, it’s all building towards something bigger.
That said, “Boogers and Cum” was a stroke of genius — literally, in the case of Yates’s steak dinner.
Coming off the pretty good gentrification riff in “The City Part of Town,” this week’s South Park made an attempt to continue that storyline by adding Yelp to equation. Alas, while Cartman and his legion of food critics offered a handful of laughs early on, “You’re Not Yelping” as a whole felt drawn-out and dull. Although, to its credit, it did at least end on a high note, thanks to a prolonged speech bit and a catchy musical number.
