Scary ISIS or stupid ninjas?
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow.
“You’re from another time, Barbrady,” aired Mayor McDaniels after South Park’s once-beloved cop character accidentally shot an unarmed latino child, “and the last thing that needs to go.” This was of course not just in reference to the town’s ongoing PC transformation, but the final outmoded remnant of South Park’s good ole days. Lest we forget, Officer Barbrady was the first and only authority figure on the series for years.
It hadn’t occurred to me until this week, but it had been a long time since we’d seen a Barbrady-centric episode. And from the moment he showed up to PC Principal’s fake-out call, it was clear Barbrady didn’t belong. Even his character design — a bright-blue uniform with matching peaked cap — stuck out like a sore thumb next to the other officers. (Indeed, Sergeant Yates has headed up most police-related storylines for the latter half of the series.) So it was interesting, and a little bit sad, to see Barbrady shooed away by his fellow townspeople, even as one of the councilmen slipped up by calling Barbrady’s victim a Mexican. (“Latino-American. Sh*t.”)
Obviously this was all part of a larger police brutality storyline, although it didn’t resonate as much as Barbrady’s exit from the force. While scenes like Randy telling off an innocent cop who just wanted a Pinot Grigio after a hard day’s work were mildly amusing, they didn’t really add much to the episode beyond getting them out of the way for the rest of the episode. This season has also started to rely a little too much on montages to tell the story, as evidenced by this week’s “F**k tha Police” sequence. The “hula school” punchline was also underwhelming. That said, there was a poignant irony to the town letting the cops beat up minorities so that they could maintain their PC facade.
Meanwhile, the rest of this episode was really strong, especially the ninja club/ISIS storyline. (“Wow, the fellas were right; people are really freaked out by ninjas!”) The fact that Cartman kept getting the other boys confused brought about several funny moments, and I couldn’t help but chuckle when Cartman finally got vindication for his Jewish prejudice… from an ISIS leader. And despite this season emphasizing change in South Park, this storyline was very much a “boys being boys” storyline, with the adults overreacting to the kids’ innocent shenanigans, which was fun here.
Finally — and perhaps most importantly — “Naughty Ninjas” gave us our first glimpse at the culmination of this season’s PC arc, as a men-in-black type character informed Barbrady that the city’s changes were all part of a conspiracy to take down South Park once and for all. And it also seems to have something to do with Leslie, the little girl that PC Principal constantly yells at for no apparent reason. Hopefully these events are leading to something big.
This week’s South Park was out for blood on its former self, as the townspeople shunned Officer Barbrady — one of the last remaining side-characters from the show’s early days. In addition to offering a bittersweet look at the lowly cop, “Naughty Ninjas” also featured a nostalgic ninja storyline for the boys, who were humorously mistaken for ISIS agents in Sodo Sopa. Really, the only thing that didn’t land was the police brutality subplot, which felt a bit more contrived than the others.
