The third episode of South Park‘s 27th season, which aired on Comedy Central on Wednesday, took a break from its uniquely sharp satire of the MAGA movement, swapping this for a scathing look at the culture that has emerged out of the tech boom, complete with nonsense lingo and ketamine microdosing, the overly pandering appeal of ChatGPT, as well as the ongoing crisis for immigrants in America.
Episode of the series’ ratings-shattering 27th season sees Randy Marsh’s marijuana farm, Tegridy Farms, faces an existential crisis when ICE agents round up it’s Mexican migrant work force, leading the Marsh family patriarch to contemplate ending his business and leaving farm life behind, much to the delight of the rest of the family. That night, Randy turns to ChatGPT as a marriage therapist — but soon the artificial intelligence is helping him come up with ways to leverage his remaining staffer to reconceive his business model.
That only remaining Tegridy Farms staffer is the one-and-only Towelie, who, like Randy, has also developed a tendency toward leaning on ChatGPT and its relentlessly positive vibes. The episode has Randy and the beloved anthropomorphized towel team up to save the company. But first, the boss nd staffer start microdosing ketamine; while appearing in an ad spot full of nonsense descriptions of his farm’s harnessing of tech ideas, Randy soon falls out on ketamine, describing himself as “in a hole.”
The episode then shifts to its B-plotline involving President Trump, season’ 27s new addition to the South Park universe, and his trouble relationship with his partner, Satan — who we learn is also now using ChatGPT to solve his problems. Namely, how to fulfill his desire to break up with Trump.
Soon enough, the plotlines merge as Towelie heads to Washington to meet with the president — and this being South Park, the gags are up-to-date with the city militarized while operating under the National Guard. After the earnest, walking and talking piece of fabric shows up with to his audience with Trump empty-handed. Following a requisite brown-nosing of the president, he learns via an embedded hologram that emerged of Randy that he, in fact, is the gift that is being given to the president.
After Randy shuts down the farm and bad-mouths the missing-in-action Towelie, the episode is capped by a dark sitcom satire of Trump and Sartan’s relationship and home life. After Trump puts the moves on Satan, who as usual, wants to do normal relationship activities liek watch TV and talk to one another, it’s revealed that Towelie is MIA because he is now Satan’s hand towel and as the Dark Lord states, “there’s no escaping.”
South Park will be in hiatus next week and is set to return to Comedy Central on Sept. 3.