Original air date: 3/29/2006
Gerald buys a hybrid car, which causes problems for Kyle when they move to San Francisco.
"Smug Alert" contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Randy verbally abuses Stan for his song and the smug that it produced. He then has zero sympathy for Stan when he's afraid that Kyle died with San Francisco.
- An Aesop: Driving an environmentally conscious car doesn't give you the license to be smug.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Ranger McFriendly initially comes off as a nice ranger for a few seconds, then he assaults Stan and leads the other adults in blaming Stan for the smug and treating him like shit.
- Breather Episode: Right after a more serious episode where Chef faces a tragic (and quite gruesome) end, this is a light-hearted episode revolving around the typical South Park shenanigans.
- Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: Initially, Cartman celebrates Kyle's move but quickly finds that his life is too bland without a foil like Kyle. It doesn't help that Butters proves to be a poor substitute due to his doormat tendencies preventing him from fighting back against Cartman's insults. All of this leads him to save Kyle and his family from the smug storm and when they start ripping on each other again, Cartman is pleased.
- Decon-Recon Switch: While this episode mercilessly lampoons people driving hybrid cars as smug, arrogant assholes, Kyle delivers a speech at the end saying that the cars themselves may save the planet in the future and that people should just stop being assholes about driving hybrids. Unfortunately, none of the adults are willing to do the last part and just stick with driving gas-guzzlers.
- Foreshadowing:
- When chastising Gerald for his smugness, Randy remarks that Gerald probably loves the smell of his own farts now. Later in the episode, the people of San Francisco literally smell their own farts as a form of pleasurable stimulus.
- After Stan leaves Cartman's "Going Away Party" for Kyle, Wendy attempts to follow him, likely to comfort him, but stops herself short. This hints towards Wendy having feelings for Stan and them becoming an item again.
- Holier Than Thou: Every adult who drives a hybrid car becomes this (especially Gerald), to the point where they are incapable of driving their environmentally friendly cars without being smug about it.
- Humans Are Flawed: At the end of the episode, Kyle explains to everyone that the hybrid cars themselves didn't cause the smug, it was the arrogance of the people driving them. While moved by his words, the people of South Park reluctantly accept that they're not yet ready to own hybrid cars without acting smug about it.Kyle: Hybrid cars don't cause smugness, people do.
- Hypocritical Humor: Randy, of all people, calls Stan "stupid".
- Jerkass: The adults in South Park all immediately turn on Stan as soon as they know about the smug and blame him for it, when they're to blame.
- Ironic Name: Ranger Mc"Friendly" is actually an aggressive douchebag who literally hits Stan for his pro-hybrid song and angrily blames him and forces him to clean up the mess caused by the adults' smugness.
- Jerkass Ball: Gerald becomes a smug holier then thou asshole due to buying a hybrid and spends the first part of the episode giving fake tickets to SUVs in the hardware store parking lot.
- Kick the Dog: After seeing the news report of San Francisco's destruction, Randy tells Stan that his "gay little song" killed Kyle.
- Never My Fault: The adults all refuse to take blame for their smugness and verbally abuse Stan the whole episode.
- Non-Indicative Name: Cartman didn't invite Kyle for his "going away party" and just threw the party to celebrate the latter's move. Craig calls him out for calling it that when Kyle isn't there.
- Only the Leads Get a Happy Ending: Kyle and his family are saved, Stan has his best friend back, Cartman has someone he can banter with. But thousands are left homeless, the Midwest is devastated, and San Francisco is completely destroyed along with its entire population.
- Pet the Dog: Cartman saves Kyle from dying in San Francisco during the smug storm solely because he needs Kyle around to banter with. However, he also saves the rest Kyle's family for seemingly no reason.
- Running Gag:
- The adults of San Francisco sniffing their own farts.
- Everyone calling the song Stan made to convince people to drive hybrids his "gay little song."
- The Scapegoat: Stan gets all the blame and heat for everything the adults did just for writing that gay little song that convinced them to drive hybrids. Even after Kyle point-blank tells them that everything could have been avoided if they stopped being smug while driving hybrids, the adults decide they "aren't ready".
- Simple Solution Won't Work: The issues in the episode would be solved if people could own hybrid cars without being smug about it, as Kyle mentions at the end of the episode. Unfortunately, it just isn't an option for the adults of South Park, who refuse to move past their smugness.
- Status Quo Is God: The Broflowski family are back in South Park and by the next episode the town's fully rebuilt and back to normal.
- Stealth Pun: People with smug attitudes are depicted as enjoying the smells of their own farts. In other words, they think their shit doesn't stink.
- Take That!:
- People who drive hybrid cars (specifically the Toyota Prius, which allegedly owes much of its popularity to the fact that it's the most recognizable one of its kind and, therefore, a greater status symbol) are depicted as smug jerks who act like the simple act of driving a low-emission car is the most noble act of environmentalism.
- San Francisco is portrayed as hipster paradise and with almost every adult being so self-important that they enjoy the smell of their own farts.
- George Clooney's 2005 Oscar acceptance speech ends up producing a smug cloud strong enough to start a huge smug storm when colliding with the ones from South Park and San Francisco.Kenan: Did you hear it? He talked about how people in Hollywood are ahead of the curve on social matters. He even took credit for the Civil Rights Movement.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Stan writing a song to convince South Park denizens to drive hybrid cars leads to the town being nearly destroyed, the Midwest being devastated, and San Francisco's complete destruction.
- Vehicle-Based Characterization: Drivers of hybrid cars such as Priuses are overly smug.
- Victory Is Boring: Initially Cartman is ecstatic that Kyle's moved away and denies Stan's claim that he'll find life boring without Kyle to rip on, because he's got Butters. He quickly grows bored when Butters doesn't fight back and apologizes when Cartman calls him on it.
