Recap / South Park S 25 E 2 The Big Fix

Original air date: 2/9/2022 (produced in 2021)

Randy brings Steve Black on as a business partner so Tegridy Farms won't be exclusively white-owned, while Stan learns something about Token that makes him question his worldview.

Tropes:

• Accidental Misnaming: Turns out Token's name is actually "Tolkien". Stan thought it was "Token" because of the similar pronunciation and because Cartman, Mr. Garrison, all the girls in charge of “The List”, and even Tolkien himself misspelled the name.
• All Work vs. All Play: The Cannabis Cultivators Expo is filled with professional business people and farmers showcasing products and concepts to help sell, grow, and use marijuana in general, as well giving lectures about the history, morals, and future of selling it. Randy, on the other hand, is the ONLY one there completely high and treating it like a party. Randy didn't take the lecture he was attending seriously until he learned his farm was at risk.
• The Atoner: Deconstructed with Stan. Upon realizing his classmate's name is Tolkien and not "Token", he feels bad about it and wishes to make amends. However, he misinterprets the advice from the doctor and, thus, his methods of atoning consists of reading books written by J. R. R. Tolkien, demanding that those books are required reading for the school, while excluding Tolkien from discussions. Then Stan learns that Tolkien doesn't even like his own name and hates anything pertaining to Tolkien's Legendarium making Stan's efforts of redeeming himself entirely pointless.
• Blatant Lies: When Randy and Steve are taken to court for Randy ripping off Paul McCartney's song "Ebony and Ivory" with "Black Puppy and White Puppy", Randy not only claims the song isn't a rip-off, but denies he ever heard the famous song before. This despite the judge noting Randy was refused the rights to the original song and then his version came out. While the outcome isn't shown, it appears he actually manages to wiggle out of trouble.
• Book Dumb: While Cartman knew the meaning of Tolkien's name all along, he didn't realize the name was spelt with a silent "l" and "i".
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: The doctor outright starts calling out the viewers for thinking Tolkien's name was Token, glaring and pointing right at the camera as he rants.
• Call-Back: When Kyle tells Stan he knew Token's actual name, Stan asks him about Cartman wearing a shirt that said "Token's Life Matters". Kyle tells him Cartman was just being a dumbass and spelled the name wrong, which Cartman himself confirms shortly after (or rather, he's crudely dismissive of its actual spelling).
• Change the Uncomfortable Subject: After Randy and Stan discover Token's real name, Steve questions them what they thought his name meant. Randy immediately asks him if he wants to see how they process their weed.
• Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Steven starting his own weed business and Randy declaring war on him.
• Comically Missing the Point: When the doctor tells Stan to do more reading and do so from a black person's perspective to overcome his biases, Stan interprets this as him needing to read J. R. R. Tolkien's works while imagining a black man is the narrator.
• Continuity Snarl:
  • While the show explains away most of the previous instances of Tolkien's name being spelled "Token" as In-Universe spelling errors by the characters, Tolkien himself spelled it as "Token" in one of the title cards for the Here Comes Fatty Doo Doo show in Season 16.
  • Additionally, the reveal that Tolkien hates being associated with anything related to Middle-Earth clashes with his LARP participation in "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers" back in Season 6 (though that ended with him not wanting to play Lord Of The Rings anymore), as well as South Park: The Stick of Truth.
  • Butters says to Stan that they never hang out with one another despite there being episodes featuring the two doing things together, with "My Future Self 'n Me", being an example.
• Easily Forgiven: While Tolkien is initially taken aback that Stan misunderstood his name, he quickly forgives him since he clearly feels terrible about it (and also the two were going to be neighbors anyways) and the two are shown playing like normal before Randy has his freak out.
• Embarrassing First Name: Tolkien admits he hates his first name because he's not a fan of J. R. R. Tolkien's books.
• Everyone Knew Already: Stan and Randy were the only ones who didn't realize Token's name was actually Tolkien (or at least named after the famous British author).
• Gaslighting: On a meta-level, as the doctor seemingly breaks the fourth wall to lambast the audience for thinking Tolkien's name could be "Token", while as many official websites and products are quietly changed to the 'correct' name.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • Stan, addressing the class, talks about wanting to make sure Tolkien doesn't feel isolated and left out... while making him wait outside the classroom during his speech.
  • Randy criticizes the name of Steve's new farm, "Credigree Weed", saying that "Credigree" isn't a word. Neither is "Tegridy". He also criticizes him for speaking with a "blaccent" to his customers when that's not how he naturally speaks, while Randy himself puts on a fake "folksy" accent when speaking to customers.
  • The episode as a whole is a meta-example, as it blasts the audience for actually thinking Tolkien's name was Token... even though, until this episode, it was.
• Insane Troll Logic: Randy kicks Tolkien out of their house under the pretense of him being a spy. Keep in mind, the Black family just moved in, and Tolkien wanted to ask Stan about his behavior the previous days before playing a Lord of the Rings board game with him.
• It's All About Me:
  • Randy doesn't actually care about the ongoing issue of marginalized groups having important roles in the marijuana industry. He just doesn't want to lose any business from customers who care about supporting minority-owned companies.
  • While no one enjoys competition, Randy takes it further by flipping his lid, kicking Tolkien out, and declaring war on the Black family weed farm by the episode's end. It's undeniable he's being greedy and despises the new competition, obviously wanting to be the only weed farm in South Park.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While Randy has no one to blame but himself for Steve starting a competing business, he is correct that Steve is using a different, more "black" sounding voice with his customers and that he was never concerned with Black Power when he was partnered with Tegridy (he wanted to make LotR-themed weed).
• Laser-Guided Karma: After selfishly bringing Steve on to the business so Tegridy Farms could capture customers interested in black-owned marijuana companies, then rudely dismissing Steve's ideas, the episode ends with Steve starting his own farm and taking away Randy's business.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: After Randy rejects all of Steve's ideas and admits that he's only using him because of his race, Steve quits Tegridy Farms and starts his own marijuana company that serves as Randy's competition.
• Mondegreen Gag: The episode revolves around Stan confusing the word Tolkien for Token.
• Mood Whiplash: After discovering Steve made his own farm across the street, Randy flies off the walls. He kicks Tolkien out in a rage (believing him to be a spy), and loudly declares war on the Black family.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Stan feels horrible about misunderstanding Tolkien's name for so long, and starts thinking he's a racist.
• Named After Someone Famous: Tolkien Black was named after his father's favorite author.
• Nice Guy: Stan's entire role in this episode.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Herod: After finding out that Marijuana users want to buy more from Black/Brown Farmers to promote social equity, Randy tries desperately to rope Steve into his business for the sole use of his image in promotion, as well making him believe he is a partner, all the while rudely dismissing any ideas he proposes. Fed up with Randy's transparent tactics of using him, Steve opens his own weed farm, RIGHT across from Randy's and getting ALL his business, causing the very thing he was trying to avoid.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Randy hearing at the Cannabis Cultivators Expo "A completely white owned business isn't going to survive" knocks him straight out of his marijuana high into pure fear, kickstarting his desire to make Steve Black his partner.
  • Stan and Randy both give these when they discover Token's name isn't what they think it was.
• The Reveal: Token's name is actually Tolkien, after author J. R. R. Tolkien.
• Revision: Token's name is shown to actually be Tolkien, an Accidental Misnaming due to how similar the words are in casual conversation. In-universe there are examples where it has been written as 'Token' without any objection from him. About half the episode is justifying how it still makes sense, from an inside joke Cartman made to Tolkien never being fond of the name to Stan having to enunciate Toll-Keen so it doesn't sound like Token. Out-of-universe, his name was Token and spelled out as such in merchandise and character guides. This revision reaches metatextual levels as they even went back and renamed old videos and changed the spelling on official websites, apps, and closed captioning to 'Tolkien' as part of the reveal.
• Ripped from the Headlines: The "Canada on Strike" song can be heard on Cartman's TV as he watches while eating chips, a reference to the Freedom Convoy protest that occurred in Canada during the original air date.
• The Rival: The Marsh and Black families become competitors by the episode's end, but it's Randy who instigates it. He could have left things alone and let Steve do his own weed business, but this is Randy we're talking about here.
• Shout-Out: Naturally, once it's revealed that Token's name is actually Tolkien, a lot of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien are referenced.
• Shown Their Work: The works of J.R.R. Tolkien are all accurately referenced (though it does repeat the misconception that Lord of the Rings was an analogy for WWII). While a few of the names are mispronounced, that's because it's Stan mispronouncing them.
• Some of My Best Friends Are X: The Black family have noticed that every single Caucasian in South Park who isn't an unrepentant racist wants to be their friend so they can announce it over social media.
• Start My Own: After getting fed up with Randy's treatment, Steve decides to buy the farm across the street from the Marshes and start his own marijuana company.
• The Stoner: The marijuana expo in the beginning is a professional, business-oriented convention attended by farmers who want to see what the trends of the market are. Meanwhile, Randy attends it while high as a kite, hollering and annoying everyone around him with his fratboy behavior. He does the same later, getting stoned together with Towelie and downplaying Steve's business ideas for being too "dorky".
• Suspiciously Similar Song: In-Universe. Randy gets sued by Paul McCartney for ripping off "Ebony and Ivory" with "Black Puppy and White Puppy." McCartney denied Randy permission to use the original, and Randy defends himself in court by claiming he's never heard the McCartney song.
• Take That!:
  • Randy's actions in the episode are one to businesses that take part in "performative allyship" where they are more concerned about creating the appearance of inclusivity than actually allowing marginalized groups to have meaningful roles or voices in their business practices.
  • Additionally, Randy's first instinct after discovering his business might be affected by being solely white-owned is to blatantly shame his kids for having primarily-white friend groups. Even when it's pointed out to him that there aren't that many black kids in South Park to begin with and that Stan does have a friendship with Tolkien, Randy isn't satisfied and insists on making a big deal out of it, which can be interpreted as a dig on Social Justice types who similarly perceive all social relationships through a racial filter.
  • The doctor telling Stan and the audience that they're terrible racists in an over the top fashion for mistakenly thinking Tolkien Black's first name is Token mocks those who villainize people who commit accidental acts of racism rather than gently correcting their behavior.
  • Stan encouraging the school to make J. R. R. Tolkien mandatory reading while leaving Tolkien out of the loop is one towards white saviors who do the same for critical race theory in public schools despite not fully understanding it or allowing people of color to be part of the conversation.
• Take That, Audience!: Played for laughs. When the doctor shames Stan for not realising Tolkien's real name, he's looking straight at the audience. Of course, the writers themselves made zero indication how Tolkien's name was really spelled, so it comes across as the kind of self-righteous cover-up that South Park frequently mocks.
• This Means War!: Randy, after finding out Steve created his own weed farm.
• Vanity License Plate: Steve's license plate reads "J03M4M4".
• Wham Line:
  • For the whole series up to this point:
  Steve: I wanted to name my son after my favorite author, but she didn't want to name our son J.R.R., so we just named him Tolkien.
  • For the episode up to this point:
  Tolkien: I actually don't like Lord of the Rings.
• What the Hell, Hero?: The doctor Stan sees calls him (and by extension us, the viewers) out for thinking Tolkien's name was Token.
• Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?:
  • Steven named his kid after the surname of his favorite author (John Ronald Reuel Tolkien), because his wife objected to naming him "JRR."
  • Later discussed by Tolkien himself, when he asks Stan why he would ever think that a black couple named their child after the "Token Black Person" trope.
• Who's on First?: Happens a few times after Stan learns Tolkien's real name and tells other people he thought it was "Token":
  Stan: I thought your name was "Token".
  Tolkien: (confused) My name is Tolkien.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Stan is excited when Tolkien reveals his family moved to the farm across the street because now he finally has one of his friends living close. Unfortunately, Randy bans Stan from hanging out with Tolkien because he's angry at Steve for starting his own farm.

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