Recap / South Park S 2 E 2 Cartmans Mom Is Still A Dirty Slut

Original air date: 4/22/1998

In the thrilling conclusion to "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut" (after being interrupted by the April Fools' episode "Terrance and Phillip in, 'Not Without My Anus'"), everyone who's been holed up in the hospital tries to find out who shot Mephesto so he can reveal who Cartman's biological father is. Meanwhile, the townspeople take part in an America's Most Wanted reenactment starring Eric Roberts, and Ms. Cartman sleeps with several government figures to try and get 36th trimester abortion legalized (even though she meant adoption).

This episode contains the following tropes:

• Adaptational Attractiveness: Played In-Universe with the reenactment for television.
• Black Comedy Cannibalism: During a blackout, the adults, trapped in a small shack, resort to eating Eric Roberts after a short time being trapped without power.
  Sid Greenfield: Uuuhh, it's only been like, four hours. Aren't you resorting to cannibalism a little quickly?
• Borrowed Catchphrase: When Mephisto gets shot, Kenny says "Oh my God, they killed Mephesto!", much like how Stan usually says "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!".
• Break the Haughty: Mr. Garrison auditions to play himself and is immediately rejected.
• Butt-Monkey: Kenny ends up having to crawl through a freezing sewer to get to the power station, which has a bunch of raptors nearby. It turns out he could have just walked out there through a warm hallway.
• Censored Title: Most cable TV listings shorten the title to "Cartman's Mom Is Still..." or "Cartman's Mom, Part Two".
• Demoted to Extra: Lampshaded. Eric Roberts is hired for a non-talking role and eaten later because nobody cares for him.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Bill Clinton is, as was common at the time after the emergence of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, mocked as a sex-addicted pervert. This was before Trey Parker and Matt Stone decided on a policy of steering clear of mocking the incumbent president on the grounds that so many other forms of media did it already — a policy they would largely keep to during George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden's presidencies. They did somewhat mock Donald Trump (via Mr. Garrison) during the 2016 election and his first year in office, but largely abandoned this in favor of the Tegridy Farms plot for the remainder of his presidency.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Kenny uses his body to connect a broken power cord for the hospital.
• I'm a Humanitarian: The Mayor, Officer Barbrady, Mr. Garrison and Jimbo eat the America's Most Wanted team and reenactment actors when they're trapped inside the community centre due to a blizzard, despite the fact that they could have survived the few hours they were trapped.
• Improv: In-Universe, Eric Roberts starts to improvise melodramatic lines while the reenactment is broadcasted live on TV.
• Kick the Dog: Kyle considers hitting Kenny with a shovel to see if he'll shatter after Kenny's corpse freezes over.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The episode picks up right where Part 1 left off, so no time passed for the characters, but it had actually been two months for the audience.
  Cartman: Man, this feels like the longest minute of my life!
• Live Episode: Done In-Universe with America's Most Wanted, with the hopes that the audience of that show would help solve the mystery of who shot Mephesto. The broadcast was forced to switch over to Who Framed Roger Rabbit when the snow storm in South Park disrupts the broadcast.
• Lost in Imitation: In-Universe again. Kevin, Mephesto's companion, and Mr. Hat are normal human male adults in America's Most Wanted's reenactment.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Mrs. Cartman is really Cartman's father because she's a hermaphrodite and got a woman pregnant (though the "200"/"201" two-parter retcons this).
• Motor Mouth: Cartman ends up singing "Come Sail Away" by Styx in this fashion when Kyle sings the opening lyrics and leaves him hanging.
• Only Sane Man:
  • Of all the people trapped in the community center, the Director of the America's Most Wanted team is the only one who thinks that they shouldn't need to resort to cannibalism since they had a big breakfast and it's only been a few hours. He ends up dead.
  • The Mayor is the only one who expresses guilt for being forced into cannibalism. Jimbo just tells her they gotta eat to survive cause "that's what God wanted", and Mr. Garrison happily takes a doggy bag with one of the crew.
• Overused Running Gag: Cartman, himself, gets frustrated with the episode's Running Gag in which an announcer asks, "Who is [person who did X]?" and starts listing characters as suspects.
  Cartman: That is really starting to piss me off.
• Really Gets Around: Mrs. Cartman spends the episode trying to get 40th trimester abortions legal by having sex with a congressman, the Governor of Colorado and then Bill Clinton, who was US President at the time. Turns out she meant adoption though.
• Red Herring: There were more than a handful of hints in the first part that Cartman's father was Jimbo, Stan's uncle.
• Running Gag: The voiceover from the Find Out Next Time ending of the prior two episodes occasionally chimes in by listing three possible suspects to questions that are increasingly irrelevant or otherwise rhetorical. For example, when John Walsh announces that America's Most Wanted will switch the broadcast over to Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the voiceover starts listing various South Park characters who could have framed Roger Rabbit.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When she realized she has to go through having sex with government figures again, Mrs. Cartman decides to just tell Cartman the truth.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: In the end, Cartman learns nothing about his parentage, aside from the fact that his mother is his father. He still has no idea who his other parent is and is too frustrated to go through the trouble of trying figure it out.
• Shout-Out: To Jurassic Park. When he is sent to turn the power back on, Kenny is told to watch out for velociraptors.
• Take That!: Eric Roberts is having such career problems that he has to play a bit part on an America's Most Wanted reenactment. Later, when deciding who to eat first, everyone else agrees to start with him on the grounds that no one will care.
• Tempting Fate: The doctor notes Mephesto should be fine as long as the power doesn't go out. When it immediately does, he adds "Who didn't see that coming a mile away, huh?"
• They Killed Kenny Again: Kenny electrocutes himself to bring the power back to the hospital.
• The Unreveal:
  • Subverted with Mephesto's shooter. The shooter is never depicted onscreen, but Mephesto says it was probably his brother, who tries to shoot him every week. The incident is promptly forgotten about.
  • Zigzagged in that Cartman learns that Liane is seemingly his father, but he never learns who his other parent is. He does learn much, much later, though.
• Unexplained Recovery: Kenny just magically appears at the beginning of the episode after having gotten killed in the previous one. The only character who even reacts is Stan, and all he does is say a nonchalant "Hey, Kenny" as if Kenny just walked into the room.
• Unsettling Gender-Reveal: When Cartman's mom was revealed as his father, Chef wonders if she was actually a man. Mephesto clarifies that she is not a man, but does have a penis. The men then puke at the reveal.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Stan really doesn't like hospitals.
• Your Costume Needs Work: Mr. Garrison auditions to play as himself in the America's Most Wanted episode. His performance is met only with a very blunt "Next!" implying the director was not even remotely impressed with it.

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