Original air date: 11/12/2003
When Kyle refuses to invite Cartman to his birthday party and invites Butters instead, Cartman tricks Butters into thinking the world is coming to an end and leaves him at the city dump.
"Casa Bonita" contains examples of:
- Adam and Eve Plot: Played for Laughs. Believing that most of humanity has been wiped out, Butters attempts to have sex with the female garbage collector, pulling down his pants while doing so. The garbage collector not only refuses the proposal, but she explains that the apocalypse was a lie and the entire town is looking for him. Butters can only pull up his pants in embarrassment after hearing the truth.
- After the End: Cartman fools Butters into believing that the world was destroyed by a meteor, society has crumbled, and roving bands of radioactive cannibals have taken over. For added effect, Butters winds up in a landfill, which is enough to make him think he's in a post-apocalyptic world.
- The Bad Guy Wins: With the authorities on his tail, Cartman still gets to do everything he planned on doing in Casa Bonita in a span of less than a minute. Then when the cops catch him and tell him he's going to juvenile hall for what he did, Cartman says it was Worth It.
- Blatant Lies: Cartman has definitely discriminated against Kyle's Jewish heritage more than once, contrary to his statement.Cartman: Okay, except maybe that one time.
- Bullying the Disabled: Cartman unintentionally invokes this by beating up Jimmy out of "self-defense", lying about the latter having bad-mouthed Kyle.Cartman: [smack] Take that, Jimmy! [smack] And that! And don't you ever talk bad about Kyle again! Kyle is my friend! And next time you say you had sex with his mom, I'm gonna really let you have it! You hear me?! [sees Kyle walk by] Oh, hey Kyle.Kyle: You really think that beating up a handicapped kid is being nice?
- Catapult Nightmare: Cartman has one in which he is enjoying Casa Bonita, but then Kyle's head appears reminding him that he's not inviting him. Cue Cartman floating off the ground and out of Casa Bonita, causing him to wake up.
- Down in the Dumps: Butters ends up in a garbage dump near the end of the episode, making him believe it to be the destroyed town.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Cartman is genuinely perplexed when Kyle informs him wearing a nice sweater is not the same thing as being a nice person.
- Evil Is Petty: Cartman is willing to lock up Butters for a week just so he can have the opportunity to go to Casa Bonita.
- Exact Words: When Kyle informs the guys his mom can bring three friends, Cartman is ecstatic. Then Kyle says he's not inviting him, since they are not friends.
- Fully Automatic Clip Show: Cartman questions when he's ever ripped on Kyle for being Jewish, which is followed by a solid thirteen seconds of clips from previous episodes of Cartman doing just that.
- Hypocrite: While Kyle is well within his rights to not invite Cartman to Casa Bonita and say that they're not really friends, he doesn't have the moral ground to be offended that Cartman rips on him for being Jewish when Kyle rips on him every episode for being fat.
- Idiot Ball: Kyle gets a good grasp on it in this episode: After lunch, Cartman talks to Kyle, saying that he was sorry for all the past abuse he had inflicted upon him and saying that he hoped they could still be friends despite the predicament. Kyle, touched and knowing how much Cartman wanted to go to Casa Bonita, says that, if Butters is for some reason unable to go, Cartman can take his place. This, of course, was Cartman's whole plan to get invited, and he begins working to get rid of Butters. When he finally finds out, Kyle lampshades that he should have known better.
- It's All About Me: Cartman didn't even care about Kyle's birthday or about Butters' safety as long as he gets into Casa Bonita.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Cartman pulls off (or least attempts to pull off) many Nice Guy acts, which may seem like he's made a Heel–Face Turn, though it turns out that the selfish bastard just wanted to go to Casa Bonita.
- "Just Joking" Justification: Cartman does this when he says "fuck Kyle!" after Stan negotiates with him that Kyle should be able to chose what to do first when they arrive at Casa Bonita since it's his birthday.Cartman: So, um, should we go to Black Bart's Cave first or watch the puppet show? I think we should go through Black Bart's Cave right away 'cause, we're gonna wanna do it seven or eight times. And then we'll watch the cliff divers before the puppet show.
Stan: Dude, it's Kyle's birthday. We should do whatever he wants to do.
Cartman: What? Fuck Kyle! (silence) (the others look at him in astonishment) Ha ha, j-just kidding, birthday joke. Of course we'll do whatever Kyle wants. Uh, Happy Birthday, Kyle. - Karma Houdini: Inverted. While Cartman didn't completely get away with his plan he still manages to enjoy his time at Casa Bonita in the span of a minute. While not feeling any remorse over it.
- Not Using the "Z" Word: Cartman's glorified post-apocalyptic story evolves to include mutated people who fit into the zombie archetype what with their preying on human flesh and transforming whoever they bite into one of them. However, he only ever refers to them as "cannibals."
- Pet the Dog: Kyle inviting Butters to his birthday party, which is a nice change from how cruel he was to him last season.
- Post-Apocalyptic Dog: Parodied, Butters meets a stray dog at the dump and takes him as a companion.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Lampshaded by the police in the end. Cartman has lost all his friends, infuriated the town, and looks to be going to juvenile hall after the mass panic he caused, all ultimately for a hectic two minute visit to Casa Bonita he barely got to enjoy. Cartman being Cartman however, he found it completely Worth It.
- Record Needle Scratch: Happens when Cartman is enjoying his fantasy of enjoying Casa Bonita, but then the police mentions that they are searching for bomb shelters to find Butters, which is where he is hiding.
- Single Tear: Cartman has one at lunch when he looks at a brochure showing him having fun on a previous trip to Casa Bonita with his mother, knowing he cannot go this time.
- Super Gullible: Butters believes everything Cartman tells him in this episode and doesn't realize the truth until an employee at the dump explains the situation to him.
- Uninvited to the Party: Kyle is having his birthday at the titular restaurant and refuses to invite Cartman. Cartman then tries to become nicer so Kyle will invite him, and when that fails he manipulates Butters into going missing so he can take his place.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Cartman invokes this, saying that he and Kyle might not be able to stand each other, but they've still been through a lot together, even if they don't consider themselves friends. He's saying it solely to soften Kyle up, but still...
- Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: Cartman's many attempts at trying to get Kyle to invite him to his birthday party. His first attempt, for example, has him put on a nice sweater.Kyle: That's not being nice. That's putting on a nice sweater.Cartman: I don't understand the difference.Kyle: I know you don't.
- Wham Line: "Who said I'm inviting you?"
- Worth It: Cartman is told by the police he "caused a whole town to panic, lost all his friends, and is now going to juvenile hall for a week", all in the name of going to the eponymous establishment. When asked if it was all worth it, Cartman simply replies "...totally."
- Xanatos Speed Chess: The entire episode. Cartman repeatedly has to react to developments he wasn't expecting, and does a pretty good job of it. Even though it fails at the last minute, he still got what he wanted in the end.
