Western Animation / South Park: The Streaming Wars

Paramount+ release date: 6/1/2022

Cartman locks in a battle of wills with his mother while a battle ensues in South Park over streaming (water) rights.

Followed by South Park: The Streaming Wars Part 2.

This special contains examples of:

• All for Nothing:
  • Cartman's efforts to force his mother to get breast implants so she could seduce Mr. Cussler become meaningless when Mr. Cussler gets killed by ManBearPig and Cartman ends up getting breast implants instead.
  • The Boys' hard work making popsicle stick boats, particularly Butters making himself sick from eating all of the popsicles, winds up wasted after Cartman blows the profits they generously gave him on his breast implants. It gets subverted in Part 2 where Cartman's breast implants ends up becoming the solution to provide more water and save Colorado from the drought.
• The Anti-Nihilist: Pi-Pi acknowledges that ManBearPig will kill everyone, including himself, but doesn't care as long as he can make money as long as possible.
• Appropriated Appellation: While Randy spends most of the episode getting pissed off at being called "Karen", he later asks to be introduced as Karen Marsh to Mr. Cussler.
• Asshole Victim: Mr. Cussler planned on monopolizing all the water for profit, so no tears are shed when ManBearPig shreds him apart and craps on his face. Same goes for the corrupt water commissioner when Pi-Pi disposes of him.
• Attention Whore: Cartman so desperately wants his mom's attention, he gets the breast implants he wanted her to get.
• Author Tract: Butters' rant about the streaming (water) services asking for so many boats from the boys and how it may affect product quality is a blatant example of Trey and Matt voicing their views on entertainers providing content for streaming (entertainment) services:
  Butters: They're going to take everything they can get. Everyone knows that at the end of the day, there's only going to be, like, three streaming services. Everyone just wants to have their shit on their stream and then get bought out, you know? And they don't give a fuck how good anything is. And the people who made all the deals, they don't give a fuck, 'cause they’re all going to get fired anyway, you know?
• Beware the Silly Ones: Pi-Pi may just seem like a silly water park owner who needs water to help maintain his water business at first, but it's revealed that he is in cahoots with ManBearPig to drain all the water supply in Colorado so that everyone will be forced to buy all the urine stored in his water park as a replacement.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: Pi-Pi and ManBearPig are the main antagonists who are working together to monopolize the streaming (water) services and draining water in Colorado to replace with urine, while killing anyone who stands in their way.
• Big Bad Wannabe:
  • Both Mr. Cussler and the water commissioner try to control the streaming services in Colorado, only to get killed by Pi-Pi and ManBearPig, the true Big Bads of the special.
  • Cartman himself is revealed to be this. His schemes only work if he can manipulate people into following his whims. As shown with his interactions with his mother, who is now wise to Cartman's tactics, if he can't do that, he's a very petty and inept dumbass whose plans backfire tremendously on himself.
• Biting-the-Hand Humor: Similar to what "Basic Cable" did for the rapidly quaint cable television, this special criticizes the practices of streaming services, when this special aired on one. The Big Bad Pi-Pi also seems to be an allegory for Paramount Plus (the initials being P.P.), having relied on other streaming services before taking the content for themselves.
• Blatant Lies: Cartman said it is not his fault that his mom lost her job, but it really is because she gave into him so he can quit his fake real estate job.
• Boob-Based Gag: Cartman ends up getting ridiculously huge breast implants by the end of the special.
• The Bus Came Back: Sophie Gray, who hasn't been seen since "Basic Cable" nearly three years ago, appears here in this special, albeit in the background.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Butters has to gorge himself on popsicles so the Boys can make their boats because they are unaware they can just buy unused sticks or simply just remove what's edible without the need of eating it.
  • Cartman doesn't fare any better. He now lives in a cramped hot dog stand, he's no longer able to manipulate his mother into doing what he wants, and ends up receiving the breast implants that he was trying to have his mother get. However, this is all very deserved.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: Cartman is banking on Liane getting breast implants so that she can seduce Mr. Cussler and convince him to let them live with him. But Liane, thoroughly fed up with Cartman's horseshit after he cost them their home, refuses to even consider it. When Cartman threatens her by saying he'll get the breast implants himself if she won't, she offhandedly calls his bluff, and he ends up with them.
• Call-Forward: Near the end of the special, a woman is seen in a house Stan would be living in during the beginning of Post Covid.
• Cassandra Truth: Kyle refuses to believe Cartman actually got breast implants until Kenny feels them and confirms that they're real.
• Character Development: In this special, Liane is sticking to her guns, refusing to give an inch anymore to Eric and his lunacy after he forced her to quit her job, which caused her to be unable to pay for their house's rent and end up living in a hot dog stand. Plus she is still angry at her son for what he did.
• Cliffhanger: Steve Black is missing after being stabbed and dumped down a water slide, ManBearPig and Pi-Pi are well on their way to using up all of Denver's water supply and Cartman has enormous fake breasts.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Butters spouts off several F-bombs in his streaming rant after having one too many popsicles for Stan and Tolkien's boat project.
• Continuity Cameo: Sophie Gray makes a brief appearance in the background confirming that she just moved to South Park and is now a student at the town's elementary school.
• Continuity Nod: This isn't the first time that someone gets breast implants for attention. Also not the first time that Cartman ran away from home only to be rejected due to his The Friend Nobody Likes status. Also, ManBearPig and its global warming allegory, Pi-Pi and the water park that has more pee than water, Cartman living in a hot dog, Credigree Weed vs. Tegridy Farms, the South Park realtors and their leaning back poses, Matt Damon's ad, Sophie Gray appearing to confirm she's a student who had moved to South Park and Kenny loving boobs.
• Country Matters: Randy calls his own son the C-word at one point when accusing him of betrayal.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Once again, Cartman actually manages to use his manipulative skills to raise thousands of dollars. But instead of using the money for something reasonable, he tries to force his mother to get breast implants so she can seduce a rich old man and convice him to let them live with them. Even worse, when she refuses to get breast implants for his ridiculous scheme, Cartman threatens to get them himself if she won't, which she lets him do, esentially meaning that Cartman chose to get gigantic fake breasts for himself with the money he made instead of paying for a new house.
• Desecrating the Dead: ManBearPig not only brutally murders Mr. Cussler, but he also defecates on his face after he's already dead.
• Disappointed in You: It's clear through Liane's expression and tone that she's disappointed in Cartman for wasting 10,000 dollars on getting breast implants instead of refunding the money and using it on something more productive like a new house.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: The entire Streaming (water) Wars is an obvious allegory for the Streaming (entertainment) Wars. In typical South Park fashion, it's intentionally unsubtle, with Butters and Pi-Pi even ranting about content quality and shows moving to different streams respectively.
• The Dog Bites Back: After years of dealing with her son's neediness and sabotaging her life, Liane finally puts her foot down and tells Eric she's done with his bullshit and won't spoil him anymore. As Cartman desperately tries to get his mom to give in, Liane refuses.
• Dragon-in-Chief: ManBearPig is technically working for Pi-Pi but is much more powerful than Pi-Pi and does all the legwork for Pi-Pi, while Pi-Pi admits that he can't actually control ManBearPig and he’ll just kill everyone, including Pi-Pi himself, in the planet sooner or later.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • As corrupt and racist as Sergeant Yates is, even he doesn't like Karens and finds them annoying. Randy calls the police to try and get Tolkien arrested because his family has a streaming service, even though Tolkien just came over for food and technically isn't doing anything. When Randy is explaining the "situation" over the phone to Yates, the flat look he gives to the officer next to him shows he really doesn't want to deal with this crap.
  • The Water Commissioner might be sleazy and corrupt, but he is appalled to hear that Pi-Pi plans on accelerating climate change just to make a profit.
• Expy: The Water Commissioner is based off "Jake" Gittes from Chinatown, wearing the same outfit and being involved in a water scandal.
• Fan Disservice: Cartman's breast implants look awful and ridiculous.
• Fatal Flaw: Cartman, as usual, would rather pursue stupid schemes to get his mom to submit to him rather than accept any responsibility for his actions.
• Gold Digger: Cartman wants his mother Liane to get breast implants, seduce the rich Mr. Cussler, and convince him to let them live in the house he is building. Liane not only refuses, but the plan is rendered obsolete once Mr. Cussler is murdered by ManBearPig.
• Gender Bender: Cartman follows through with getting breast implants where he ends up becoming his own Distaff Counterpart. Subverted to a degree that he's still referred to as male.
• Grew a Spine: This special fully showcases just how fed up Liane is of Cartman's bullshit, she holds him responsible for them living in a hot dog stand, and none of his threats have an impact on her.
  Cartman: No, doctor! Please! I live in a hot dog!
  Liane: Because he made me quit my job! And I promised myself I wouldn't give in to him ever again!
  Cartman: Get fake tits, or else I'll call the police, Mom!
  Liane: Do what you want, Eric. I am done with this!
  Cartman: Fine, then I'll run away!
  Liane: You'll just have to run away, then.
  Cartman: I'll go live with Grandma!
  Liane: I'm sure Grandma would love that.
  (Cartman is shocked that none of his manipulation tactics are working. The doctor, puzzled, just sits there.)
  Liane: I've given in to you too many times, Eric. It stops now!
• Hate Sink: Cartman returns to his old, manipulative ways after being given the Alas, Poor Villain treatment in the previous specials. He's once again The Sociopath, now taking advantage of his friends' sympathy to force his mother to get breast augmentation surgery in a needlessly complicated plan for his own benefit.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: In a last-ditch attempt to manipulate his mother into getting breast implants, Cartman threatens to get them himself. She lets him do precisely that.
• Honor Before Reason: When his mother makes clear that she will not get breast implants, especially not to seduce a rich old man, Cartman actually follows through with his threat to get them himself in an attempt to get her to start babying him again. It fails, and Cartman is stuck with gigantic fake breasts, when he could have had the money refunded and used to help put a down payment on a new home.
• Hijacked by Ganon: This special seems to establish Mr. Cussler and the water commissioner as the main villains, only for them to be killed off by Pi-Pi and ManBearPig, characters that debuted earlier in the show, who then reveal themselves to be the actual Big Bad Duumvirate here.
• Hijacking Cthulhu: Downplayed, as Pi-Pi cannot control ManBearPig but is working with it to temporarily monopolize the water supply so everyone will be forced to buy his urine as replacement when it runs out.
• I Ate WHAT?!: Pi-Pi gives the Water Commissioner a drink, which he heavily implies is urine. The Water Commissioner immediately spits it out.
• I Gave My Word: Liane promised herself that she'd never give in to her son again after Eric's selfishness cost them their home, and this episode shows she's followed through on it by not catering to Cartman's latest scheme or his threats to leave her or have her arrested. By all accounts, Liane is done with her son and has resigned to letting him make a fool of himself.
• I Have No Son!: Downplayed. While Liane still plans to raise her son Eric, she is still mad and openly resentful that he made her lose their house and end up in a hot dog stand, and refuses to let him blame her for the loss of their house. From this point on, she stops giving in to him, refuses to tolerate his behavior anymore, wants nothing to do with his schemes, and doesn't seem to care when he threatens to run away. Even when his scheme backfires, she shows little sympathy for him, only disappointment. It is implied that while Liane will not abandon her son Eric and will support him financially until he becomes an adult (mainly because it's the law), she has given up on having any sort of relationship with him and has closed him off emotionally.
• I Resemble That Remark!: Everyone in town has started calling Randy "Karen" because of his tendency to act like an Obnoxious Entitled Housewife. All of his attempts to prove he's not only confirm it.
  Randy: Yeah, well, see, the thing is, this farm is about Tegridy, not stupid water rights. And if you want to keep comin' here and bugging me, then I would like to speak to your manager because you are harassing me, and I am important.
• It's All About Me: Once again, Cartman. This time he's trying to force his mother to undergo breast surgery so she can seduce Mr. Cussler into letting them live with him, uncaring of how it may affect Liane's body and health. Also, Cartman still refuses to let his mother get a job so they can afford an actual home again despite whining about living in a hot dog stand.
• "I Want" Song: Cartman sings a song about wanting to live in a better place than a hot dog stand.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Stan initially did not want Cartman to partake in their streaming service money making operation out of the claim that Cartman will fuck it out somehow. Sure enough Stan proves to be right and Cartman wastes their money on getting breast implants.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Cartman's attempt to force Liane to get breast surgery completely backfires on the former when the latter refuses to goes with Cartman's demands, while Cartman ends up getting ridiculously huge breast implants instead. It's also a long-delayed but well-deserved karma for mocking Wendy getting breast implants.
• Motive Decay: Initially, Cartman proposes Liane get breasts implants so she can seduce Mr. Cussler and convince him to let them live with him in his mansion instead of the hot dog stand. However, when she nixes the plan on the grounds she can't afford implants, Cartman becomes so fixated on this part of the plan that it doesn't occur to him later on that he can just use any money he gets to pay for another place for them to live.
• Never My Fault: Cartman still refuses to admit he's the reason he and his mom are now living in a hot dog stand and his eventual fate as a hobo.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Stan, Kyle, Kenny, Butters, and Tolkien decide to give Cartman their profit shares so his mother will be able to afford the serious surgery he told them about. Unknown to them, the surgery he was talking about was a breast implants surgery she did not want and he tried to manipulate her into getting as part of a Zany Scheme. The end result is that the boys gave up their hard earned money for Cartman getting breast implants. Subverted in Part 2 when Cartman's breast implants gets used to as the solution to provide clean water and save Colorado from the drought.
• No-Sell: Cartman's schemes and threats to leave her no longer work on his mother Liane, much to his surprise.
• Obnoxious Entitled Housewife: Because Randy has been acting like this ever since he bought Tegridy Farms, everyone in town, including his own family, has started calling him "Karen".
• Oh, Crap!: It's a small moment, but when Cartman threatens his mom with calling the police and running away if she doesn't get the breast surgery, she tells him to go right ahead and do it, and the same happens when he says he's going to live with his grandmother. The shocked look on Cartman's face makes him realize that his mom has finally had enough with him ruining her life.
• Plot-Irrelevant Villain: The only thing Cartman managed to do was get himself breast implants which don't contribute to the main conflict in this special.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Of the Tough Love sort. After Cartman once again tries to bully her into an absurd scheme, Liane makes quite apparent that the situation they are in is his own fault and she is not caving into him anymore.
  Liane: *sternly* I've given in to you too many times, Eric. It stops now!
• Running Gag: Randy is called a Karen by almost everyone. Though, in their defense, he is acting like one.
• Scenery Porn: The two shots of Denver bookending the special are impressively detailed.
• Series Continuity Error: Cartman threatens to run away and live with his grandma during his argument with Liane. Cartman's grandmother has been dead since Season 5.
• Skewed Priorities:
  • Even after becoming fed up with living in the hot dog stand, Cartman still considers it preferable to letting Liane get a job so they can afford an actual home.
  • When Liane reveals why she doesn't want to get breast implants, Cartman immediately latches onto the fact that the implants are expensive, and not that Liane doesn't want them at all.
• Stock Footage:
  • If you look closely at the title card, you may notice that all the scenes are taken from the first two Paramount+ specials.
  • The two shots of the bus pulling into South Park Elementary and through the city are taken from the show's opening sequence, albeit altered with far fewer characters.
• Take That!: Several:
  • People who refuse to cut back on natural resources when needed, particularly those who want green lawns.
  • People and corporations who exploit natural resource scarcity for profit, especially when selling "alternative" products that are either useless or even questionable.
  • As noted above, the water streaming having too many providers is a complaint about too many entertainment streaming providers. In both cases, quality is reduced in order to have more than the competitors.
  • Gender changing surgery for pre-pubescent kids is spoofed. Liane is skeptical her son could get the implants until he reminds her "It's 2022." She has a brief look of horror on her face, but still refuses to give in and get them herself. It's later revealed Cartman used the threat of Cancel Culture to force the doctor to perform the surgery, a shot at Progressive persuasion techniques.
  • Cartman has to mention Matt Damon's "Fortune favors the bold" crypto ad.
  • And, of course, Randy calling the police on Tolkien for no reason and being called a Karen by Sgt. Yates is an obvious one to...well...Karens and how they call the cops for the dumbest motives.
• Taking Advantage of Generosity: Cartman vaguely tells his friends that his mom needs serious surgery and convinces everyone to give all the profits to him, not telling them that he plans to use the money to give Liane huge boobs. Subverted a little by the fact Cartman genuinely believes it ''is'' a necessary surgery for his mother and not something he is (completely) selfishly pushing on her.
• Threat Backfire: Cartman tries to coerce Liane into getting breast implants by threatening to get them himself. Unfortunately for him, Liane has no problem with allowing him to go through with the surgery and letting him make a fool of himself in public, so Cartman winds up having to go to school with breast implants.
• Took a Level in Badass: Liane gains a level in this here, where she refuses to get breast implants for Cartman, while sticking with her refusal throughout the entire special.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In his first appearance, Pi-Pi was the eccentric owner of an admittedly disgusting water park. In this special, he's become a murderous monster who doesn't care if all the water is wasted as long as he can get rich.
• Tough Love: Liane makes sternly apparent that she is through caving into her son's whims and lets him make a fool of himself when he tries to continue his absurd breast implant scheme on himself as a revolt.
• Tranquil Fury: Liane remains in a stern, unswerving but controlled tone throughout Cartman's antics. Reaches its peak when Cartman gives himself the breast surgery and matter-of-factly notes the current side effects.
  Cartman: (anxious) Ok, well, that now you see how serious I was, what are you gonna do now?
  Liane: (almost serene) I'm going to go down and get some grocery shopping done. (walks away)
  Cartman: (exasperated) Mom? I will go to school like this! You're gonna have to give in at some point! (Beat) Mom??
• Uncertain Doom: Steve Black and the Water Commissioner are thrown out the window and down a slide that flushes them, but their fates are unknown.
• Undignified Death: Mr. Cussler suffers one when ManBearPig decides to shit on Mr. Cussler after killing him.
• Villainous Breakdown: Cartman has one which progressively grows when Liane makes it clear she will not get breast implants to seduce a rich old man for him and continues to stand her ground on the subject.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: When Pi-Pi reveals he plans on letting the water drain out so everyone will be forced to buy his urine, he gets ManBearPig to dispose of the Water Commissioner.