YMMV / South Park S5E4 "Scott Tenorman Must Die"

• Alternate Aesop Interpretation: "Don't assume someone isn't willing or capable of reacting irrationally when you deliberately upset them." Scott has no qualms about bullying Bratty Half-Pint like Cartman as much as he does simply because he never considers the possibility that Cartman would do something as cruel as what he does as revenge. For all he knew, the worst that would come of it would be Cartman throwing a harmless temper tantrum.
• Broken Base: Is this episode a South Park classic, or too dark for its own good?
• Catharsis Factor: As disproportionate as Cartman's revenge is, anyone who's been bullied will probably find it darkly satisfying. This was even cited in TV Trash's review as one of the main reasons for the episode's popularity.
• Crosses the Line Twice:
  • Thom Yorke declaring "He has cancer! In his ass!" shouldn't be funny, but it is. The rest of the band getting visibly teary-eyed in response only makes it funnier.
  • Cartman mocking Scott after feeding him his own parents' corpses is downright horrifying. Cartman drinking Scott's tears while cheerfully calling them yummy, however, is darkly hilarious.
• Growing the Beard: After the initial shock value of the show and popularity of the movie started to wear off, this episode is generally cited as when the show proved that it had legs and could still be inventive with the storytelling. Cartman himself switched from being bratty but ineffectual to one with a shot at being a supervillain when motivated.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The Tenorman family photo shows Scott scowling at his dad. It's later revealed in season 14's 201 (which was banned from reruns and streaming for reasons completely unrelated to this episode) that Mr. Tenorman is Eric's father, meaning Cartman killed and cooked his own father, then fed him to his own half-brother.
  • Cartman lying to Scott about his grandma being sick in the hospital just to get his money back wouldn't seem so amusing when she actually passes away a couple weeks later in "Cartmanland".
• It Was His Sled: Everyone knows what Cartman's final revenge plan is nowadays, thanks to online spoilers.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Cartman is one for the episode's first half, as he is humiliated again and again by Scott, despite having done nothing to him, and his own "friends" find this funny and don't bother to help him get back at Scott. Though, they do openly admit they hate Cartman and didn't help him with his plans because they were dumb plans.
  • Scott is definitely a jerk and becomes an insane villain after this, but the guy was tricked into eating his parents and Cartman had his favorite band call him a crybaby for it.
• Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: While most people agree that Cartman's revenge was too much, it's hard to deny that Scott had it coming since he continuously bullied Cartman and refused to stop, leading most viewers to side with Cartman.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Cartman killing and feeding Scott his parents marked the point where he went from spoiled, obnoxious Jerkass to full-blown Villain Protagonist.
  • Even before that, Scott's continued torturing of Cartman, starting with burning the latter's money for no reason other than him being a reprehensible human being.
• Rooting for the Empire: Sure, Cartman is in general a Jerkass and goes way too far in his revenge against Scott, but Scott is still a thoroughly unlikable bully who has no reason to torment Cartman other than for the sake of being cruel, as he openly admits that he doesn't care about having Cartman's sixteen dollars but he burns the money instead of just giving it back to Cartman. Eventually, you're going to want to see him punished in some way.
• Signature Line: "Oh, the tears of unfathomable sadness! Yummy! Yummy, you guys!"
• Squick:
  • Cartman putting Scott's pubes on his face to look like a beard.
  • Cartman eating Scott's pube chili. At least until we find out that it isn't Scott's chili.
  • Scott eating his dead parents.

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