South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covid (also stylized South Park: Post COVID: The Return of COVID) is a 2021 American adult animated comedy television film written and directed by Trey Parker. It is the second in a series of South Park television films for the streaming service Paramount+ and premiered on December 16, 2021.[2][3] It is a direct sequel to and continues the storyline of the previous film, South Park: Post Covid.[4] It is the fourth and final episode of the 24th season and the 311th episode of the series.
Plot[]
Stan Marsh flashes back to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when he and his classmates were sent home from school before they could blackmail fellow student Heather Wiliams for VIP access to a Denver Nuggets game; and the events leading to him burning down Tegridy Farms and inadvertently killing his sister Shelley, leading to their mother Sharon's suicide.
Presently, South Park remains under quarantine due to the new COVID-19 variant. On the run and guarding his last sprout of marijuana, Randy Marsh is cornered by Shady Acres nurses when Token Black defeats them and takes Randy to Kenny McCormick's laboratory. At the lab, Stan, alongside Kyle Broflovski and a group of their friends, cannot get past the firewall without a voice command from either Kenny or his institutionalized associate, Victor Chouce. They realize that the experiment will need aluminum foil, all supplies of which are in grounded cargo ships. Stan and Kyle head out to retrieve Chouce while Tweek Tweak and Craig Tucker search for the foil.
At the asylum, Stan and Kyle find that "Chouce" is actually "Chaos." They enter Chaos' cell to discover that he is actually Butters Stotch, who went insane after his parents abandoned him. In his isolation, Chaos began dealing in NFTs, for which he was institutionalized. Stan and Kyle are removed from Chaos' cell, but Chaos later escapes. Meanwhile, Randy cultivates his marijuana as the others explain Kenny's plans to prevent the pandemic. Randy refuses to cooperate and reveals that all possible timelines involve his sex acts with the pangolin. Their plans are further complicated by Clyde Donovan's refusal to be vaccinated.
The Cartman family take refuge at the church building. Eric Cartman forms the Foundation Against Time Travel, intent on preventing Kenny's plan. Tweek and Craig arrive at the church and inadvertently inform Cartman of their purpose, resulting in their capture. Cartman convinces Clyde to join his cause; he later recruits Chaos, who brainwashes Stan and Kyle's group into investing in NFTs while Cartman and his group stolen the time travel equipment. At the church, Cartman reveals his plan to have Kyle killed in the past, while Kyle and Stan undo Chaos' brainwashing upon their return. Wendy Testaburger reveals that Kenny's plan was not to prevent the pandemic, but to salvage the boys' friendship and improve the future; Token states that "Tegridy Weed" served as a reminder to take some marijuana with him. A depressed Randy forgives Stan for his actions and gives him his last seed of marijuana.
Cartman prepares for Clyde to travel back in time when Stan and Kyle arrive and use their Amazon Alexas to neutralize Chaos. Cartman and Kyle begin fighting until Yentl, Cartman's wife, convinces him to allow Kyle and Stan to implement their plan. However, Cartman’s infant son activates the machine, sending Clyde back in time. Arriving to retrieve his father's gun, Clyde convinces his past self not to be vaccinated. Adult Clyde approaches the boys with the intent to kill young Kyle when Stan, Kyle, and Cartman arrive, having traveled through time to intervene. Before Clyde can fire, Cartman shoots him dead.
Realizing that they cannot prevent the pandemic, Stan, Kyle, and Cartman instead decide to change their reaction. They approach Heather Williams and blackmail her to get their younger selves courtside tickets to the Nuggets game, where the boys forgive each other. Randy receives the marijuana strain from the future and cultivates it for mass distribution. Under its influence, the townspeople forgive each other for their behavior during the pandemic, changing the future. Almost everyone's lives have changed for the better in the revised future, with Sharon, Shelley, and Kenny alive in the new future, while Cartman has become a homeless and bitter alcoholic.
Cast[]
- Trey Parker as Stan Marsh, Eric Cartman, Randy Marsh, Jimmy Valmer, Clyde Donovan, Ike Broflovski, Mr. Mackey, Richard Tweak, Skeater, Stephen Stotch, Timmy Burch, Darwin, Hackelm Cartman, Moisha Cartman, and LeBron James
- Matt Stone as Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, Butters Stotch, Kevin Stoley, Scott Malkinson, Tweek Tweak, Craig Tucker, Thomas Tucker, and Jimbo Kern
- April Stewart as Wendy Testaburger, Sharon Marsh, and Shelly Marsh
- Mona Marshall as Yentl Cartman
- Kimberly Brooks as Margaret Nelson and Laura Tucker
- Adrien Beard as Token Black
- Delilah Kujala as Amazon Alexa[5]
- Betty Boogie Parker as Menorah Cartman and Heather Williams
Reception[]
Dan Caffey of The A.V. Club said about the film "Picking up where November’s Post COVID left off, The Return of COVID finds South Park's grownup kids in full Avengers: Endgame mode, trying to figure out how to travel back in time to reverse the shitty present in which they currently live. If that sounds like an overly basic distillation of the plot, that's because, like the first movie, The Return of COVID complicates the story with subplots that sometimes make the core narrative feel like it's stalling."[6] The ending of the film, which revealed the fate of an adult Eric Cartman, led to some strong reactions from longtime fans of the show.[7]
References[]
- ↑ "PARAMOUNT+ REVEALS “SOUTH PARK: POST COVID” FIRST LOOK". South Park (2021-11-18).
- ↑ "The Exclusive Event Continues...'South Park: Post Covid: The Return Of Covid' Is Coming To Paramount+ Thursday, December 16". Comedy Central (Press release). December 8, 2021. Retrieved December 8, 2021.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
- ↑ "'South Park' Dropping 'Post COVID' Part II Movie Next Week". Hollywood Reporter (December 8, 2021).
- ↑ "South Park Event Return of COVID Gets Paramount+ Premiere Date, First Look". TV Line (December 8, 2021).
- ↑ Kujala, Delilah [@DelilahKujala] (December 18, 2021). "You can watch to me bring the wrath 😈 of Alexa down on your fav @SouthPark characters on "South Park: Post Covid: The Return Of Covid" now streaming on @paramountplus" (Tweet). Retrieved December 20, 2021 – via Twitter.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
- ↑ Caffrey, Dan (December 16, 2021). "In South Park: Post COVID: The Return Of COVID, the villains don't know that they're villains". The A.V. Club.
- ↑ "Some 'South Park' Fans Struggling With One Character's Depressing Altered Future in Latest Paramount+ Movie". The Hollywood Reporter (December 17, 2021).
External Links[]
- ViacomCBS Express website
- South Park wiki
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park:_Post_Covid:_The_Return_of_Covid
