South Park (TV Series) The Problem with a Poo (2018) User Reviews

Exorcising your 'Roseanne'

[DarthVoorhees · 7/10 · 1 November 2018]

'The Problem with a Poo' has some of the strongest plot ideas we've seen in a recent 'South Park'. The episode should have followed the main plot thread of Mr. Hankey being a social pariah as a wholly formed idea and then maybe used the PC Principal/Strong Woman storyline in another episode. We have two funny episodes crammed into an A and a B story in one episode and thus they aren't really fully developed from a plot point of view. It kind of ventures into gag territory when humor cannot organically come from plot. Gags have usually been an indicator of a weaker 'South Park' episode. The fortunate thing is that I don't necessarily mind gags if they can make me laugh and they do here. It's just 'The Problem with a Poo' is a mediocre to fair episode that had excellent plot ideas.

I love the main idea of Mr. Hankey as an allegory for a Roseanne Barr type who used to be beloved and now is ostracized. I think 'South Park' really gets the story right. They don't defend their fallen idol but they put up a mirror to the town who pats themselves on the back for getting rid of Hankey. It's really hilarious to see the outrage from our characters juxtaposed with Mr. Hankey. The idea of good old goofy benign Mr. Hankey having a mean racist streak on twitter is inspired. I love bringing back Hankey too as he is a 90's creature who was a big part of early 'South Park'. The fact the characters are so quick to throw him away rather than take a look at themselves and acknowledge that they appreciated Hankey at a time is a really smart commentary. I don't think Trey and Matt think Roseanne or the tossed aside #MeToo figures got a raw deal. I think they are attacking the notion of using them as a cultural scapegoat. It's a smart take. It kind of loses some steam and gets clunky as they venture off into an incoherent Kavanaugh parody but for the most part I like it. More time should have been spent with Kyle and Hankey though. It would have made the story a lot stronger as Kyle has to toss aside his friend too.

The PC Principal and Strong Woman relationship seems to be playing the long game as a recurring story. I'm sure it will be very funny as it continues. The scenes feel out of place jumbled into this particular episode though. Their story is completely irrelevant to the Hankey story and the Hankey story is stronger. That isn't to say I didn't laugh at it. The PC babies are hilarious if not one note. The story has more to tell. It'll be hilarious to see when PC Principal and Strong Woman realize they are just boring self important white people in a normal relationship

Kind of weak, but still good

[ericstevenson · 7/10 · 14 October 2018]

This is considered to be one of the weakest episodes of Season 22. I admit that the stuff with Mr. Hankey could have been funnier. I appreciate how they're going back to Mr. Hankey being involved with Christmas. This episode features Strong Woman giving birth to five children and it's obvious PC Principal is the father. I especially love how we see these babies wearing sunglasses. That's just a really funny image!

Anyway, the episode ends with Mr. Hankey going to Springfield. It then says, "#cancelTheSimpsons" instead of "#cancelSouthPark'' as used in previous previews for this season. It's a very clever setup. We could have used more of the boys in this. It's still watchable. I'm still mad they haven't addressed the MeToo hashtag. ***

Muddled

[jwwalrath-227-85487 · 5/10 · 11 October 2018]

PC Principal and Strong Woman remain on point and are entertaining as ever.

However, the main storyline didn't work for me. Parker and Stone tackled too many things to parody and didn't achieve a solid whole. I was literally confused about what they were trying to get across. Were they for, against, or saying this is a grey area? I really couldn't tell.

Neither good or bad

[lateuing · 6/10 · 15 October 2018]

Its a funny but the plot is kinda meh. its about PC culture and how peoole nowadays offended by everything.

6

[Edvis-1997 · 6/10 · 4 January 2019]

Mr. Hankey scenes worth like 10 but those annoying PC kids just destroying great episode with 1/10 that's why I can't give more than 6.

Must watch because Mr.Hankey, but the episode otherwise falls short of 'gold' tier South Park. Still a must watch

[tomdegroot-57224 · 7/10 · 27 January 2022]

It pains me not rank a Mr. Hankey episode over 7.. The PC babies is my eyes are the worst character/characters introduced, and really just 'weighed' on this episode way to much. Awesome comedy with a strong plot and good writing leads the episode keeping it very enjoyable. Just not one for the books. A must watch at least once for Hankey, but after wards becomes more on the forgettable side compared to other South Park epsiodes. Still must watch if haven't and returning/rewatching anything Mr. Hankey is never a bad bet/ time!

Mr. Hankey

[wburchnall · 3/10 · 14 October 2018]

Honestly, this episode was a bit of a muddled mess. There were mixed messages as to the overall moral theme of the episode. The three stars I gave the episode was for the Strong Woman and Mr. Prinicpal PC baby subplot which was nice.

The main plot of Mr. Hankey tweeting mean comments, while high on ambien, and Kyle subsequent defense was less stellar and where the episode became muddled in my opinion. For one, it seems this is a joke about Rosanne Barr who tweeted about a conspiracy theory that Obama spied on Trump during his campaign. Later, she wrote "It was 2 in the morning and I was ambien tweeting."

Mr. Hankey continually blames his rude comments on ambient, so the connection is quite clear. Additionally Barr lost her show and Hankey lost his position. However, Kyle's defense is the part that is odd. He initially believes comments that Mr. Hankey's tweets are comedy by nature and therefore begins to defend him. Later, there are more tweets which seems like an indefensible position to believe they are intended as comedy and not just insults. They get in a fight and eventually Kyle abandons Mr. Hankey believing him to be an asshole.

Meanwhile, he's shown being considered shit for defending a shitty-person. This felt anti-free speech in that, should one not be able to defend one's right to speak even if one doesn't agree with what is being said? It's as if it's a subtle jab that if you support free speech, it probably means you're a shitty person and want to say shitty things or be an enabler of shitty people. Yet, they could equally just be saying, 'Be careful of who you associate with, due to guilt by association fallacy many people believe in'.

The ending segment where Kyle is shitty and Mr. Hankey is run out seems to be an odd mixed-message. Is the show trying to say we shouldn't defend comedy or edgy comedy? Is the show anti-free speech? The overall message intended is not particularly clear. Furthermore, it would be very hypocritical for the shows authors, who have a character that is literately talking poo and has had giant alien satellites expanding out of characters' arses (literately), to take the stance that crude comedy on twitter is inappropriate. Further, there have been times in South Park's history were critics felt it should be censored for being 'assholes' or 'insensitive'. If being rude means one should be run out of town, how about "Barbara-Strizan-o-vision" was just a running gag for halloween specials indicating Barbara was ugly/scary/etc. It is not insulting though, right Matt and Trey? It's just 'Comedy' not an insult to the lady. There's countless other examples.

Further, if you are bothered by the tweets of say Roseanne Barr or "Mr. Hanky", can one not just hit the block button? unfollow? etc. Would running them out of town really be necessary? (This seems to be the equivalent of banning on Twitter). Did Barr need to lose her show? Couldn't you just...not watch it...if it bothers you? Employ self censorship rather than take things people enjoy away from them because you don't enjoy it? This last sentence seems in exact opposite of the PC-Baby subplot. So, muddled, mixed messages.

Finally, since Mr. Hankey is/was a public official, are they implying this ruleset should only apply to people in office but not everyday joes? Saying nothing of audience or reach.

This season is what we've been waiting for

[jessicarrr1990 · 8/10 · 24 October 2018]

The last few seasons, South Park have experimented with season long political plots archs. While they've been funny we've grown tired and longed for the stupidity with some satire that was great in seasons 10-15. I feel like we've returned to this at last and each episode has been great so far

A non stop cycle of murdering all of the characters.

[phdiscussions · 7/10 · 7 October 2021]

And he was never seen again. The sudden death of south park characters has now begun. This PC thing is really killing alot of people in south park, but I kinda like it. RIP Mr Hankey, living in smelly simpsonsland.

Mr. Hankey Needs to Die

[Guo_Jing · 1/10 · 27 November 2018]

I really didn't think I'd get through this episode. Every time Mr. Hankey opened his mouth I wanted to gouge out my eardrums. The PC Principal and Strong Woman subplot made my stick it out long enough to get to the end, which was the only scene featuring Mr. Hankey that might not be nauseating.

The ending, tho..... tongue in cheek much?

[samonele · 8/10 · 12 October 2018]

Overall a nice episode. I love the PC plotline, mr Hankey plotline not so much, but it didn't suck,to be fair. It's just that I can't help but love how PC Principal and Strong Woman are being tested.

South Park is better than ever

[RussHog · 10/10 · 12 October 2018]

Great episode of South Park that shows how the hypocritical PC culture does not check their own baggage while they try to erase the history of the people who offend them. While I do not think the PC culture is quite as toxic as this show portrays them in this episode - this is a warning of the dangers that PC culture harbors on their most extreme side. Also - to be fair - the episode shows that people will want to get rid of you if you are just a POS. Of course - we are all a POS sometimes. So - what do do?