Cartman Sucks
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"Cartman Sucks" is episode 1102 of Comedy Central's "South Park" and the second episode of the show's 11th season. It originally aired on March 14, 2007. The episode title is a double entendre; "Cartman Sucks" could be interpreted as Cartman being unfriendly but also refers to the picture of Cartman fellating Butters.
Synopsis
While playing with the other boys, Cartman shows them degrading pictures of Butters while he's sleeping at Cartman's house. He is nearly going to tell them about his "ultimate plan" to embarrass Butters, but he is stopped short when Butters unexpectedly arrives. The next morning he runs up to the bus stop showing the boys a picture of Butters' penis in his mouth, thinking that this would make Butters appear to be gay. The boys are disgusted, and inform Cartman that his action is indicative not of Butters' sexual orientation, but of his own. Cartman panics and pleads for a way to undo the act. Kyle sarcastically tells Cartman that the only way he can reverse the "gay polarity" is to put his own "wiener" in Butters' mouth. Cartman finds Butters back up in his own room, blindfolds him, and tries to follow through with Kyle's plan, but Mr. Stotch walks in on them. Butters' father, initially shocked, convinces himself that Butters must just be "bi-curious." Father Maxi further tells Butters that he is just "confused" (which Butters accepts, since he honestly is confused about the term), and Butters is sent to Camp New Grace, a reparative therapy camp to "Pray the Gay Away" (the camp's slogan).
Cartman discovers that Kyle misled him and plans to simply destroy the photo so that no one will ever know, but Kyle and the others threaten to tell other people unless Cartman is really nice to them forever. Later, when Cartman is unable to find the picture, he blames Kyle for its disappearance.
At New Grace, most of the campers seem to be self-loathing, and in nearly every scene someone commits suicide with little concern from the camp officials. Butters is introduced to his twitchy, nervous "accountabila-buddy" (a portmanteau of accountability and buddy) Bradley, who is constantly quoting Bible verses under his breath.
Back in South Park, Cartman tries to report the theft of the photo to Sergeant Yates. When that fails(due to the fact that he is unwilling to admit the intentional nature of the photo), he goes home and twists his ears until he cries, running to his mom and telling her that Kyle has a picture of him and he's going to use it to make fun of him the next day at Show and Tell. Mrs. Cartman calls Kyle's mom, who quickly assures her that Kyle doesn't have the picture. Cartman refuses to believe what Kyle's mother has said. Liane tells her son there is nothing else she can do and Cartman, horrified that his mother couldn't help, decides that if he cannot stop Kyle from showing the picture to the class, he will at least deny him the satisfaction of humiliating him by printing out another picture and showing it to the class himself.
At New Grace, a male underwear ad from a 1979 Sears Catalogue is found in Bradley and Butters' room, and both boys are punished. As they carry out their penance, Bradley apologizes for getting Butters into trouble with the catalogue, and then becomes horrified, realizing that he "likes" Butters. Butters innocently tells him that he "likes" him too, which causes Bradley to panic and run away, declaring that "our only way out is to kill ourselves." Eventually, Bradley turns up on a bridge, on the verge of committing suicide. Butters then gets mad and gives a speech about how he was only confused after people told him he was and that it was okay to be bi-curious. He surmises that if all of them came from God, it must mean God is "a little bi-curious himself." After the speech, Bradley changes his mind about committing suicide, and Butters' father admits to Butters that he's bi-curious himself (referring to Butter's Very Own Episode).
Meanwhile, in South Park, Cartman confronts Kyle and states he will not let Kyle embarrass him in front of the whole class. He then volunteers to go first for Show and Tell with his photography project. After showing the class a long slide show of artistic photos he took, he reveals the picture of him with Butters' penis in his mouth. The whole class utters groans of disgust, and Cartman claims that the photo is a statement of protest against the war in Iraq. Mr. Mackey then walks in and tells Cartman that there's a note from his mom. He then reads it out loud, which tells Cartman not to show the picture because Kyle never had the picture; it was under his desk the entire time. Realizing that he revealed the photo for no reason, a shocked and dismayed Cartman looks back at Kyle, who is looking back at him wearily. After a long pause, Cartman finally utters the word "lame."
Cultural references
- Bradley, Butters' accountabilibuddy, resembles Billy Bibbit from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, played by Brad Dourif.
- The song Butters is humming when he is playing with his toys before Cartman enter his room, is "Help Me" by Joni Mitchell.
- The board game that Stan, Kyle, and Kenny are playing when Cartman says he is going to destroy the picture is called Living, a parody of The Game of Life. They are also holding and trading cards and rolling dice, all things that would probably be unlikely while playing The Game of Life.
References to other South Park episodes
- Butters's dad stating that he is Bi-curious is a reference to the season 5 episode, Butter's Very Own Episode.
- Cartman saying "lame!" at the end of the episode references the episode AWESOM-O. That episode also involves Cartman trying to embarrass Butters, only to be embarrassed himself.
Goofs
- When the Director tells Butters that he is just as confused as Bradley, Butters is at the edge of the cliff. But when he turns around he is not at the edge.