Goin' Down to South Park 2.01.08: Starvin' Marvin
Posted by Jerome Cusson on 02.01.2008
Let's talk about a holiday that happened three months ago and the starving people of Ethiopia.
Holiday episodes are usually a lot of fun, especially when done right. I just wish this timing could have worked out better, and I could do write about this episode when it was actually Thanksgiving instead of two weeks before Valentine’s Day. I personally enjoyed a lot of things about this episode, everything from the crazy turkeys to the parody of Sally Struthers.
This episode serves as an introduction to Starvin’ Marvin as well, one the of the more interesting side characters in animated television show history. He’s a starving Ethiopian boy that the boys are inspired to help because they want a sports watch. Starvin’ Marvin is sent instead and the boys take to him immediately, even bringing him to show and tell at school. The boys are forced to give up Marvin. The problem is Marvin is way smarter than that. When agents come to Cartman’s house, Marvin tells them Cartman is the starving boy. The feds screw up again. I’m stunned.
Mephesto creates his own brand of chaos by cloning more turkeys in an attempt to cure world hunger. The turkeys go crazy and the rest of the town has to gang up on the animals to fend them off.
Ethiopia is saved, at least in this episode, when Cartman discovers Struthers hoarding all of the food and all the crazy turkeys being killed and sent back to the country along with Marvin. A country is saved. Cartman is saved. South Park gets another happy holiday. Let’s see if they have a merry Christmas next week.
The “Screw You Guys, I’m going home” for best line/moment of the episode: The entire Braveheart parody is funny because it doesn’t make fun of the film. The writers of trash like Meet the Spartans and Date Movie should take note.
The Pip moment for worst line/moment of the episode: Nothing to awful here.
The “Oh My God, they killed Kenny!” moment: Kenny is killed toward the end by the evil turkeys
Celebrities kick ASS (celebrities from this episode in bold)!: Patrick Duffy, Kathie Lee Gifford, George Clooney as a dog, and John Stamos’ older brother, Elton John, Tina Yothers, Sally Struthers… boy these early ones scratch the bottom of the barrel.
The 411: While not a perfect episode, there was some solid material to work with and a good parody. It's not as good as most of the Friends Thanksgiving episodes, but the absurdity helps a lot. Plus, making fun of Sally Struthers is just funny.
