Scott Tenorman Must Die
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “Scott Tenorman Must Die” | |
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| South Park episode | |
 Scott Tenorman and guest stars Radiohead. |
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| Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 69 |
| Written by | Trey Parker |
| Directed by | Eric Stough Matt Stone |
| Guest stars | Radiohead |
| Production no. | 501 |
| Original airdate | July 11, 2001 |
| Season 5 episodes | |
| South Park - Season 5 June 20, 2001 – December 12, 2001 |
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| ← Season 4 | Season 6 → |
| List of South Park episodes | |
"Scott Tenorman Must Die" is episode 69 of the Comedy Central animated series South Park. It originally aired on July 11, 2001. It features the band Radiohead as guest stars, a rarity as usually any 'stars' on the show are imitated. This particular episode is a perennial favorite among South Park fans, largely due to its very dark humor. The plot is a loose adaption of the William Shakespeare play Titus Andronicus.
[edit] Plot
Cartman excitedly brags to the rest of the gang that he is the first to reach puberty, since he believes to have gotten his first pubes. It turns out, however, that he has only bought the pubic hairs from a boy in ninth grade, Scott Tenorman (voiced by Toby Morton), rather than growing them himself but was under the impression this would be sufficient to reach puberty. Cartman is outraged at having been conned.
Cartman tries to get back his $10 through various methods, but is always outwitted by Scott. He even loses an additional $6.12 in the process. He also gets tricked into traveling over 100 miles to another town because Scott told him of a "pube fair," and that he could sell them at $5 a hair; Cartman falls for it, thinking that he will get "a million dollars" for the "pubes", saying "haha! Scott, charade you are!", a reference to the Pink Floyd song "Pigs (Three Different Ones)." Upon arrival, he finds that the fair was a lie, and receives a delivered package full of more pubic hair. Finally, he tells Scott his grandmother will die without the money, but Scott, after tricking Cartman into acting like a "little piggy," burns the money in front of Cartman.
An irate Cartman angrily plots his revenge. He first attempts to get his friends on his side, but as Cartman is the only victim, none are interested.
Cartman's first major plan involves training one of Farmer Denkins' ponies to bite Scott's wiener off. He trains one to attack a scarecrow with a hot dog hanging from its pants. The pony doesn't bite it off the first time, instead performing fellatio on it. Jimbo and Ned turn up, stating that the best way to humiliate Scott is to exploit his weaknesses. The major weakness Cartman, Jimbo, and Ned find is that Scott likes the band Radiohead, but before they can go any further Cartman spots Mrs. Tenorman undressing and shifts his focus there. Jimbo and Ned get a look before Mr. Tenorman spots them and tells them that he's spotted them before and he'll call the cops if they don't leave (revealing, in the process, that most of the men in South Park have been watching Mrs. Tenorman undress as well).
Now armed with new information, Cartman comes up with a scheme that involves dubbing his voice over that of Radiohead to make it appear that the band is telling Kurt Loder that Scott Tenorman is "totally not cool." This plan fails (as he made no attempt to disguise his voice, so it is obvious that he dubbed it) and Scott further humiliates Cartman by showing the entire town the film of Cartman's acting like a pig in order to get his money back.
Cartman then proceeds to carry out a new plan. He invites Radiohead (Scott's favorite band) to come to South Park to meet Scott (who is, according to the letter, dying from "cancer in his ass") and asks if they are free "next Tuesday around 5." Stan and Kyle betray Cartman, telling Scott about Cartman's plan. Cartman invites Scott to a chili cookoff, telling him that he can have a free pony ride at the event. Scott, who thinks he knows what Cartman's plan is, tells his parents that there is an abandoned pony at Farmer Denkins' place. His parents go to Farmer Denkins in order to have the pony sent to an animal shelter. Scott decides to humiliate Cartman once again by having all the kids in South Park put their pubic hair in Scott's chili and watch Cartman eat it.
At the cook off, everybody is waiting for Cartman to get humiliated (except for Chef, who brought his own chili). Scott eats Cartman's chili first, and then taunts Cartman to do the same. When Cartman has almost finished a bowl of chili that is apparently Scott's, Scott begins to tell Cartman what he did. However, Cartman has anticipated Scott's move, and reveals through a mouthful of chili that he switched Scott's chili with Chef's (which he told Chef was delicious). He then goes into detail about how he figured Scott out. First, Cartman knew that Stan and Kyle would tell Scott about his original plan. He knew that Scott would try to take care of the pony. He also knew that Scott, out of fear of having his penis bitten off, would probably send his parents to do the deed. Knowing that, Cartman went to Denkins' farm and warned him about violent pony killers in the area. Knowing that Denkins shoots trespassers on sight, Cartman returned to the farm later that night after Denkins had shot and killed Mr. and Mrs. Tenorman, and stole the bodies. After spending a night cutting the bodies up with a hacksaw (which is not shown), Cartman was able to create "Mr. and Mrs. Tenorman Chili", which Scott has eaten, and promptly finds his mother's finger (with her wedding ring still on it). Scott (and everyone else present) is horrified and devastated at the loss of his parents. Scott throws up, and Cartman mocks him for eating his parents. At that moment, right on cue (and exactly on Cartman's schedule), Radiohead shows up. They see Scott sobbing and mock him for being a "crybaby" and "totally not cool."
Finally, as Scott is crying over the death of his parents, Cartman licks the tears off Scott's face, remarking that they are "yummy and sweet" as well as calling them "the tears of unfathomable sadness." Kyle and Stan, shocked at how far Cartman went to get revenge, decided never to piss him off again. The episode ends with Cartman imitating Porky Pig in an homage to old Looney Tunes cartoons.
[edit] Popularity and reception
- In an official poll held by Comedy Central, this episode ranked 8th most popular of all-time; and in another poll, it was named Cartman’s Greatest Moment, as it finally showed the audience just how psychopathic Cartman could be. It was also voted the most controversial episode of all time on another Comedy Central poll.
- This episode is currently the highest-rated South Park episode on IMDb.com[1] and TV.com [2], and also appears on the South Park: The Hits DVD.
- In the recent UK poll Paramount Comedy's Top 10 Episodes, this episode was ranked number 2.
- The events of the episode are referenced in many subsequent episodes by Cartman as a way of demonstrating just how bad he can be, usually by either whispering under his breath or shouting (depending on the situation) "I'll make you eat your parents" as a means of extortion.
- During Comedy Central's South Park Marathon (March 2008), this episode earned the title "Most Shocking Plot Twist."
[edit] References
| Preceded by “A Very Crappy Christmas” |
South Park episodes | Followed by “It Hits the Fan” |
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