So last night, South Park concluded its 15th season with the episode "The Poor Kid", which poked fun at some really risque topics leading the media as I even type this. It had great laughs and some smart, and new, jokes, but "The Poor Kid" isn't the episode I want to talk about right now.
What I wish to talk about concerns the episode seen in the picture above, "The Last of the Meheecans", which to me, totally and completely deserves an Emmy nomination, and even the actual award itself for the brilliance the episode displayed.
"The Last of the Meheecans", which gets its name from the film The Last of the Mohicans, follows the South Park gang, and friends, as they play Border Patrol, where Cartman is the head of control, and Kyle is one of the "Meheecans". Little by little the Meheecans "jump the border", angering Cartman even at his own slumber party. During the game however, Butters (who's Mexican name is Montequilla, Spanish for butter, of course) tries to lead the Meheecans but is dismissed, with no one believing he can be a leader. He ends up getting lost, while still in his Mexican persona, and picked up by a couple who treats him like an immigrant and makes him clean and fix everything, like an immigrant. They eventually feel guilty and drop him of at a Mexican restaurant, where the Spanish workers have heard of him, and he talks the workers into leaving America, and this is where the episode gets interesting, because all the immigrants then start jumping THE OTHER WAY and flee back into Mexico, along with Montequilla.
The episode shows up a reverse of how actual events have gone. It displays that because America has been getting so crappy, with the economy to thank, Mexicans are starting to go back to their own country, replenishing it, as well as looking up to Butters (Montequilla) as a savior for showing them the way. It's brilliant! It's also uncomfortably true, the fact that illegal immigrants think that our country is so terrible that they need to flee back to their country, making a bold and obvious statement, and using South Park's usual dark humor to convey the message.
In real life, I could totally see immigrants escaping the clutches of America's economy, and jumping the other way at the border. The episode makes its point about immigrants, but also makes a point about how American's are so sensationalized about even hearing the words "border" and "immigrant" in the same sentence, as well as also showing that America, kind of, needs the immigrants for little odd jobs like raking leaves, and such.
Now I could go into an entire sh-peal about this and that about the episode, considering it, as well as the season as a whole was fabulous. But now I just want to state once again that I believe that "The Last of the Meheecans" deserves to be South Park's 4th Emmy win!
If you're an advent South Park fan like I am, you'll know that the show has won Emmy's for its topically charged episodes, such as 2005's "Best Friends Forever", which was a straight criticism on the feeding tube scandal that was published on every news outlet, and made a valid point about "right to die" causes as well as showing the poor woman (or Kenny in the episode) in her vegetable state on national television. 2006 saw their second win with the classic "Make Love, Not Warcraft", which utilized new animated techniques with the help of Machinima, and also portrayed a true portrait of lazy gamers who play and play until they swell with fat and grow pimples out the ying-yang. And there last win, with 2009's epic "Margaritaville" which bravely depicted the economic crash of 2008-2009, and mixed it with the biblical story of Jesus, played by Kyle the Jew, of course. These episodes, as well as the season 15 episode in question, all made extremely truthful points, thus leading to victorious award wins, all totally deserved. People think South Park just uses current topics, lampooning them more than other shows are. But what they actually do is take already publicized stories, tell them from both sides, and make the true point of how it really is, what really went down, and washes it with the scandalous humor the show is known for.
If I had to rate the season as a whole, I'd obviously approve it, for improving the comedic quality it somewhat lacked in the few seasons before it, plus it's note-worthy that all the episodes of season 15 (except for "Royal Pudding", which was negatively received by tele-critics for stupidly mocking the Royal Wedding) were positively viewed. But if I had to rate "The Last of the Meheecans", I'd "acclaim" it, because it lampoons a topic that's still so sensitive to both sides of political justice, as well as shadowing it with extremely smart comedy that should be emulated in other shows, because it's easily laughable.
I also would like to say, in my opinion, besides "Butter's Very Own Episode", "The Last of the Meheecans" is the best episode to feature Butters as the main role. Also, in the episode when Butters, even though he ruled Mexico for a few days, is still seen not much of a leader by his friends, and causes him to stand up and raise his arms, causing the entire country of Mexico to go into the streets and shout his name, probably the best ending to any episode in the whole show's history, because it's so uplifting (literally) and Butters does truly deserve it with all the crap Cartman puts him through.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of TV's best animated series, please nominate "The Last of the Meheecans" for an Emmy, because I believe in my heart that it will win the prize. And if it doesn't, then I'll lose all faith I had in the award ceremony. Period.

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