“It’s going to be like a Nine Inch Nails concert that goes on forever.” – Goth Kid
Much like The Dark Knight is an improvement over Batman Begins (though I’m of the thinking that The Dark Knight is quite overrated), “Mysterion Rises” is an improvement over “Coon 2.” And, interestingly enough, it would seem that the title “Mysterion Rises” is a play on the title of the Batman sequel, The Dark Knight Rises.
“Mysterion Rises” has a clever twist, which pays off rather nicely. It turns out that Mysterion is actually Kenny, and his reincarnation ability is an actual superpower. Whenever he dies, he simply wakes up the next morning in his same clothes from the day before and nobody remembers his death. Of course, this is in direct conflict with the ending of “Cartman Joins NAMBLA,” which proposed that Kenny’s parents somehow have a new baby that they name Kenny moments after every time that Kenny dies.
When Captain Hindsight (who has a breakdown when the “Courtney Love” pictures are sent to him) complains about his own powers tarnishing his legacy, Kenny/Mysterion responds: “You want to whine about curses, Hindsight? You’re talking to the wrong f—ing cowboy.”
As troubling as Kenny’s powers may be, he’s going to need them to stop Cartman and his new alliance with the Dark Lord Cthulhu. Using his raccoon-like powers of “being adorable,” Cartman/Coon forges a bond with Cthulhu and uses the evil god-beast to destroy all of his enemies: hippies, Jewish people, and the City of San Francisco.
Also, ushering in Cthulhu’s destruction of Earth is a cult back in South Park that includes the Goth Kids as members. Near the end of the episode, they kill Kenny, but of course his powers bring him right back. Their introduction and the beginning of Cthulhu’s alliance with The Coon is mostly in place to set up the epic final part to the trilogy, when Coon and Friends (still called that because it pisses Cartman off) take on all the forces of evil.
But the aspect of “Mysterion Rises” that is most memorable is its parody of the “What Should I Do?” LeBron James Nike commercial – with Tony Hayward and others taking on the LeBron role. One of South Park’s biggest strengths is its ability to produce episodes ten times quicker than most animated shows. That LeBron commercial only appeared about two weeks before this episode aired. To create such a cunning satire of it so quickly is awesome, plain and simple.
Lingering thoughts about “Mysterion Rises”:
- I’m also super impressed by the Cthulhu creature design. I doubt they got that done in two weeks!
- I like how it’s implied that Kenny used his Mysterion persona to bully his parents into treating him better and giving him an allowance. Also: that they smoke meth.
- So to clarify some identities: Mysterion = Kenny. Coon = Cartman. Tool Shed = Stan. Human Kite = Kyle. Tupperware = Token. Timmy = Timmy. Mosquito = Clyde. Still unknown, though, is the identity of Mint Berry Crunch.
- Captain Hindsight acquired his powers through the interference of a “retroactive” spider.
- “Unfortunately we have just been informed that the dark lord Cthulhu has shat on the runway at the New Orleans airport.” – Airline Clerk
- “Oh man, these are really good lemon bars.” – Cult Guy
Some stats and info about South Park, “Mysterion Rises”
TV SHOW – South Park
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 14, Episode 12
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – Comedy Central
GENRE – Comedy, Animated Shows
CREATED BY – Trey Parker, Matt Stone
This review was originally published on TV Geek Army.