South Park #REHASH Review

There’s so much going on in this episode, it’s hard to know where to start. South Park’s #Rehash is the start of another multi-episode story arch.

I don’t know if this will be a two parter or one of their trilogies, but they’ve hit these multi-episodes out of the park in the past. Imagination Land, Coon vs Coon and Friends, and Black Friday are some of the best stories in the South Park canon.

#Rehash, at its core, is about how entertainment changes between generations. The first scene is Kyle running home from GameStop with a copy of the latest Call of Duty. His dad, Gerald, offers to take the boys to the bowling alley, but Kyle refuses. Gerald walks out of the scene mumbling how he’ll never understand today’s kids.

Kyle gets the same treatment from Ike. Ike opting to watch YouTuber PewDiePie comment on people playing Call of Duty and not playing it Kyle. These two scenes set the stage for the entire episode. Then Cartman jumps on the YouTube bandwagon by launching a vlog commenting on people commenting on video games.

#Rehash went past video games and YouTube and mocked the music industry. Randy’s agent..er, “Lorde’s” agent sets up a concert at the Pepsi Center with Nicki Minaj, Iggy Azalea, Lorde and Michael Jackson’s hologram.

Randy doesn’t want to do the concert since his voice is autotuned. But he’s forced to since Stan’s freemium addiction wiped out the family’s savings accounts.

The audience rejects the non-autotuned “Lorde” and, at the recommendation of his agent, starts rubbing his non-existent lady parts. The internet explodes with comments and Tweets. Which was planned since the music industry has monotized online comments and tweets since traditional sales are down.

Meanwhile, Michael Jackson’s hologram escapes and heads toward South Park for unknown reasons. The music industry doesn’t want him out and about, so they bring in 2Pac’s hologram to take him out.

“The Living Room Is Dying”

That’s what Kyle says as he nostalgically walks through his empty living room, longing for the days where he and Ike played video games together. In #Rehash, we see this idea repeated a few times. First with Gerald, then Kyle, then an elderly man on a bus commenting on how everyone is glued to their tablets and cellphones instead of having real conversations.

With every technolological advancement, there’s a generation that adopts it and one that doesn’t. Then there’s individuals and companies who try their damnedest to monatize it. Then there’s content no one can explain why it’s popular. (PewDiePie)

#Rehash was light on the laughs, but this was an episode more about technology changing how we are entertained. This episode felt like there was an underlying message. A message that couldn’t be crammed into one thirty minute show. It laid groundwork for next week’s episode. As I mentioned above, I don’t know if #Rehash will be a trilogy, but I’m excited to find out.