- Title: South Park – Stunning and Brave
- wiki: link
South Park begins its 19th season by tackling Caitlyn Jenner, political correctness, fraternity culture, and Deflategate. The episode, and new troubles for both the school and the town, begins with a new principal being hired for the elementary school. An extreme mashup of frat boy and political correctness, PC Principal immediately enforces a no tolerance policy that even leaves Cartman considering following the herd (especially after the new principal literally attempts to beat his beliefs into the helpless 4th grader with his fists). With even Stan’s father won over by the group, and everyone else scared into silence, it falls on Kyle to stand-up to the new bully in town.
Although the episode has fun both pointing out the racial insensitivity of the town’s residents and poking fun at political incorrectness run amok in a Neighbors riff, it flounders a bit with its message afraid to come down too strongly on either side of the issue (and one could even argue it condones bullying as a means to an end given Kyle’s capitulation to close the episode). It does however have great fun at the expense of Tom Brady, choosing to make the cheating Patriots quarterback Cartman’s personal hero. Cartman’s temporary rebirth on the straight and narrow is amusing while it lasts (and would have been interesting to explore in multiple episodes), and having him need to defend Kyle of all people to reconnect with his inner-bastard in a ridiculous over-the-top display is a nice touch.