"Members Only" is the eighth episode in the twentieth season of the American animated television series ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...

''. The 275th episode of the series overall, it first aired on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

in the United States on November 16, 2016. The episode, while mostly progressing the season's plot, lampooned

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's rejection of

political correctness "Political correctness" (adjectivally "politically correct"; commonly abbreviated to P.C.) is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society. ...

during his presidential campaign and parodied a worst-case scenario of a Trump-led presidency.

Plot

The newly elected Mr. Garrison relishes his newfound authority by getting a

-esque toupée and forcing PC Principal and other townspeople to perform

fellatio Fellatio (also known as fellation, and in slang as blowjob, BJ, giving head, or sucking off) is an oral sex act consisting of the stimulation of a human penis, penis by using the mouth. Oral stimulation of the scrotum may also be termed ''fellat ...

on him as revenge for doubting him. However, as Denmark prepares to unleash their Troll Trace program worldwide, he is called to

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As ...

to manage the global crisis. Having absolutely no idea what to do, he angrily rebuffs a warning from

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Johnson warns Garrison that the country is collapsing after everybody ate the " mem'burries". Meanwhile, the member berries flood the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

, where their leader, an aged Godfather-like berry, plans to bring back "the real Stormtroopers." Butters suddenly joins

Cartman Eric Theodore Cartman, commonly referred to as just Cartman, is a fictional character in the adult animated sitcom ''South Park'', created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. He is voiced by Parker, and is one of the series' four main characters, a ...

and Heidi Turner at the

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

building, hoping to leave Earth with them. Under the threat of Troll Trace, Butters has reversed his previous attitude toward women to the point where Heidi becomes interested in him, much to Cartman's annoyance. The three are disappointed to find that their desire to leave the planet was only taken metaphorically, as they are instead given a guided tour of the facility led by

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...

. After Musk explains that a Mars rocket is still several years away, he becomes interested in speeding up the process when offered Heidi's assistance. Detained in the Troll Trace building in Denmark,

Gerald Broflovski Gerald Broflovski and Sheila Broflovski are fictional characters in the animated television series ''South Park''. The two are an upper middle-class married Ashkenazi Jewish couple who raise their ten-year-old son Kyle and three-year-old Canadia ...

is given a cell phone by the Troll Trace CEO and is told he can call anybody to help him, although it will end up revealing his identity as Skankhunt42. Gerald calls Ike and instructs him to continue trolling as Skankhunt42, effectively framing Ike when Sheila catches him. When Kyle comes home and finds Ike sitting in the timeout corner, Kyle ( remembering information told to him prior) suddenly realizes his father has been the troll all along. He grabs Ike and leaves the house, leaving Sheila bewildered.

Reception

Jesse Schedeen with ''

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

'' rated the episode an 8.5 out of 10 and stated that he enjoyed how the episode "cleverly built on recent political events as it shed more light on the Member Berries and their true, horrifying plan for mankind." Jeremy Lambert with 411 Mania rated it a 6.5 out of 10 and noted "Something just feels a bit off from the start of the season to now." Dan Caffrey with ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

'' rated the episode an A−, and stated that the story "will definitely result in some great—if very, very dark—episodes of ''South Park'' in the future."

References

External links

"Members Only"
Full episode at South Park Studios * {{South Park episodes, 20 Television episodes set in Denmark Internet trolling Parodies of Donald Trump in South Park South Park season 20 episodes Elon Musk Cultural depictions of Boris Johnson Cultural depictions of Caitlyn Jenner