"Sons a Witches" is the sixth episode in the
twenty-first season of the American animated television series ''
South Park''. The 283rd overall episode of the series, it originally aired on
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy program ...
in the United States on October 25, 2017. The episode was seen by critics as parodying hypocrisy surrounding the
Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations
In October 2017, ''The New York Times'' and ''The New Yorker'' reported that dozens of women had accused film producer Harvey Weinstein of rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse over a period of at least 30 years. Over 80 women in the film ind ...
.
Plot
Gerald Broflovski
Gerald and Sheila Broflovski are fictional characters in the animated television series '' South Park''. The two are an upper middle-class married Jewish couple who raise their ten-year-old son Kyle and three-year-old Canadian-born adopted son ...
,
Randy Marsh
Randall Gilbert Marsh (born April 8, 1949) is an American former umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the National League from 1981 to 1999 and throughout both major leagues from 2000 to 2009. Marsh wore the uniform number 30.
Major Le ...
, and their male friends celebrate the first night of Witch Week by meeting at a hilltop park called Sentinel Hill dressed as
witch
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have u ...
es for a party where they dance in a circle around a fire, get drunk and smoke
crack cocaine
Crack cocaine, commonly known simply as crack, and also known as rock, is a free base form of the stimulant cocaine that can be smoked. Crack offers a short, intense high to smokers. The ''Manual of Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment'' call ...
. Meanwhile, fourth grader
Eric Cartman
Eric Theodore Cartman, commonly referred to by his surname 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 cha ...
impatiently waits for his girlfriend,
Heidi Turner
''South Park'' is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. The ongoing narrative revolves around five children, Stan Marsh, Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovski, Kenny ...
, to finish getting ready for a
pumpkin patch carnival. By the time they arrive there, many of the attractions have already closed, much to Cartman's irritation.
Chip Duncan, one of the men at the Witch Week party, reads from a spellbook from
Salem, Massachusetts
Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...
and transforms into a real witch. He takes flight on a broomstick, kidnaps some children, and attacks South Park with flaming pumpkin bombs, setting the carnival on fire. The carnival patrons, including Cartman and Heidi, are forced to flee, much to the protest of Cartman, who did not get to enjoy any of the attractions. The following day, Randy's wife Sharon confronts him about the news of Duncan's behavior, but Randy insists that he and his friends are not like Duncan, whom he labels a "bad witch."
At school the fourth grade boys, including Gerald and Randy's sons,
Kyle Broflovski
Kyle Matthew Broflovski is a fictional character in the adult animation, adult animated television series ''South Park''. He is voiced by and loosely based on co-creator Matt Stone. Kyle is one of the series' four central characters, along with ...
and
Stan Marsh
Stanley Randell William Marsh is a fictional character in the adult animated television series '' South Park''. He is voiced by and loosely based on series co-creator Trey Parker. Stan is one of the series' four central characters, along with ...
, discuss the witch, whom they assume is female. Fearing that their parents will forbid them from
trick-or-treating
Trick-or-treating is a traditional Halloween custom for children and adults in some countries. During the evening of Halloween, on October 31, people in costumes travel from house to house, asking for treats with the phrase "trick or treat". The ...
, they decide they must do something, but Cartman, still angered over the previous night, can only stare threateningly across the room at Heidi, and when told that "we gotta do something to get rid of her," agrees, thinking they are talking about Heidi. When Sharon expresses disapproval of Randy's leaving for Day 2 of Witch Week, in light of Chip Duncan being on the loose, Randy refuses to abandon a decades-long tradition because of one bad witch. When Randy and his friends discover that Sentinel Hill has been closed off to the public, this confirms their perception that they are being persecuted for Duncan's actions in a manner akin to a
witch hunt
A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern per ...
, though their avoidance of that term recurs as a
running gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are n ...
throughout the episode.
While Chip Duncan continues to attack the town and kidnap children, Kyle, Stan,
Kenny McCormick
Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick is a fictional character and one of the four main characters in the adult animation, adult animated television series ''South Park'' along with Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Eric Cartman. His often muffled and incompr ...
and
Butters Stotch
Leopold "Butters" Stotch is a fictional character in the adult animated television series '' South Park''. He is voiced by series co-creator Matt Stone and loosely based on co-producer Eric Stough. He is a student at South Park Elementary Schoo ...
meet at Kyle's house to research how to kill witches. Cartman arrives and instead proposes a plan to get rid of Heidi, and when Kyle and the others refuse this, Cartman storms out. At a school assembly the following day, Randy and his witch-garbed friends put on a musical number intended to convey the public service message that not all witches kidnap children, but merely the one bad one. While Stan and Kyle are unimpressed with this message, it inspires Cartman to invite Heidi to a Halloween
costume party
A costume party (American English) or fancy dress party (other varieties of English) is a type of party, common in contemporary Western culture, in which many of the guests are dressed in costume, usually depicting a fictional or stock char ...
as part of a plan to dispose of her. That night he leads her down a dark, tree-lined path, where he leaves her to be confronted by Chip Duncan, who kidnaps her. When Stan and Kyle discover that Chip Duncan was part of the same witch's club as their fathers, and that they are all missing, they contact the one member of the club who has been absent from town:
President Garrison.
Randy's fellow club member
Stephen Stotch
'' South Park'' is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. The ongoing narrative revolves around five children, Stan Marsh, Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McC ...
tries to convince him to publicly confess their crack cocaine use and the spells that he reveals that they placed on their wives. Randy asks him to wait until the following morning to do this, a delay that allows Randy to contact the others to have Stephen
sacrificed
Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exis ...
to the
Devil
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...
. Stephen is lured to a
Ross Dress for Less
Ross Stores, Inc., operating under the brand name Ross Dress for Less, is an American chain of discount department stores headquartered in Dublin, California. It is the largest off-price retailer in the U.S.; as of 2018, Ross operates 1,483 st ...
parking lot, where they publicly accuse him in front of shoppers and the police of being the bad witch, but Chip descends before them on his broomstick. He reveals that he is using a magic satchel to carry the children and plans to use their souls to increase his power. President Garrison arrives in
Air Force One
Air Force One is the official air traffic control designated call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. In common parlance, the term is used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modified and used ...
and has Chip incinerated with a laser fired upon him from an orbital
satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...
. The police release all of the children from the bag except for Heidi, who is not fully ready, and tells the police she will be shortly. Rejoicing that Chip is now dead, Garrison and the witches leave to enjoy the rest of their Witch Week partying, but Cartman is again miserable when Heidi's procrastination delays their trick-or-treating.
Critical reception
Jesse Schedeen of
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game 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 dist ...
rated the episode an 8.3 out of 10, summarizing his review with "South Park continues to establish a winning formula this season, focusing on more standalone storylines that still pull from current headlines in clever ways. 'Sons a Witches' works as both a commentary on the Harvey Weinstein scandal and its fallout and fun, simple tale of Randy and his friends being stupid."
Jeremy Lambert of 411Mania rated the episode an 8.2 out of 10, summarizing his review with "'Sons a Witches' builds on what has been, in my estimation, a strong season for the show. It had a timely story passed off as an evergreen story, a couple of classic scenes, and plenty of jokes that landed."
Charles Bramesco of
Vulture
A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North a ...
rated the episode with one out of five stars, stating in his review "The one thing ''South Park'' won't do is take a side, insulating itself from criticism by hiding behind the 'equal-opportunity offender' line. As some cry that this is not normal,
Trey Parker
Randolph Severn "Trey" Parker III (born October 19, 1969) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, and composer. He is known for co-creating ''South Park'' (since 1997) and ''The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his creative partner Matt Stone. P ...
and
Matt Stone
Matthew Richard Stone (born May 26, 1971) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, and composer. He is known for co-creating '' South Park'' (since 1997) and '' The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his creative partner Trey Parker. Stone was inte ...
can only shrug and respond that things have always been all messed up. Business as usual."
Dan Caffrey of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American 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 cr ...
'' gave the episode a B+ rating, stating in his review, "'Sons a Witches' rightfully calls out that sort of self-righteous hypocrisy—the people who view themselves as different from the Harvey Weinsteins of the world, when in reality, they've taken advantage of the same gross power imbalance in Hollywood and elsewhere. While getting loaded and smoking crack in the woods may be a crass metaphor for the systematic nature of toxic masculinity, it fits right into ''South Parks wheelhouse of symbolism."
Chris Longo of
Den of Geek
''Den of Geek'' is a US and UK-based website covering entertainment with a focus on pop culture. The website also issues a bi-annual magazine.
History
''Den of Geek'' was founded in 2007 by Simon Brew in London. In 2012, DoG Tech LLC licensed ...
rated the episode 3.5 out of 5 stars, and stated in his review that "The episode is better off and more effective by focusing on the toxic culture of masculinity that includes but extends far beyond Trump. And after all, isn't Trump the poster boy for a witch getting away with disgusting behavior anyway?"
References
External links
"Sons a Witches"Full episode at South Park Studios
"Episode 2106 “Sons A Witches” Press Release" South Park Studios. October 23, 2017.
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{{South Park episodes, 21
Halloween television episodes
Parodies of Donald Trump in South Park
South Park (season 21) episodes
Television episodes about witchcraft