After last week's disappointingly ho-hum "The Magic Bush," there was a diminishing sense of hope for this second half of South Park's 18th season. With a more than a fair share of ups-and-downs this year, it was unclear just how inspired show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone could remain as their latest season progressed. While perhaps not in the same league as their greatest episodes, their newest installment, "Freemium Isn't Free," at least proves Parker and Stone are still clever and invigorated when they got a good idea.
Rarely are Parker and Stone's swords not poking someone or some organization, and this week, their scorn comes to the onslaught of "free" apps taking people's hard-earned money on stupid, half-amusing games. Turns out, a special organization in Canada is the cause of all this fuss, using Terrance and Phillips' brand to their scheme called "freemium." Which, by the way, is an almost complicated game of economics that I will attempt to explain. Forgive me if this gets a bit muddled along the way, economics was never my strongest suit.
Essentially, "Freemium," — supposedly deriving its ending from the "Latin" term for "not really" — boils down a series of principles for success. The first is simplicity, enticing the player to get the "free" game. Then comes the compliments, with flashing praises and cha-chings thrown in the person's way to boost their sense of worth when on the app. Then comes the fake currency, where the game throws useless currency the gamer's way to get them to stick around. After that, its time for the switcheroo, where real currency is traded for fake currency inside this app. Then comes the waiting game for the player, where the players pay money to not wait. After that, the game creators have created a surefire way to get to their next step: making lots of money. Of course, the games can't be too much fun, just barely enjoyable to make sure the "micropay" is in play. This is what keeps people continuing to paying for their crummy games.
It's all said to be "harmless fun," but their intentions are clearly a lot more twisted than they let on, and their grabs at addiction ultimately affect poor Stan in Colorado. Even though Randy is making tons of dough with his double career as Lorde, he is not pleased with Stan's addictive habits, believing that they stem for Stan's grandfather and his gambling habit. Whenever anyone mentions Randy's obsessive drinking, however, he brushes them off. Sure enough, in pure South Park fashion, things get more extreme as the episode progresses, and even the Dark Prince himself can't help but get involved in the action.
This may not be great South Park this week, but it is definitely pretty good South Park. If anything, it's the most cynical episode of the new season, and therein by its most clever and seething. Everything comes with a wagging finger from the creators, but there's an infectious sense of goofiness here keeping things enjoyable. For instance, a live-action parody of alcohol commercials halfway through "Freemium Isn't Free" would be overbearing in the wrong hands, but here comes across as inspired and highly amusing. Its flashiness is not too much, but rather indicative to how manipulative we allow media to be.
Whether its jabs at Canada — once again — or references to Devil's Advocate, there's more creativity in this episode than most of the installments so far this season. But where some, like the season opener and last week episode, get too caught up in their morals and ideas, there's a refreshing sense of control in this week's episode that makes it click. In some ways, its very simple and straightforward, but its malicious underlinings keep an intriguing sense of depth throughout. Parker and Stone may have a message a year or two past is full relevance, but at least they're fired up. The show is always better when there's at least a little bit of blood in between their teeth.
This won't be classic South Park, but it is some of the most fun that the show has had in a while. Whether this amusement will infect itself into the last half of the season is anyone's guess. But here's hoping that the fun doesn't stop here.
Image courtesy of INFphoto.com