| "Stunning and Brave" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| South Park episode | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 19 Episode 1 | ||
| Directed by | Trey Parker | ||
| Written by | Trey Parker | ||
| Featured music | |||
| Production code | 1901 | ||
| Original air date | September 16, 2015 (2015-09-16) | ||
| Guest appearance | |||
| Bill Hader as Farmer #2 | |||
| Episode chronology | |||
| |||
| South Parkseason 19 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Stunning and Brave" is the first episode in thenineteenth season of the American animated television seriesSouth Park. The 258th episode overall, it was written and directed by series co-creatorTrey Parker. The episode aired onComedy Central on September 16, 2015, and primarily parodiessocial justice warriors andpolitical correctness within society, with a focus on the acceptance and praise ofCaitlyn Jenner. The episode also lampoonsTom Brady and theDeflategate scandal.
Mr. Mackey announces to the parents and students of South Park Elementary that following an incident in which a student referred to rape as a "Hot Cosby",Principal Victoria has been fired, and a new school administrator,PC Principal, has been hired in her place to make the school moreprogressive. PC Principal tells the assembly that he will work to make people aware of theirracism and biases. WhenKyle Broflovski is given two weeks' detention for saying thatCaitlyn Jenner is not a hero, his father,Gerald, confronts Principal, and when he refers to Jenner as Bruce Jenner, Principal becomes violent and throws them both out of his office. When Gerald,Randy Marsh,Stuart McCormick and others speak critically of Jenner at a college bar, they are confronted by a group of violent,politically correct college men who insist that Jenner is stunning and brave. The college men and Principal decide to form afraternity house. At school, Kyle,Stan Marsh,Kenny McCormick andButters Stotch convinceEric Cartman to form a scheme to resolve the problem of Principal, invoking to him the image of Cartman's rule-breaking hero,New England PatriotsquarterbackTom Brady. Cartman confronts Principal in the restroom, and threatens to frame him forchild molestation, but Principal violently beats him for employing words that Principal perceives to be politically incorrect, and Cartman is hospitalized as a result.
Randy goes to the fraternity house and is inadvertently pledged into the group with the help of a large amount of alcohol. In the hospital, Cartman is ready to give up and accept that he and the rest of the gang are bigots, but Kyle refuses to accept this and is resolute in his position that Jenner is not a nice person. Randy and the other pledges shame Kyle by waking him to a room full of pigs painted with the word "biggit". After a dream where Cartman is simultaneously Tom Brady,Roger Goodell andBill Belichick, with Brady evading consequences for his actions during theDeflategate scandal, Cartman pledges to Butters that he will get the better of Principal. After a brutal hazing, Kyle asks Stan to make Randy and his PC gang stop assaulting him. When Butters tells Cartman that Kyle is now the main target of the PC fraternity members, Cartman vows retribution. Cartman and others mount an 'anti-PC' assault on the fraternity house but Kyle interrupts it, publicly calling Jenner a hero and brave. Everyone applauds Kyle, and a clip from the2015 ESPY Awards is shown. Randy is then initiated into the PC fraternity, which believes he was responsible for Cartman's assault that prompted Kyle to "check his privilege". The boys begrudgingly conclude that political correctness is not going away any time soon.
IGN's Max Nicholson gave the episode a 7.8 out of 10 and stated "South Park's latest episode took on political correctness with scathing wit and truly outrageous moments."[1]
Chris Longo fromDen of Geek rated it 3.5 out of 5 stars and said in his review that "it's easy to come away wanting more from this episode, although I thought the message was sound."[2]
Writing forThe A.V. Club, Dan Caffrey gave a B− rating to the episode and stated: "While the idea of equating the increasing mob mentality of the PC police with a hell-raising frat is funny at first, the comparison ultimately ends up being blunt, repetitive, and one-sided."[3]
Jonathon Dornbush ofEntertainment Weekly wrote that the show "points the finger at the faults of everyone else on both sides of the PC argument. And, if 'Stunning and Brave' is any indication, the show will continue to do so while remaining hilarious".[4]
Writing forCBS Boston, Matt Dolloff praised Cartman's dream scene as "hilarious" and described it as the best part of the episode.[5]
Series co-creator Trey Parker received an Emmy nomination forOutstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for this episode.[6]