Best Friends Forever
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| South Park episode | |
| "Best Friends Forever" | |
| Image:904heavensgates.JPG Kenny at Heaven's gates. | |
| Episode no. | 129 |
|---|---|
| Airdate | March 30, 2005 |
| South Park - Season 9 March 9, 2005 – December 7, 2005 | |
| | |
| ← Season 8 | Season 10 → |
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| List of all South Park episodes | |
"Best Friends Forever" is episode 904 of the Comedy Central series South Park paralleling the Terri Schiavo controversy. The episode won a 2005 Emmy Award. It first aired on March 30, 2005, hours before Terri Schiavo died.
This episode made #7 on the list of "10 South Parks That Changed The World" and appeared on the South Park: The Hits DVD.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
Kenny is the first person in town to get a new PSP videogame system and becomes inseparable from it. Meanwhile, Cartman, who couldn't get his own because he was late getting to the store, grows jealous of Kenny's new toy. Kenny quickly works his way up to level 59 of the game Heaven vs. Hell, but because of his parents having an argument, he goes to complete the 60th level outside; there, he is hit by an ice-cream truck (driven by someone playing the same game who just reached level 4).
In Heaven, Kenny learns that God created the PSP to search for what the angels call "our Keanu Reeves" — the person who can command His legions against the forces of Hell in a manner like that of the videogame. (This situation is a spoof of The Last Starfighter, in which a young man is tested for piloting skills through a video game, and of Ender's Game - where a boy leads the armies of Earth against the "Buggers" while thinking he is playing a video game; the Keanu Reeves reference comes from his messianic roles, such as Neo in The Matrix and Constantine). Unfortunately, Kenny is revived just after hearing this. Because he had been dead for too long, he cannot talk or communicate and has suffered permanent brain damage. He is kept alive through the use of a feeding tube. The reading of Kenny's will, in which Cartman is given the PSP (out of pity) and Stan and Kyle are given everything else, is interrupted by the announcement that Kenny is still alive. The lawyer mentions a passage about Kenny's wishes in the event of him being in a vegetative state, but the last page is missing, making it impossible to tell what his wishes were.
As Satan's army begins to close in, the angels need Kenny dead so that they can win the battle of the Apocalypse. Meanwhile, Cartman, claiming his status as Kenny's "best friend forever" to the Colorado Supreme Court with the first half of the BFF medallion, gets an order to take out the feeding tube, and he removes the tube after tracking down and finding Kenny's other BFF medallion half. Kyle and Stan, along with Kenny's parents and other protesters, including Skeeter and Mrs. Garrison (who gets arrested for trying to bring food and water to Kenny), wage a media war to put the feeding tube back in and keep Kenny alive, while Cartman enlists supporters of the rights of "best friends forever" to leave Kenny's feeding tube removed.
After a long, intensive media campaign, the two sides are arguing in Kenny's hospital suite when Kenny's lawyer announces that the last page of the will has been found, and that Kenny's wishes were that if he were ever in a vegetative state, "please, for the love of God…don't ever show me in that condition on national television." In full twist of irony the two sides immediately realize that they have both been disrespectful of Kenny's wishes, and they leave Kenny alone to die in peace. However, Kenny never stated in his will that he wanted the tube removed, he only wanted to avoid media attention towards the issue.
Kenny returns to Heaven just in time to command the angels to victory; the battle is not seen, but is described. The battle ends with a few surviving angels weakly cheering and dancing and Kenny receiving a prize wholly out of proportion with the effort and sacrifice he has made to save Heaven: A golden statue of Keanu Reeves.
[edit] Parallels to the Terri Schiavo case
- Kenny is in a persistent vegetative state, and his parents cite things like blinking or smiling as signs of awareness, rather than involuntary movements.
- In making his case for the removal of the feeding tube, Cartman points to his rights as Kenny's "best friend forever (or BFF for short)" and he is given custody, instead of Kenny's parents and real friends. In the real-life case, custody of Terri Schiavo was given to her husband Michael Schiavo (who wanted the feeding tube removed), not to her parents.
- Cartman is seeking Kenny's removal from life support purely out of self-interest, as he will only get the PSP if Kenny dies. Some conservative groups have argued that Michael Schiavo was also acting out of self-interest because of the insurance money or for other selfish reasons. Both Michael Schiavo and Cartman claimed they were only following the wishes of their loved ones.
- Members of the Republican Party rally to the cause (in Kenny's case: they, along with George W. Bush, are unwittingly being controlled by a hooded minion of Satan (called Kevin), which uses the Republicans to achieve its goals).
- Mrs. Garrison tries to bring food and water to Kenny but gets arrested, as many in favor of keeping Terri Schiavo alive did in a symbolic effort during her dying days.
[edit] Controversial statements
- Satan's new assistant Kevin remarks that whenever they want something done on Earth, they "use the Republicans."
- Archangel Gabriel: "Apparently they're using machines to keep him alive." Archangel Michael: "But... that's not natural: God intended Kenny to die!" And: Skeeter: "You bureaucrats have no right to play God and take that tube out!" Archangel Gabriel: "No, no, you see, they were playing God when they put the feeding tube IN!"
- Kyle articulates the show's ironic moral similar to a losing battle: Cartman was right, but for the wrong reasons such as acquiring the PSP, and Kenny's friends and family were wrong, but for the right reasons of being true friends and wishing to prolong his life.
- It is said that until God realized Satan was preparing a massive army, only Mormons were accepted into Heaven, maintaining continuity with the two part episodes "Do the Handicapped Go to Hell?" and "Probably". In these episodes it was established that "the Mormons were the correct answer" when choosing a religion. This was further seen in the episode "A Ladder To Heaven".
- "Are you stupid, Uriel? Japanese people don't have souls!"
- The misplaced page of Kenny's will (as written above) implicates the media and both arguing sides of his friends and family as being disrespectful for displaying him on national television to try and gain supporters for their argument. The same thing could be said of the Terri Schiavo situation.
[edit] Awards
- This episode won a 2005 Emmy Award in the category of "Outstanding Animated Program (for programming less than one hour)". This is the first time the show has beaten other nominees, such as The Simpsons and other winners. It also becomes the fourth prime time animated cartoon to win the award, behind The Simpsons, King of the Hill and Futurama.
[edit] Other notables
- HBC's world news show looks like the BBC's world news
- Kenny died twice in this episode. The first time he died was when he got hit by a truck after reaching level 60, ironically by someone who was only on level 4 in Heaven vs. Hell. The second time was when the doctors removed his feeding tube and left him to die.
- While Kenny plays his PSP and tries to get to Level 60, a modified version of Issac Hayes' "Run Fay Fun" plays.
- Archangel Michael is shown multiple times sniffing a dry erase marker.
- A little girl is seen with Kenny's family, perhaps a little sister, who has never been seen before.
- Since this is not the first episode where mocking President Bush is apparent, it could be argued that the position of South Park creators vis-a-vis the Schiavo case differ from its reputation as being conservative-leaning, as the term "South Park Republican" implies (although South Park has always lampooned Christianity, and the Christian right were the group most vocal in their support of Terri Schiavo's right to life). Furthermore, Trey Parker is a registered Libertarian, and the party staunchly opposed federal government intervention on the issue.
- After Satan is defeated, he turns on his adviser, who resembles (especially given the other references in this episode) Gríma Wormtongue from The Lord of the Rings but wears a black cloak more in keeping with Darth Sidious from Star Wars. His appearance also arguably resembles the Devil's portrayal in the Mel Gibson directed film The Passion of The Christ. Satan refers to him by name as Kevin, and zaps him. As the adviser dies, he morphs for a few brief frames into a bespectacled character strongly reminiscent of Bush advisor Karl Rove or possibly FCC chairman Kevin Martin. The advisor could also be considered to be a parody of Desaad, Darkseid's advisor.
- A The Lord of the Rings reference in the episode includes the orb used by Satan, a reference to the palantír held by Saruman, the gates of Heaven being deliberately designed to look like Minas Tirith and Satan's minions are reminiscent of the Orcs and Uruk-hai from the movies. Also, during his description of the battle, Archangel Michael comments that the battle is "ten times bigger" than the one in the last Lord of the Rings, referring to the CGI battles in the films. The armies of Heaven and Hell are clearly modeled after those in the final battle in the series.
- There are many references to Monty Python and the Holy Grail in the episode. When Kenny is at the gate of Heaven, a Pythonesque "Open the gate!" is heard - this is also said by King Arthur in the film. And the Heaven's army celebrate winning the war by cheering in a manner not unlike the similar moment of "much rejoicing" in the film's animation segments of Terry Gilliam.
- Appropriately enough, this is the first episode from season 9 to be officially released for the PSP, ("When Technology Attacks!").
- The idea of using a video game as a way to choose a savior is a repeat of the plot from the movie The Last Starfighter.
- There are also parallels with the plot of the novel Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card of a game actually controlling real events.
- Many people have questioned how Kenny, being from a poverty stricken family, can afford a PSP (the game unit was released only one year the to month of the episode's airing and cost $200 USD when it debuted). Matt and Trey have responded that they "aren't sure themselves". [1] Although he could have used the money he made in the episode Fat Camp (South Park) to buy it, Kenny's ownership of a PSP is likely just satire without explanation.
- It is unknown where the BFF medal Kenny had around his neck came from. Kenny could not move his arms, so Cartman could easily have broken a BFF medal in half and come in sometime when nobody was looking and slipped one half around his neck without Kenny stopping him (not that he would've, seeing as he needed to rescue and get a place in Heaven). However, Cartman does seem to regard Kenny as his best friend, so they probably broke the BFF medal in half and wore it earlier on, when they were really best friends and neither had the heart to take theirs off when they became enemies.
- Kenny keeps a will at the age of nine, and had it recently changed to make Cartman the inheritor of his PSP "...in the highly likely event of my death," referencing the fact he had died in almost every episode prior to Season 6.
- Kenny is so absorbed in his game that he completely ignores two women with large breasts (which he has an obsession for) that pass by him.
[edit] Goofs
- On the way to Luau's Toys, Cartman and his mom are riding a white mini van with black interiors, but when they arrive, the mini van is blue with red interiors.
| Preceded by: "Wing" | South Park episodes | Followed by: "The Losing Edge" |
