Chickenpox (South Park)

"Chickenpox (South Park)"

"Chickenpox" is the 23rd episode of Comedy Central's animated series South Park. It originally aired on August 26, 1998.

Plot synopsis

In this episode, chickenpox begins to spread throughout South Park, and infects Stan's sister Shelley and Kenny; though the boys are not sickened by it (it's a form of herpes, they discover), the moms begin to think that maybe the other boys should be exposed to it too, so as to get it while they're young and it's easier to deal with. They agree, and the other boys stay over at Kenny's house. Cartman and Stan subsequently get sick, but not Kyle. Then Stan's chicken pox gets so bad he has to be brought to the hospital with Shelley, and around this time Kyle also finds out his mom was trying to get them all infected.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Broflovski, after discovering that her husband and Mr. McCormick had once been close friends, decides to try to patch things up between them. Apparently, Kenny's dad (Stuart) is jealous of Kyle's dad Gerald's success, while Gerald makes a speech to Kyle about how some people need to be poorer than others as part of a capitalist society, what he calls the hierarchy of "gods and clods." This leads Kyle to coming up with a plan to eliminate all the clods in the world to make it a better place, which makes Gerald realize the callousness of his beliefs.

Stan breaks out of the hospital, and all of the boys go to try to get revenge on the adults for what they did; they do this unaware that Stan is so sick that he might die. The parents begin a frantic search, while the boys go see Old Freda, a local prostitute with herpes in her mouth, who they pay to go to their homes and lick, touch and otherwise mess with the parents' stuff to give them all herpes. The parents find them and bring them back to the hospital; at this point Kyle also reports being sick, and then suddenly passes out.

All the boys wind up in the hospital, and the parents get herpes, which they agree was fair punishment for what they tried to do. They all have a laugh about it, and then Kenny dies.

Trivia

• Coincidently, The Simpsons used the "pox party" idea for Season 17 episode "Milhouse of Sand and Fog". This was the first of two episodes of The Simpsons Season 17 where "South Park Already Did It" (see "The Simpsons Already Did It").
• In the shot of Kyle being the only student in class after Garrison concludes his lesson on how to tell a police officer from a prostitute, a still from the animated short "American History" (done by Trey Parker when he was in college) can be seen on the wall.
• Chicken pox is actually related to herpes (as both come from the virus varicella zoster--along with cold sores and shingles), so Kyle and Stan referring to "chickenpox" as "herpes" and "chicken-herpes" isn't considered a mistake.
• It takes about ten days for chickenpox to develop. Kyle didn't get them for a while (since Sheila kept checking him for pox, but he didn't get it until Stan's parents found him) and Stan could have caught it from Shelley. Cartman could've got his from Kenny earlier and offstage.

Pop Culture References

• This episode makes extensive use of The Monkees' "I'm a Believer" in the montage of Old Freda infecting everything with herpes.
• When the doctor is explaining to Stan's parents what will happen if Stan (who has contracted chicken pox) does not return to the hospital, the doctor tells them that "As he chokes for breath, the pox will move into his inner ear, making him think he's David Duchovny!".
• On the way to Kenny's house, Cartman sings "In the Ghetto" by Elvis Presley.
• Pizza Shack, the restaurant Stewart and Gerald worked at as teenagers, is an obvious reference to Pizza Hut (and possibly Radio Shack).

Goofs

• Neither one of Kenny's parents recognize Cartman as the police officer who came to their house about the domestic disturbance from the episode Chickenlover.
• In the end of the show, when all four kids are in hospital beds, Kenny dies when he flatlines. However, when the shot pulls back to all four beds, Kenny's heart monitor still shows signs of life. If not a goof, then this is Kenny's quickest resurrection.
• During Stuart's line "So Kyle, Your dad still brings home those big, fat lawyer paychecks?" he moves his elbow in an angle that should have made his drink spill, but it is seen clearly that his drink stays.
• During the sleepover, as Kenny claps his hands to shut the lights off (implying that he has a Clapper system in his room), his chickenpox is gone.

Kenny's Death

While the viewer assumes that Kenny will live (he's laughing along with the group in a clichéd "everybody laughing" ending), Kenny succumbs to the ravages of chickenpox literally seconds before the end credits start. This episode and "The Jeffersons" will be the only 2 episodes in which Kenny dies in the end.