Gnomes (South Park)

"Gnomes (South Park)"

"Gnomes" (often referred to as "Underpants Gnomes") is the 30th episode of Comedy Central's animated series South Park. It was originally broadcast on December 16, 1998. This episode marks the first appearance of Tweek and his parents.

Plot

Mr. Garrison, whose job is on the line since he doesn't teach anything relevant, makes the class do oral presentations on a current event for the town committee in hopes to save his job. Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny are grouped together with Tweek, a jittery child, who suggests that the presentation be on the "Underpants Gnomes," tiny men who sneak into his house and steal his underwear. To prove their existence to the skeptical boys, he has them stay at his house.

Tweek's parents, who own a coffee shop, give the boys coffee to help them stay up. The boys drink too much coffee, and end up wired, bouncing off the walls of Tweek's bedroom. Tweek sits on his bed watching. The boys finally come down from their caffeine rush, and start to work on their project. While they argue ideas, Tweek notices the underpants gnomes walking single file into his bedroom toward his dresser. After stealing several pairs of Tweek's underpants, the Gnomes walk out of his bedroom, unnoticed by the other boys. Meanwhile, Tweek is freaking out and trying to get their attention. They finally stop arguing and tell Tweek to shut up.

The coffee shop which Tweek's parents own is about to face competition from a big conglomerate called Harbucks, and may go out of business. Mr. Tweek then writes a report for the boys, which they can present with a layer of sympathy so the town committee would be moved enough to help stop Harbucks and throw them out of town.

Mr. Garrison sees right through the presentation, but is surprised to see the town committee buying it, so he plays along. As Mr. Tweek planned all along, the committee follows the boys' advice and indeed helps Mr. Tweek combat Harbucks. They all appeal to Mayor McDaniels, who helps by setting up a proposition, called "Prop 10" (a parody of California's Prop 10, a tobacco tax increase which used similar "for the children" arguments). If it passes, Harbucks will be thrown out of town. After the boys appear on TV, the whole town is turned against Harbucks and its representative, Mr. Postum. Mrs. Tweek, upset by the tactic, as she feels that they are only using the boys for their own benefit, quits.

Crowds appear outside of the Harbucks coffeehouse to protest, while Mr. Postum tries to appeal to kids to sell his coffee. He uses a camel mascot, not unlike Joe Camel, and is scolded by a mother who doesn't want her son having caffeine. On the day of the vote, the mayor has the boys do a speech around the same time Mr. Postum does. The boys face more pressure from Mr. Garrison when he tells them that they need to do another presentation. When they try to conceive one, they see the Underpants Gnomes for themselves, who explain their whole motive. The Underpants Gnomes are businessmen of sorts, and they know a lot about corporations, and explain them to the boys.

When the boys come up to give their presentation for the vote, they do a report that is completely different from their previous piece. They are now saying that corporations are good, and are only big because of their great contributions to the world, such as Harbucks with their great coffee. While speaking they admit that they didn't write that previous paper, which causes Mr. Garrison to be carried away when he lashes out at the boys. Mrs. Tweek applauds their honesty and admits to the same facts herself. Then she convinces the whole town to try Harbucks Coffee, which is famous because it tastes great. When everybody does try it, they all agree, including Mr. Tweek.

Kenny's death

Kenny is crushed to death in the Underpants Gnomes' underground lair when one of their trolley carts falls on him. Stan and Kyle deliver their trademark "Oh my God, they killed Kenny/You bastards" speech very fast as if they're not particularly troubled by the incident. The gnomes, however, are very concerned and don't seem to understand why Stan and Kyle are not fazed by the death of their friend. The boys are evidently more concerned about their speech the next day.

The Gnomes

The Underpants Gnomes' business plan

The "Underpants Gnomes" are a community of underground gnomes who steal underpants, notably from Tweek.

The Underpants Gnomes have a three-phase business plan, consisting of:

1. Collect underpants
2. ?
3. Profit

None of the gnomes actually know what the second phase is, and all of them assume that someone else within the organization does. The three-phase business plan has become a recurring joke (and a snowclone) on websites like Honda-Tech, 4chan, Slashdot, Digg, B3ta, Fark and AutoAdmit.

The Underpants Gnomes also appear in another episode, "Red Sleigh Down". In it, they appear as Santa's elves; it is explained that they work on their own for most of the year, but assist Santa during the Christmas season.

An Underpants Gnome also appeared among various good imaginary beings in the episode "Imaginationland".

Cultural references

• As seen in this episode, Officer Barbrady is a regular customer at Tweek's shop, where his usual order is getting slapped in the face with a stray cat. This clip is shown in the Monty Python documentary The Life of Python as an example of Monty Python's Flying Circus's influence on South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Monty Python is famous for this style of bizarre humour, in this case, the recurring theme throughout Monty Python and the Holy Grail where assorted background characters beat hanging carpets with cats.
• Towards the end of the episode, Tweek's mother accuses the campaigners of being no better than Rob Reiner which is a reference back to Proposition 10.