Recap: South Park – Season 21, Episode 02 ‘Put It Down’

South Park’s new season started off with a bang last week, and it shows no signs of letting up now. This week’s episode, ‘Put It Down,’ puts Donald Trump, North Korea, and Logic in its crosshairs, while giving Tweak and Craig fans some lovely new canon.

Tweak and Craig are much of what this episode centers on, and it’s refreshing. Tweak is terrified of impending nuclear war with North Korea, and he tries to make a peace offering with Craig’s guidance. Of course, President Trump-Garrison has to mess this up with a series of tweets that convince North Korea Tweak is taunting them with the cupcake offering. Trust the president to stick his nose in things and cause a nuclear war, right? This South Park episode is playing out more like the evening news.

Meanwhile, Cartman is exposed for having begged Heidi to take him back. His Logical response (terrible pun is terrible) is to threaten to commit suicide. Cartman finds himself at war with those bringing awareness to distracted driving. This is your typical attention-seeking Cartman storyline, but South Park manages to get away with this so often because it changes Cartman’s passions with politically relevant topics. The Logic style ‘music video’ and outfit add a nice touch of humor to Cartman’s arrogance.

The episode ends with a hilarious ‘We Are The World’-esque musical number with everyone in South Park pleading to ‘Put It Down’ when they become president. It’s an obvious commentary on Trump’s love of making his opinions heard on social media. As satirical and ridiculous as this episode of South Park is, the worst part is how closely it treads to reality.

New episodes of South Park air on Comedy Central on Wednesdays, and it’s unlikely the show will soften its bold approach to American politics and societal problems. It’s been doing it for 21 seasons, after all.