The 20th season of the Comedy Central cartoon South Park aired on Wednesday, September 14. The highly anticipated season brought laughs to its fans, starting right where they left off.  

Every episode, South Park incorporates a current event or issue along with the plot of the episode. To start the season, creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker utilized the current political debates and campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, replaced by teacher Mr. Herbert Garrison with Caitlyn Jenner as his running mate. The twist to the political race consists of the nominees renamed as a Giant Douche (Clinton) and a Turd Sandwich (Garrison). The Turd Sandwich’s poll numbers skyrocket over the Giant Douche’s, but after realizing he has no plan if he becomes President, the Turd Sandwich decides he needs to manipulate the election to purposely lose.

The creators also referenced the Colin Kaepernick issue of deciding to sit during the national anthem at sporting events. At a South Park Cows volleyball game, a full crowd appears for the first time ever, only to leave right after making bets on if the players would sit during the anthem. Eventually, the US government decides to change the song to unite the country, putting the responsibility into music composer J.J. Abrams’s hands. The Turd Sandwich uses the unveiling of the new anthem as a gateway to sabotage his whole campaign by sitting down, but Abrams’s change only modified the beginning of the anthem, adding in a statement saying to either sit or stand which made people accept the action more.

South Park challenges itself every season by making new episodes the week before it airs. Doing this allows them to work with controversial ideas in society, while putting a hilarious spin on it.

Week in and week out, South Park delivers ridiculous and highly entertaining episodes with crazy and unexpected twists. The new season already impresses and the brilliant masterminds behind the show do not plan to stop at season 20.

The Chant’s Grade: A