Freak Strike
| "Freak Strike" | |
|---|---|
| South Park episode | |
| Episode no. |
Season 6 Episode 3 |
| Directed by | Trey Parker |
| Written by | Trey Parker |
| Production code | 601 |
| Original air date | March 20, 2002 |
"Freak Strike" is the 3rd episode of the sixth season of the Comedy Central series South Park and the 82nd episode of the series overall. It originally aired on March 20, 2002.[1]
Plot
The boys are watching an episode of Maury on which several children with bodily defects are shown. A girl born with no midsection wins a gift certificate, so Kyle, Stan, Cartman, and Butters decide to try to get on the show with a faked deformity to win a prize. The group decide that Butters should be the one to go on the show with a scrotum on his chin, which Cartman called "Chinballitis." Butters doesn't want to go, but the other boys guilt him into doing so. Butters then reluctantly agrees, and the town's two sci-fi geeks make fake balls to put on Butters.
Butters then flies alone to New York to appear on the show. In the green room, he meets other variously deformed people, who welcome Butters to their union, which ensures that US TV talk shows interview their members regularly. Man with Foot on Head tells Butters that they hate it when people fake a deformity — for example, "Lobster Boy," who simply turned out to be a lobster. When they found out about this, they boiled him alive.
On the show, Maury introduces Butters as "Napoleon Bonaparte from South Park." Butters tells Maury that the kids at school make fun of him, and wins a trip to the largest miniature golf course in the world. Stan, Kyle, and Cartman are watching the show at home, and Cartman is angry that Butters got "their" prize. He calls Maury and tries to get himself on the show. The operator tells him they aren't currently interviewing people with deformities, but are trying to find "out of control kids" for a future episode. Cartman convinces his mom to take him on that show and lie that he's out of control.
Butters is grounded by his parents, who say he embarrassed them on national TV and gave his grandmother a mild stroke. The freaks come to Butters's house looking for him — they want him to strike with them, but they can take back the limelight that was stolen from them. Fear of being discovered as a faker leads him to reluctantly agree, and he goes on strike with the group, which includes South Park's Nurse Gollum from the episode "Conjoined Fetus Lady", the Thompsons from the episode "How to Eat with Your Butt", Joseph Merrick, Rocky Dennis, Andy Dick, Concrete, Liza Minnelli, and Kevin, Dr. Mephisto's odd assistant.
Cartman and his mom go on Maury. Seeing a teenage girl named Vanity swear, physically beat her mother, and boast about her "out of control" way of life, Cartman dresses up as a slutty girl to try to win the prize. For everything she says, he makes up an even more outrageous story. During this sequence, Vanity repeatedly says, "Whateva! I do what I want!", and Cartman repeats the same phrase after his arguments. Also featured is a four-month-old baby named Chantal, who frequently strips naked, though this is likely because she does not understand what she is doing, and is not really "out of control".
The deformed people's union hijacks the TV studio's video screen and broadcasts a plea to the audience. They say that they are the "real" freaks, and they should not lose their means of employment to people who are only freaks because they are "stupid trailer trash from the South".[2] The union members, featuring Butters, sing a song about looking for the "True Freak Label" on talk shows, and most of the audience agrees and leave the studio. Upset, Maury chastises the deformed people, saying that he gave them gifts and this is what he got in return; he relents by saying "we'll negotiate", much to the deformed people's elation. Cartman is irate that Butters once again ruined his chance to win a prize. He runs outside and rips the fake balls off of Butters' chin. Butters fears he will be found out, but the union chases Cartman, who "ripped poor Napoleon's balls right off!," not realizing they were fake. Butters thinks things might not turn out so badly for him, but his parents arrive in a taxi, and he knows he is in trouble again.
References
External links
- Freak Strike Full episode at South Park Studios
- Freak Strike Episode guide at South Park Studios