Pip (South Park)
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 This episode will not meet your great expectations of South Park due to the torture of a character who is boring and forgettable.
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Pip is the fourteenth episode (fifth in production order) of the fourth season of South Park, and the 62nd episode overall. It originally aired on November 29, 2000.
Plot
Pip heads to London when he is offered the opportunity to become a gentleman, but soon finds out that Miss Havisham only intends to leave him broken-hearted.
Why It's No Pip
- Although Pip can be a good side character, having an episode solely centered around him is a bad idea, since he is incredibly one-dimensional and flat. He cannot hold an entire episode on his own and it is very harsh torture of Pip, even though he is bland and obvious character.
- This is a similar problem to the Season 10 episode, "A Million Little Fibers", in which Towelie, another side character with little personality, takes the role of the main protagonist.
- Pip doesn't really develop much as a character in this episode either, and mostly just stays as a kindhearted one-dimensional British lad.
- While the episode is supposedly based off of the Charles Dickens' novel, Great Expectations, the episode plays it way too safe with this idea, to where the plot feels almost the same as the book. In other words, it feels more like it is trying to retell its source humor, compared to other episodes where it tries to satirize things in a comedic yet inventive manner.
- Wasted potential with guest star Malcolm McDowell, who only serves as the "British Narrator" of the episode.
- The character designs for the adults are incredibly hideous. Especially given that most of the characters are one-appearance only and have pretty bland personalities, so there's no reason to put so much gross detail on their designs.
- With the exception of Pip (who as stated in WIS #1, cannot hold an episode on his own), no recurring characters are featured in this episode. Not even Stan, Kyle, Eric, and Kenny are shown. In fact, almost all of the characters featured are just characters based off of the real Dickens novel and never make another appearance outside of this episode.
- One of the only exceptions to this is Estella's boyfriend, Steve, who is very out of place for a Dickens-based episode set in London. Steve fits more in any other episode of South Park besides this one. However, most of the scenes with him and Estella dating are just shoving in for filler and he never makes another appearance again, so his existence is pretty much pointless.
- Generic ending: Miss Havisham dies, Estella finally declares her love for Pip, and the British narrator closes the book and declares that "they all lived happily ever after... except for Pocket, who died of Hepatitis B."
- With the exception of the presence of Pip, this episode doesn't even feel like it's a South Park episode and feel rather like a generic british show, as as said before, the main boys doesn't even appear and the setting is not in South Park, making it even more forgettable than it's already is.
- Extremely boring pacing to the point that this episode is extremely painful to watch and is the main reason of why this episode is this terrible, as South Park is know for it's great and fast pacing, but here it is simply not present, it's even worst when it's already boring to watch after only 3 minutes of watch, and when you watched 10 minutes of it, it's already feel like you watch it for 25 minutes, and despite being 20 minutes long, it's feel like 50 minutes due to how boring it is, hence the reason of why It's considered to be one of, if not the worst episode of the entire series.
- The episode is overall considered to be filler heavy and very forgettable overall, as the events of this episode are never mentioned afterwards. You could watch every episode of South Park except for this one, and nothing of value would be lost.
Redeeming Qualities
- The basis of satirizing a Charles Dickens' novel is an interesting idea for South Park, though it was not satirized cleverly.
- Pip, while a bland and boring character who lacks character development here, is still a likable character.
Reception
This episode is often considered to be one of the least popular and most forgettable episodes of the show. Trey Parker stated that "[e]veryone, including us, hates 'Pip'," expressing how he and Matt Stone do not think highly of this episode.
Meanwhile, Jem Reviews ranked "Pip" as his 3rd worst South Park episode in his "Top 5 WORST South Park Episodes" video, claiming that "half the people who watch this would fall asleep, and the other half would be wondering why they aren't asleep yet."[1]
Trivia
- This is the first episode to not feature any of the four main boys.
- This is also the only South Park episode to lack the show's famous disclaimer card at the beginning.
External Links
http://www.gameshowgarbage.com/tc021_southparkpip.html
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