Cartman's Incredible Gift
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| South Park episode | |
| "Cartman's Incredible Gift" | |
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| Episode no. | 124 |
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| Airdate | December 8, 2004 |
| South Park - Season 8 March 17, 2004 – December 15, 2004 |
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| ← Season 7 | Season 9 → |
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| List of all South Park episodes | |
"Cartman's Incredible Gift" is episode 813 of the Comedy Central series South Park. It originally aired December 8, 2004.
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[edit] Plot synopsis
Cartman attempts to fly by jumping off of his roof. He goes into a short coma, and wakes up in the hospital, where he shares a room with a victim of a serial killer. The killer cuts off the left hands of all his victims. Just as the police are lamenting the victim's death, Cartman manages to guess the hospital food's dinner and a few other paltry things (possibly because they had become routine by that point for Cartman), which leads the gullible cop Louis Yates to believe that Cartman is a "child wunderkind" with psychic powers. Cartman is taken to the scene of one of the murders where he has "visions" of ice cream and Double Stuf Oreos (which no doubt have more to do with his own cravings than the actual crime). Yates makes the connection to Tom Johannsen, the owner of the ice-cream store, and he is arrested. Cartman ends up getting more innocent people arrested, including a group of rival "psychics". The left-hand murders continue, but the gullible cops believe these are copycat killings rather than being committed by a single killer (who is seen to be rather eccentric) still on the loose.
Kyle realizes that Cartman is a fraud, and is frustrated by the police's stupidity. When Kyle manages to figure out who the real serial killer is, he is completely ignored. Deciding he has to do something to stop the killer, he imitates Cartman's attempted flight so that he passes into a coma, and when he wakes up claims to have psychic powers and gives the police his original findings. Lou Yates is skeptical but goes to investigate the suspected murderer anyway, who, by this point, has abducted Cartman, furious that the soi-disant psychic has failed to "recognize his work" and name him as the true killer.
When Yates arrives, he finds many hands on the killer's wall, but ignores them (mistaking them for right hands), and he leaves. Cartman was gagged throughout his stay, so Yates, not hearing him, left him captured. Later, after an intense police research montage, Yates realizes that left hands look like right hands when viewed a certain way, and returns to the house in the nick of time, saving Cartman and killing the murderer. Kyle is now hailed as the child psychic, but he explains that psychics are not real. Yates says that, really, he solved the case with "old-fashioned police work" anyway. But there is still one score to settle: the other "psychics" choose Cartman for a "final battle". But just as they begin to point at each other and make weird sounds, Kyle yells at them to stop, at which point the light bulbs in the room explode and some electronic devices fall off their shelf. Kyle is surprised, but asserts that there must be some logical explanation for that phenomenon.
[edit] Trivia
- This episode breaks the fourth wall when on Ms. Crabtree's crime scene when they say "She hasn't been on any recent episodes".
- This episode is similar to "The Biggest Douche in the Universe" in its treatment of psychics.
- Ms. Crabtree dies, a victim of the serial killer. It was revealed for the first time that her first name was Veronica.
- Cartman once talked about "Quadruple Stuffed Oreos" in Season 4's Chef Goes Nanners.
- Cartman says the Wright Brothers names are Orville and Redenbacher, referring to Orville Redenbacher's popcorn. Their names are actually Wilbur and Orville.
- On this episode's DVD commentary, Trey Parker and Matt Stone were (at first) unable to remember a considerable amount of this episode.
[edit] Cultural references
- When Butters tells Kyle not to fly too near to the Sun or else he will fall into the ocean he is talking about the Greek myth of Icarus, where his wings of wax melted when he flew too close to the Sun.
- When Cartman threatens to make Kyle's head explode, this is a reference to the movie Scanners, and possibly the StarCraft Universe in which people with telepathic and telekinetic powers have the ability to make one's head explode.
- Most of Cartman's story arc in this episode — falling into a coma, waking up with "psychic abilities", and then searching for a killer — is based on Stephen King's The Dead Zone. The difference is that in The Dead Zone, the character's psychic powers are real.
- The killer bears many similarities to Stephen King's character Frank Dodd from The Dead Zone, in particular the fact that he wears a yellow raincoat when he kills.
- The final scene, where Kyle accidentally blows up the lights with his mind, is a parody of Carrie.
- The killer bears many similarities to American killer Ed Gein in regard to obsession with his mother and mutilation and collection of human body parts.
- The word 'Paw' is written on the wall in the killer's dungeon, a reference to the film Saw, which also featured a deranged killer with a penchant for removing limbs from human bodies.
- The noise that accompanies Cartman's psychic powers is reminiscent of the noise made during Chevy Chase's famous blindfolded putting scene in the movie "Caddyshack."
[edit] Red Dragon references
This episode relies on Thomas Harris' book Red Dragon heavily, especially in regards to the serial killer's scenes:
- The killer has a scar above his lip just as Francis Dolarhyde did in the book. His overall appearance and seems to parody the character as portrayed in Michael Mann's film adaptation, Manhunter_(film).
- Cartman is bound to a wheelchair by the killer, just as Freddy Lounds was in Harris' book.
- The projector scene is a parody of Red Dragon as well. Cartman, just like Lounds, was forced to watch slide shows of the killer's "work".
- Also in that scene, the killer says "Do you see?" after every slide. Dolarhyde does this in the book in a sharp series of dialogue between himself and Lounds.
- The killer calls himself "God". Dolarhyde, in the book, had a God complex which was explained by Will Graham in a briefing to the police.
- The killer likes to cut the eyes out of photos. In Red Dragon, the killer cuts the eyes out of some of the photos in his scrapbook. Also, he inserts mirrors in the orbital sockets of the Jacobi and Leeds families, which would have a similar effect to cutting the eyes out of photos.
- The killer, like many serial killers, likes to return to the scene of the crime. Dolarhyde does this to a degree, e.g. the burying of the Jacobi's cat.
- Cartman tries to repent his 'sins' (i.e. lying about being psychic). Lounds does the same, regarding the lies he told in the Tattler (such as Dolarhyde being a product of an incestuous house).
- The policeman shoots the killer in the chest twice, then in the head numerous times, just as Molly Graham did in the movie.
| Preceded by "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset" |
South Park episodes | Followed by "Woodland Critter Christmas" |
