Grey Dawn
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| South Park episode | |
| "Grey Dawn" | |
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| Episode no. | 106 |
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| Airdate | November 5, 2003 |
| South Park - Season 7 March 19, 2003 – December 17, 2003 |
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| List of all South Park episodes | |
"Grey Dawn" is episode 710 of Comedy Central's South Park. It originally aired on November 5, 2003.
[edit] Plot
At the South Park Farmer's Market, Priest Maxi is holding a memorial service for the nine people who died the previous day when they were run over by a senior citizen who still holds a driver's license. The proceedings are marred by another unfortunate senior related driving incident. Stan asks his father Randy why old people are still allowed to drive.
Grandpa Marsh overhears his son's opinion and his own feelings on the matter be known, he still wants to be able to drive. Out on Stark's Pond, a man is fishing in his boat until a senior motorist drives off the bridge and kills him. The news covers the recent rash of senior related driving tragedies. Grandpa Marsh and the other seniors have a meeting at the community center to decide what to do. Naturally, they have trouble remembering why they are all there. They eventually remember and Grandpa Marsh decides they should have a meeting. They then realize that they are having a meeting.
When Randy finds out about the meeting he becomes worried, realizing that when the meeting is over, all the seniors will be driving on the road at the same time. Randy goes into the town and the farmer's market and shouts out a cry of alarm. He asks Gerald where the boys are. The boys are playing street hockey. Randy manages to save the boys and they flee from the many cars recklessly wandering the streets, eventually hiding in an abandoned house. Moments later, the house gets overrun by seniors making the wrong turn and going the wrong way (even on the second floor).
The state of Colorado has demanded all seniors turn in their driver's license and the seniors are not happy. Stan's grandfather wants him to accompany him, in the car, to go and pick up his new Hover Round. All the boys accompany Grandpa Marsh on the trip, theorizing they'll be safer if they are in the car. Grandpa's driving is at the current senior standard of bad and Officer Barbrady pulls the car over and takes Stan's grandfather to jail. Randy is reluctant to bail his father out, but his father doesn't care, the AARP is sending their aid.
Outside of his classroom, Mr. Garrison sees a large number of old people dropping out of the sky. The AARP has air-dropped in reinforcements. They begin taking hostages and liberating their colleagues from the retirement home. "The revolution is on" and the AARP has taken over the town. To show they mean business, the AARP starts killing hostages.
More reinforcements arrive but then so does the military. The seniors list their demands, their driver's licenses, more Medicare and keeping those kids and their skateboards off the sidewalk. The children find their parents under lockup. Randy tells the boys that since they get up early, they are the only hope for getting the town back. While trying to figure out what to do, Cartman suggests they dress up as black people and attach stolen explosives to Kyle, and then send Kyle to blow up the Kountry Kitchen Buffet. Stan suggests that they just lock the door from the inside, which is exactly what they do. The AARP plans on taking stronger action, but their plans are thwarted when they start starving to death outside of the Kountry Kitchen Buffet at 6:00 AM. Their defenses weakened, the hostages are released. Grandpa is turned back over to his family. Stan sums up the lessons learned by the Marsh family today, that Randy shouldn't treat his father like a child and that Grandpa should be proud to be a senior, but he should realize that he is a killing machine when he is driving. They all go home laughing, except the kids. As he walks offstage, Stan mutters, "I hate my family."
[edit] References to popular culture
- The topical reference of this show is George Russell Weller's fatal car accident at the Santa Monica farmer's market in July 2003, in which he killed 10 people. The car Weller drove, a Buick LeSabre from 1992, is also featured in the episode, as the car which killed a man who was fishing when the car was driven of a bridge.
- The title of this episode and many of its scenes are a parody of the 1984 movie Red Dawn. Specific examples include the AARP troops parachuting into the town while Mr. Garrison lectures his class on Genghis Khan and sees them outside the window. Also many of the townspeople rounded up and held inside a prison camp, with Stan's dad talking to the boys through the fence and shouting "Avenge me!"
- The scene where an elderly couple kills a fisherman is a parody of Jaws.
- The scene in the abandoned house, as well as the elderly people's attempts to get into Country Kitchen Buffet, are satires of zombie movies.
- Cartman says "Mostly hippies go to farmer's markets... mostly". This is a reference to the character Newt from the movie Aliens. Cartman has spoken in this manner before in the episode "Cat Orgy".
- The restaurant Country Kitchen Buffet appears to be a reference to the restaurant chains Home Town Buffet, Country Kitchen and Old Country Buffet.
- The jersey that Cartman wears while the boys are playing street hockey is very similar to that of the Colorado Avalanche, the NHL franchise in Denver. Also, the number 33 that Cartman wears is a reference to former Avalanche goaltender Patrick Roy.
- The music that accompanies the cars in the sequence where the boys and Stan's dad try to escape the elderly is a parody of John Carpenter's theme from the film Christine. The episode doubly parodies the film in how the cars are shown slowly approaching head on down a long straight road.
| Preceded by "Christian Rock Hard" |
South Park episodes | Followed by "Casa Bonita" |
