*1602: Cash For Gold* Post-Air Discussion

[JOSHSKORN]

I just watched it for the second time. I was pausing and reversing when Cartman was unleashing his equation, I wanted to fully understand it. First time through, I didn't quite get it.

I was also a bit more tolerant of the scenes involving the Jewels and Gems network and watching the supply cycle.

First run through, I would've given this episode 4.5/10.

Second run through, I'll give it a 6/10.

Not the best, yet not the worst. First time I've ever rewatched an episode, and I got it the second time through.

I'll put this in second behind last week's episode.

[gbassman5]

I thought this episode was great- As always, digging the perspective. Had just been talking to my grandmother in the nursing home about how old people are taken advantage of and how sick it is. I'd be just as ticked as Stan, and the scene at the end where he gives his grandfather a picture is perfect. Also liked the idea that the kid in India knew exactly what to give him.

As for the repeated gold cycle... I wasn't so much under the impression it was repeated as it was showing you how the workshop kid was waiting for the right materials to make the picture frame. Kind of killing two birds with one stone; displaying the disturbing network of this business while keeping it in touch with the story about Stan and his Grandpa. Overall it seems pretty damn solid. Maybe I didn't roll around laughing like some other episodes, but it left me smiling.

thank God!!! someone else w/ critical thinking skills! kudos to u

[Stanluv25]

Just watched it a 2nd time and it was just as good as it was Wed. It's midnight now so it was hard not to LOL and have others hear. I loved the shopping network scenes, I really do. Like I said, they were funny. The man, Dean, obviously only wanted to sell the jewelry and didn't give a crap about anything else. And while it was funny to hear the old people it was sad, knowing they had Alzheimer's. I had to see my grandmother live with it so ya..
Stan says Shelley is 13, so that brings Stan down to age 9 again. I knew they weren't going to stay 10 for long lol. I love the fact Grandpa remembers her name .
I am just annoyed with the forced pairing of Cartman and Butters now. There used to be a reason behind the pairing. Cartman would have to manipulate Butters into going along with him. He didn't this time and it's getting annoying. I do not enjoy this new role Butters has taken.
As someone else mentioned- I saw the random squirrel with a top hat at the park during the scene w/ Stan and Grandpa! HAHA too funny.
Still love the weird Indian montage music. Still love the shopping network scenes. Still loved Cartman getting 'f*cked'.
This is a 9.5/10 for me.

[zzyzx 1]

I have never seen an episode effect so many posters in diametrically opposite ways - some absolutely loved the episode; others hated it. Some fall in the middle. I can't recall ANY episode with such mixed reactions before. Usually most posters feel one way or another, but not this time. Weird. My feeling: thumbs down

But first:

This past Feb. My parents called me to ask me to help put their dead dog in the car and drive to the Vets. to be buried or cremated or whatever.

It was a 112 pound border Collie....named Patches
No sh*t. I am really creeped out right now.

I didnt know where to put this thread so I just put it here.

I guess there is no need for anyone to respond .

Sorry, Marshall_Scotch That was a big dog at 112 pounds. How old was he/she? Sorry, man A border Collie named Patches - either that's a weird coincidence or perhaps it's a common name for border collies, such as the proverbial Dog Spot? I don't know. Just sad you lost your dog.

I have the same problem most people have with this episode. The sane disturbing thing with both this episode and last week's is that they are dragging scenes out too long. Last time, the 2nd time where it was the guy masturbating was dragged out for like a minute. And why'd they show the extremely long cycle in in of itself TWICE! And 60% of this episode was recycled material from previous episodes.

This would've been better as a 15-minute episode, because I feel they only had 15 minutes of material.

This is a rather disappointing season, I give this episode a 6/10. Even week's was better with an 8/10, because it was still South Park à la Season 1.

Best post of the night, imo. This 22 min episode should have been 15 min or less. I can see the outline now - open with Grandpa Marsh giving the jewelry to Stan, then we learn the scenario of people buying jewelry for big bucks, family receiving it and getting cash for gold, it gets recycled, and sold again on the shopping network. And end the episode where it began: grandpa/stan/the jewelry in question. The idea had promise - but failed here imho as there was no development in the outline. They had 22 min and wasted it with the musical interludes.

Cartman somehow got to India with Butters without knowing that Stan, Kyle, and Kenny also went to India. So they went on different flights. No tension between the boys; all seemed pretty calm. Butters helping Cartman without any questions is an old plot line for years (China Problem, Super Fun Time for example).

And full circle again, not just the jewelry from sale to cash for gold to new jewelry for sale, but grandpa marsh giving the jewelry to Stan and at the end grandpa not knowing who gave the jewelry to Stan and thinking it was a good idea for Stan not to wear it.

All of the above could have been done in 10-15 min; 22 min was way to long for this premise.

What I did like, and no one mentioned it here, is that while grandpa calls Stan "Billy," and we know from Season 1 that grandpa's grandpa called grandpa "Billy" as well, we now learn that grandpa calls Shelly "Sally."

I don't believe I've ever heard grandpa refer to his granddaughter in any episode in these 16 seasons. I may be mistaken, but I think I'm right.

Last week was pi day; a rating for this episode of 3.14/10 is too much. I won't insult this idea with a 1/10 so for the first time ever this episode gets no rating from me. I pass.

[Nietzcholas815]

I love that this show is so diverse. The monotonous music playing in the background durring the shipping scene of the cash for gold episode was intentionally half ass halarious. This newest episode reminds me alot of margaritaville. You guys should consider making an episode where old people become alienated completely due to their technological illiteracy only to succeed in setting off an EMP sold to them by the ghost of Mohmar Gudahfi. In the episode Mohmar should relate to them in saying that he "had no idea what was going on anymore either" lmao see i can pull this sh*t out of my ass all day too. You guys should give me a job with the quickness, so I can drop what Im doing and come to casa bonita. Ill write 100 more suggestions if approached by someone.

And stop hating if you didnt like the episode! 5 funny things off the top of my head right away:
1. The music durring the distribution scene
2. The price changing on the screen like it does in real life
3. The "pfffffft i dunno, 360.00" when he gives the first price
4. The reality of the situation that old people are f*cking behind on the times
5. Stan's grandpa telling him that the necklace is f*cking gay at the end.
boom effortless. This show is awesome. I bet anyone hating on it couldnt write 10 funny episodes without falling off the wagon. These guys are on a couple hundred last time i checked. And its the less funny episodes that make the other ones halarious. They cant all be a 10

[zzyzx 1]

And stop hating if you didnt like the episode!

No one's hating it, Nietzcholas815. We all love South Park. That's why we are here. Some enjoyed this episode, some did not. Because some did not enjoy it and were disappointed by it does not mean people were "hating" it. They love South Park. Being disappointed in something has nothing to do with hate.

I bet anyone hating on it couldnt write 10 funny episodes without falling off the wagon.

Don't be so sure (about writing funny episodes). But again, no one in this thread has indicated that they are hating on it.

[MLZS__DA_SP_FAN]

Uhh, nice subject for them to touch. I hate those TV shops. Luckily they aren't that popular in Denmark. Quiz-channels are though - pretty much the same concept, ripping off stupid and old people.

I likes the whole cycle-montage, it just kept on and on, with an awesome, silly and typicall Matt n' Trey noise/melody in the background.

It kinda made me think about my own operation promoting german online casino through my homepage Automaten online. But I like to think that people can choose for themselves when it comes to gambling - i mean, part of the fun is to risk loosing.

Anyhow. I like the direction in which the first two episodes of this season are going - I hope the next 5 will be just as good or better ; )

Cheers from Denmark!

[Marc_Deon]

9/10. Great episode and I could not find this thread upon my initial Cash For Gold post here. I hope it's not deleted as it's my very first post and there was so much more that I touched upon. I was so moved by CFG that I finally registered here... and I've been with show since S1E1.

[yelsewno]

Throwing in my two cents:

I'm not sure why people are bashing this episode. Excellent, emotional story between Grandpa Marsh, and "Billy". Nice side story with Cartman and Butters. And Trey's impersonation of the scumbag shopping network guy was priceless. Add to that, Cartman's little "suck my balls" song and a super dark ending, I have to give it two thumbs up!

Keep up the great work M&T! You and your crew are doing a great job!

[Stanluv25]

I can see how some episodes may not be a fav that I personally didn't think were terrible like Stanley's Cup and Pinewood Derby. But this episode I'm still really confused why it is getting so much hate. I really had no idea so many people would dislike it so much. I really was expecting to see a lot of praise for it but I'm not. It is making me a bit confuzzled. To each their own but, still...

I love how Stan talked of his trip to India. It was frikkin' India yet he didn't seem that fazed by it. 'So ya, we went to India which was pretty cool, I've never been there before.' I just love how deadpan serious and blunt this kid is.

[raidpirate52]

I feel like I should follow up on my comment from the first page.

I feel it's a bit stupid that Matt and Trey loathe being compared to Family Guy. I mean they make it well known they can't stand that. But this episode just screamed "Just like Family Guy"...nothing but random/unnecessary jokes. And then repeat over and over. I'm a Stan fan, so it feels odd to absolutely loathe this episode, but I really do. I just couldn't bear the 5 minutes of just rambling about jewelry prices or cash 4 gold places over and over. And then the India montage I couldn't just stop shaking my head. My inner thoughts just said "Stupid!". And of course, there was the stupid noises.

Hey, Matt and Trey: Stupid noise beating is NOT funny!

I do admit, the final scene with Stan and Grandpa was heartwarming and nice, and the old people telling the guy to kill himself was funny. I also loved Kenny telling Cartman he's an assh*le, but those few scenes couldn't save the other 20 minutes of stupidity.

I still rank it a 2/10...huge disappointment because I really thought the first episode set the tone for the season and then it took a huge step backwards with this.

[Stanluv25]

^ I don't feel they were rambling, the cash for gold and jewlery were all part of the jokes, what the episode was about. Of course they were going to mention it a few times.

Certain noises can be funny. At first I thought the noises were kinda odd but now I can't get it out of my head. It's so lame and stupid yet so M&T at the same time so I liked it.

Course this is coming from someone who loved this episode!

[99 i fail]

Stanluv25
Post subject: Re: *1602: Cash For Gold* Post-Air Discussion
^ I don't feel they were rambling, the cash for gold and jewlery were all part of the jokes, what the episode was about. Of course they were going to mention it a few times.

Certain noises can be funny. At first I thought the noises were kinda odd but now I can't get it out of my head. It's so lame and stupid yet so M&T at the same time so I liked it.

Course this is coming from someone who loved this episode!
Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 3:51 pm

I disagree completely. It wasn't an episode when you can go like "At 19:00, this happened, at 20:00 this happened, and 21:00 this happened etc.", and something different and/or hysterically funny happened every minute. The cycle scene was 2 minutes, the shopping network scenes happened many times and were longer than 1 minute. And if things happen for a long time and nothing really happens, it gets boring. Majority rules, and I think most people agree with the fact they were too long, but I completely respect all opinions.

P.S. You can give me all the crap you want to.

[triplemultiplex]

There can be a fine line between having an episode with a running joke and an episode with a repetitive joke. Most of the time, when I see people complain about a repetitive joke, it's actually a pretty good runner, in my opinion. South Park is really good at the runner. Usually it's in the form of an episode specific catchphrase for Fatass (Paging Dr. Sandy Vagina!).

And when people are impatient with the shopping channel scenes, you've got to remember that part of the comedy of those scenes is the verbatim portrayal of what those shopping channels are really like; they are a parody of themselves. And you need a long scene to do that. We're so accustomed to shows that hurl jokes at us as fast as possible, it's refreshing to see something with slower pacing that just lets the viewer sit in the absurdity of what's being parodied.

On any other show, a lot of those scenes would have been trimmed down over months of rewrites. It's fascinating with South Park because your usually seeing what would be a first draft on other shows. Seven weeks of a stream of consciousness from Matt & Trey's brains to your boob tube.
(Ha! There's no tubes in TV's anymore!)

[ENOproductions]

should of been repeated a third time hahaha that episode was great