TV.com

South Park Season 14 Episode 7

Crippled Summer

Favorite

Watched It I've Watched This 1

Next
Episode Previous
Episode

AIRED: Apr 28, 2010

8.3

User Rating

470 votes

Your Rating: 10
Your Rating: 9.5
Your Rating: 9
Your Rating: 8.5
Your Rating: 8
Your Rating: 7.5
Your Rating: 7
Your Rating: 6.5
Your Rating: 6
Your Rating: 5.5
Your Rating: 5
Your Rating: 4.5
Your Rating: 4
Your Rating: 3.5
Your Rating: 3
Your Rating: 2.5
Your Rating: 2
Your Rating: 1.5
Your Rating: 1

Rate Now

EPISODE REVIEWS
By TV.com Users

Write A Review

Episode Summary

EDIT

There's no time for fun and games for Jimmy and his friends as they strive to be the champions of summer camp. Jimmy's going for the gold in the camp's surfing competition.

FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (10)

A slightly disappointing first half episode finale for Season 14.

6.5

By AdrenalinDragon, Jun 22, 2011

"Crippled Summer"

Grade: D

With the first half of season 14 ending with this episode, I'd hope it would be quite entertaining. Unfortunatly, for me at least, I felt Crippled Summer was quite repetitive and not that funny. Up The Down Steroid did a better job with a similar plot, whilst the Towlie documentary subplot fell mostly flat on its face, due to the fact I don't find his character that funny anymore, but the intervention Towlie/Cartman part did give me a few laughs I won't deny that one. Nothing much happened to the handicapped plot, because Jimmy still wins it and I thought it just got too stupid with the red team rivals (though the Shark Mating whistle scenes were quite funny) because you already know its going to go wrong, no matter what. Towlie's has a simple and predictable conclusion as well. I also felt those blank screen messages became kind of a hindrance as well, though they did deliver a small little chuckles from me. Overall, could have been better, yet a hell of a lot worse, but also much funnier too.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
16 9

Flag
Share Hide
It was alright

8.0

By Suspiria1989, Apr 29, 2011

The first half finale of season 14 ends with a bang? Nah, dud?..nope, more like a forgettable episode with a few laugh out loud moments. Jimmy and Nathan are in tough competition at camp while Towelie continues to abuse drugs. The first thing I thought of when I discovered the episodes title was maybe they'd do something with the Beach Boys, like play a song while Jimmy surfed, but I didn't get that, bummer. Anyways, the episode was alright, although seemed sloppy and rushed, although we can't blame M&T for this since they had alot of bullsh*t on their mind at the time. I'll give Crippled Summer a safe 8 rating, not great, not bad.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
1 2

Flag
Share Hide
So how do you review an episode where a disabled little boy is repeatedly raped by a shark with a 9 inch penis Carefully…

7.0

By ollyhume, Oct 28, 2010

Crippled Summer, as the title suggests, is not one for the easily offended. The episode manages to teeter on the brink of decency by parodying a selection of sources, in an attempt to neutralise any offensive content with an equally ludicrous scenario. Much of the humour stems from these shock tactics and even I winced a few times in places. But due to a lack of depth, the jokes quickly wear thin.

The premise is that Towelie's penchant for Marijuana, has tumbled into an addiction to crystal meth and crack. His story unfolds in a spoof of the show 'Intervention', consisting of shaky camera footage, generic mood music, and diary entry style voice-overs. Being British, I had never heard of this show and so some of the impact may have been lost on me. However, I am familiar with the style of documentary and so was aware of what they were trying to do. Unfortunately, it simply wasn't all that funny. 'The Long Arm of the Law', which saw Cartman in a parody of Cops, was far more effective and the repetition of black and white text, detailing a selection of silly facts, became rather tiresome by the end of the episode. It was a nice idea and a great way to bring Towelie back into the mix, but it didn't seem to have the legs to fill a half hour slot.

Read my full review here:

http://playeraffinity.com/tv-reviews/South-Park-Crippled-Summer.htmlmoreless
DO YOU AGREE?
4 2

Flag
Share Hide
Laugh out loud hilarious!

9.0

By deals80, Jul 24, 2010

I loved the whole, Nathan/Mimsy villain sub plot that was a shout out to old classic cartoons. Nathan's bluntness in his feelings towards Jimmy and then everytime he thought he had a diabolical plan to foil Jimmy's talents at winning in each camp event was hilariously foiled by what he believes to be Mimsy's stupidity. I laughed out loud at each one. So great! I loved everything about this episode, even the Towlie/Intervention plot had me in stitches. I always thought that show was completely ridiculous and I now believe the South Park team feel the same. Mocking it by showing Towlie undergoing a rough, spooge filled patch of drug addiction was fantastic. Great job South Park.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
7 4

Flag
Share Hide
While Timmy and Jimmy compete at a handicapped summer camp, Towlie's friends in South Park try to get their friend off of drugs and into rehab. A far, far better episode than I initially expected...moreless

9.5

By Jay-Spacedust, Jul 24, 2010

When I initially heard the synopsis of 'Crippled Summer', I wasn't looking forward to it very much. It sounded like a retread of season 8's 'Up the down Steroid' (which some loved but I didn't care for at all), and just didn't really grab me. So it was to my surprise that I really enjoyed 'Crippled Summer'.

Bar the terrible opener, 'Sexual Healing', season 14 has really been on a roll, with a run of top-notch episodes, and 'Crippled Summer' doesn't break with that tradition.

Although he has his fans, I've never really been a fan of Towlie. To me, he's always been a one-joke character (although in fairness that's what he was designed to be), but in this one, I found him to be the funniest he's ever been – in a bittersweet way, of course.

Living in the U.K., I'm not familiar with the 'Intervention' TV series of which much of this episode is based, but it didn't really matter, as I'm familiar with the style of show, and I found the regular text screen interruptions to be really amusing.

I also liked the Looney Tunes spoofs, both with the designs of the various disabled kids at summer camp, and Nathan and Mimsy's continual doomed attempts to bump off Jimmy so they can win the events.

There were only a couple of minutes featuring Cartman in this episode, but it was hilarious Cartman, as he used Towlie's 'Intervention' to launch a(nother) scathing attack on Kyle. All-in-all, this episode turned out far better than I had initially expected, and I really like it. I know there are some who didn't take to it at all, but personally I enjoyed it enough to give it a solid 9.5.moreless
DO YOU AGREE?
4 0

Flag
Share Hide

See All Fan Reviews

Cast & Crew: STARS

EDIT

Trey Parker	Voice of Stan Marsh; Eric Theodore Cartman; Randy Marsh; Mr. Garrison
Matt Stone	Voice of Kyle Broflovski; Kenny McKormick; Leopold 'Butters' Stotch; Gerald Broflovski
Mona Marshall	Voice of Sheila Broflovski; Various Other Females (1999-Present)
April Stewart	Voice of Liane Cartman; Principal Victoria; Sharon Marsh; Wendy Testaburger; Various Other Females (2003-Present)

See All Cast & Crew

Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

EDIT

Vernon Chatman

Voice of Towelie

Guest Star

See All Cast & Crew

Watch Online

Episode Photos

Jimmy and his friends want to be the cha...

Copyright © 1995-2010 Comedy Partners. All rights Reserved
Jimmy and his friends want to be the cha...

Copyright © 1995-2010 Comedy Partners. All rights Reserved

See All Photos

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

FILTER BY TYPE

TRIVIA (1)
ADD TRIVIA
- Nathan previously appeared in "Up the Down Steroid" as the kid who sold Jimmy steroids.
  EDIT SHARE
QUOTES (1)
ADD QUOTES
- Towelie: I feel like I could conquer the world, it's like I'm walking on sunshine!
  EDIT SHARE
NOTES (0)
ADD NOTES
- ADD NOTES from this episode.
ALLUSIONS (3)
ADD ALLUSIONS
- Intervention: The format of the episode, including the title card for the A&E series Intervention.
  EDIT SHARE
- Looney Tunes: Many of the campers have traits that correlate to classic Looney Tunes characters, such as Elmer Fudd, Droopy the Dog, Porky Pig, Dumb-Dumb Lion, and Beaky Buzzard. Also, Nathan and Mimsy took on the roles of Rocky and Mugsy. Finally, Nathan's plan to have Jimmy set off a pound of C4 wired to his ukulele by playing the correct note during his solo, mirrors a scene in the Bugs Bunny episode Ballot Box Bunny in which Yosemite Sam sets up a piano so that it would explode once Bugs presses a specific key. Jimmy's ukulele also uses the same tune from that episode and Nathan meets the same fate as Sam when he tries to correctly play the solo for Jimmy, who kept messing it up.
  EDIT SHARE
- Lake Titicaca: The summer camp the kids attend is called Lake Tardicaca, a reference to Lake Titicaca, which runs along the border of Bolivia and Peru.
  EDIT SHARE