Gnomes

Season 2, Episode 17, Aired
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Episode Summary

To keep the school board from firing him for incompetence, Mr. Garrison assigns group oral reports to his class. The boys are put in a group with Tweek, the jittery son of a coffee shop owner. Tweek suggests doing the report on the underpants gnomes that steal his underwear. Meanwhile Mr. Tweek is offered $500,000 by Mr. Postum, who wants to turn his store into a "Harbucks" franchise. Mr. Tweek rejects the offer, and that night suggests that the boys do their report on how large corporations try to push out small business. Mr. Tweek writes the report himself and gives it to the boys. The board likes the report and uses the boys to put up a proposition to keep Harbucks out of South Park. Meanwhile the boys seek help from the underpants gnomes to teach them about big corporations.moreless
9.2
out of 10
EPISODE RATING: Superb
317 votes
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Cast & Crew

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  • Trey Parker

    Voice of Stan Marsh; Eric Theodore Cartman; Herbert Garrison; Officer Barbrady; Terrance; Timmy; Ned Gerblanski; Satan; Randy Ma

  •

    Matt Stone

    Voice of Kyle Broflovski; Kenny McKormick; Gerald Broflovski; Pip Pirrup; Jesus; Jimbo Kearn; Phillip; Saddam; Various Others

  •

    Mary Kay Bergman

    Voice of Wendy Testaburger; Liane Cartman; Sheila Broflovski; Sharon Marsh; Mrs. McKormick; Mayor McDaniels; Ms. Crabtree; Princ

Fan Episode Reviews (13)

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  • The best episode of the first two seasons by far.

    9.8
    "Superb"
    By high_on_coffee, May 15, 2011 Report Abuse
    Gnomes is the first great episode Trey and Matt made. The episode centers Tweek, a kid who has a severe caffeine addiction, causing him all kinds of stress and paranoia. Very good job of character introduction for Tweek and his parents. The plot of the episode was great, considering I wasn't really expecting much because of a lot of the other lame season 2 episodes. Matt and Trey did a great job of insulting ads that use children as a way of changing the minds of the people. Best part of the episode was the Underpants Gnomes plan to make money: Phase 1- Collect Underpants; Phase 2- ??????
    Phase 3: Profitmoreless

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    1 0

  • perfect

    10
    "Perfect"
    By futuramarama, May 15, 2011 Report Abuse
    In this episode, Tweek's dad uses the boys to try and help him ban a new coffee shop. Will his plan work?

    Good episode. Really funny. The recurring theme of the underpants gnomes was funny, the plot, whilst not one of my favorite types of plots (businesses don't interest me much), was handled well, and I found myself laughing a lot. Probably the best of the early episodes, there's not really anything to complain about, so my final grade is in the "A" range. Perfect offering, I would say. Probably one of the best episodes in the whole series, i saymoreless

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  • we meet tweek for the very first time !

    10
    "Perfect"
    By heylin_prince, Jan 15, 2008 Report Abuse
    plot : the boys and an overcaffienated boy named tweek must support family owned buisnesses.

    subplot : tweek thinks underpants gnomes are stalikng him !

    review : best season 2 episode , it had a great plot , pus alot of humor . it alos contains one of my favorite quotes " thier coffee tastes like moldy diareeha " lol ( i dont know why i like that quote ! ) . it was also the first epsidoe with tweek ! the only thing i was a bit dissapointed on was kenny's death it was a bit to fast but nevertheless it rocked !moreless

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  • Solid Episode! Nice character development.

    8.5
    "Great"
    By nineone14peace, Nov 14, 2007 Report Abuse
    I LOVED this episode because it finally gave us a real look into the life and style of Tweek and his parents. In this installment, Mr. Garrison's teaching has been brought into question by the school board and as a result the boys (the whole class, really) are given a group assignment to do a report on a current event in South Park. The current event suggested by Tweek (who was placed in their group) is "Underpants Gnomes". Little elf-like characters that come out at night and steal your underpants. This however turns out to be a "B" plot (and a very funny one). The real story here is "Corporate Take-overs," an idea presented to the boys by Tweek's father whose coffee shop is in jeopardy because "Harbucks" (a HUGE corporate coffee-house) is going to move in right next door. Well, Mr. Tweek does the report for the boys and uses them as a front for sympathy votes in a campaign to benefit his cause... which would be getting "Harbucks" kicked out of SP. Great episode, with great quotes, and the peak into Tweek's life is priceless. Another classic from Matt and Trey.moreless

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  • Gnomes

    7.0
    "Good"
    By djjoe60, Oct 16, 2007 Report Abuse
    If this is supposed to be such a great episode then how come I didn't laugh once, If this is supposed to be so great then how come I didn't rate it over 9/10 on the rating system above.
    I do not think that this episode is a bad episode I just think it is cleverly plotted and sometimes can be enjoyable in the different scenes. I don't understand this fully but it wasn't a bad episode and it was entertaining. ;D A satisfactory episode full of goofy scenes and silly under-sized underpants gnomes. We really love South Park, don't we guys?moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • Somehow, the Gnomes are able to pull the underpants right out of a person's pants without ripping or tearing them. Edit
    • Visitor Sighting: At the very end scene, a visitor is peering behind the people when they are all laughing. Edit
    • In the scene after they win the case there is a flag and it has over 50 stars. Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • We learn in this episode that the reason for Tweek's shaking is due to all the coffee that his parents give him. But they blame his shaking on ADD. Edit
    • This episode is occasionally called "Underpants Gnomes." Edit
    • Mrs Tweek makes a comment about ignorance, anti-corporationism, and exploiting of children to get the point across, and indicates that they are 'as bad as Rob Reiner.' Parker and Stone later decided to tear more shreds out of Reiner in the seventh series' 'Butt Out.' Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Mrs. Tweek: Oh hello son. How was your day? Tweek: Arghhh! Mrs. Tweek: Who are your little friends? Tweek: What do you mean? Kyle: We're his oral report buddies. Stan: Yeah, we have to stay up all night to write it. Mrs. Tweek: Well have some coffee boys. I'll brew up another pot for later. Kyle: Coffee? I don't think I like coffee. Mrs. Tweek: Oh you'll like this coffee, it's fresh. Mr. Tweek: Country fresh, like the morning after a rainstorm. Stan: Okay. Edit
    • Stan: Okay we have to do this stupid report so... (Tweek freaks out) So let's figure out what to do it about. (long pause) Cartman: How about we do it on that Raymond guy on TV, you know everyone loves Raymond. Kyle: No, Cartman, we can't do it on Raymond again. It has to be on a current event in South Park. Edit
    • Mr Garrison: Settle down children, I have some difficult news. This is going to make you all very sad. The school board is considering firing me as your teacher. There's a possibility I'll be let go and never allowed to teach you again. (Stan raises his hand) Yes Stanley? Stan: That's okay with us. Kyle: Yeah! Craig: Yeah, we dont care. Cartman: That's fine. Mr Garrison: (shouting) No it isn't! It makes you very sad! Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Postum The Harbucks rep Mr. Postum is ironically named after this coffee alternative instant powdered drink made of wheat and molasses. Edit
    • Small Business vs. Big Business: In this episode you get the show creators' opinions on small business vs. big business economics, which doesn't mean much since they definitely have an episode with the completely opposite point of view (Wall-Mart). Maybe their point is that a large corporation with a quality product is better than a small business with a crappy prooduct, or maybe they don't care as long as it's funny. Edit
    • Joe Camel: The Harbucks Rep dresses up like Joe Camel, or in this episode, "Camel Joe," and passes out coffee and gives a speech that would be reminiscent of a cigarette ad. Edit

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