This episode, like the brilliant "Major Boobage," is a great beacon in season 12. Previous episodes in this season, while decently scripted, have lacked the amazing energy and tight plotting seen in season 11. This episode, however, has thankfully bucked that trend.

The creators are on-record as saying they prefer to write episodes about the characters just being kids. "Super Fun Time" makes it clear why that's true - they get to explore hilariously improbable situations (such as a pioneer village being held hostage by a group of fast-food-franchise robbers) and bring them to their logical conclusion. At the same time, a surprisingly sophisticated comedy of errors takes place as Cartman drags Butters off the premises to a conveniently-located "Super Phun Tyme".

In addition to the sharp scripting and tight plotting, this episode was great for numerous reasons. Any interaction between Cartman and Butters is always welcome; moreso than Cartman and Kyle (also a wonderful clashing of characters), Eric and Butters are polar opposites in almost every way. The constant hand-holding was a hilarious variation on the classic handcuffed-together plot device. Meanwhile, the rest of the class is not ignored: we see Stan and Wendy together for the first time since last season's finale (confirming that they really did get back together); Kyle and Jimmy are with them and provide supporting roles; and Mr. Garrison is back as the selfish, dysfunction teacher we all know and love.

My biggest criticism is that the writers apparently recycled a joke from season 9; when Butters collapsed and proclaimed, "Teacher, my partner is back on the bus," it closely paralleled the end of 'Follow that Egg' in which Stan collapses on the stage before Mr. Garrison and pronounces, "Teacher, our egg is okay.

All in all, a great episode that leaves me looking forward to South Park's return this fall.

The latest drug craze - that is, getting high off cat pee - takes South Park by storm. By which I mean Kenny becomes addicted to the hallucinogenic properties of the territory-marking excretions of male cats. Meanwhile, Cartman, in a rare display of conscience and humanity, hides various neighborhood cats to keep them from being taken away by the DEA.

This episode was brilliant for numerous reasons. Allusions to Heavy Metal, The Diary of Anne Frank, and even the now-infamous Eliot Spitzer case were well-written and brilliantly plotted, all without going too over-the-top. The dream sequences were amazing, with the kitschy 70's-style animation never failing to amuse. Besides, it's always great to have a Kenny-centric episode; they're so few and far-between these days.

And, in a vast contrast with the previous two weeks' episodes, this week's was actually funny. Here's looking forward to next week's episode!

I'm going to admit, I had high hopes for this one as it started out. So, Cartman gets AIDS from a blood transfusion - not unprecedented, but incredibly rare. Because Cartman is such a horrible person (see the classic Scott Tenorman Must Die), Kyle actually thinks this is - if not outright funny, at least ironic. Cartman, true to form, sneaks into Kyle's room, injecting him with some of his own blood.

Let's ignore the logical flaws - after all, it *is* South Park. So we're going to pretend that putting someone on a large dose AZT immediately after exposure (and there is a VERY small window of opportunity, during which most people don't know they have the virus) can actually eliminate the virus from the infected person's system, so that would be any doctor's first course of action. Let's also ignore the fact that there's no way Kyle would be displaying symptoms so soon. Let's just look at the scripting and the plotting.

This had some of the shock value of Scott Tenorman, but none of the humor. I realize it's not a particularly funny subject, but this wasn't even that well-scripted. It relied far too heavily on running gags, and - in a trend I thought was being eschewed after the amazing run of episodes that concluded season 11 - once again fell into the trap of focusing exclusively on Kyle and Cartman. Yes, their enmity is amusing; yes, they get ratings because they're the most popular characters; but what makes South Park so charming is the group dynamic between all four boys, and the inclusion of other, incidental characters. Moreover, every plot point in the episode was highly predictable. You knew the second that Kyle starting giggling at the sheer irony of Cartman's disease that Eric would find a way to transmit the virus to him; you knew the writers wouldn't ACTUALLY let Cartman and Kyle keep the HIV infection within their systems; you knew the second they decided to approach Magic Johnson that the cure would lie somewhere in massive amounts of money.

I do appreciate the general points that the episode was trying to make: AIDS has taken a backseat to cancer in pop culture, which is highly problematic since it is just as serious and, moreover, transmissible from person to person; concentrated funding for research has made an impact in the past, so we should continue to fund AIDS research if we are ever to hope for a cure; AIDS sufferers in Africa *really* need our help; and so on. Of course, not one of these is a particularly earth-shattering assertion, but they're all points that bear repeating nonetheless.

Perhaps most importantly, it was the South Park guys' chance to say, "Hey, I know we've made some pretty tasteless jokes in the past, but in all seriousness, there's nothing funny about AIDS." And therein lies the episode's greatest flaw - it wasn't about creativity or character development, it was effectively a disclaimer for the show's creator's. Ten points for social awareness, zero for creative scripting or real humor.

While the whole series thus far has been entertaining, engaging, and truly above-par so far, I have to say that this is the best episode yet. First of all, it manages to capture that delicate balance between humor, drama, and actually furthering the storyline. Over the course of an hour, Harriet gets a movie deal, a bunch of musicians from New Orleans show up, Matt finally kisses Harriet, and Danny reveals his feelings for a very pregnant Jordan. And somehow, none of it felt rushed.
The episode was also a great vehicle for further developing Jack's character. More than any other character on the show, he is easily the most conflicted in terms of balancing his strong set of personal principles with his duty to see the network succeed commercially. That dichotomy really came into play this week. Besides, it was great to see him without a necktie.
The humor in the episode was also well-done and totally appropriate. I personally got a kick out of Matt's earnest Christmas spirit, which somehow overtook his usual cynicism. That provided a nice change of pace.

The inaugural season of "Studio 60" has, thus far, not once disappointed. That being said, this episode was truly standout among the first few episodes. This is a function of several reasons. First of all, because of the fact that the main characters had already been pretty well-established, there was significantly more room to throw some humor into the mix. This was definately the funniest episode so far. Secondly, this is the first episode that really focused on the show itself and its production process. Granted, it was only a focus on the show as it runs under extraordinary circumstances, but it was well-done nonetheless.