Mysterion Rises

"Mysterion Rises"
	South Park episode
	240px; The Coon confronts Cthulhu.
Episode no.	Season 14; Episode 12
Directed by	Trey Parker
Written by	Trey Parker
Production code	1412
Original air date	November 3, 2010
Episode chronology
← Previous; "Coon 2: Hindsight"	Next →; "Coon vs. Coon and Friends"
	List of season 14 episodes ; List of South Park episodes

"Mysterion Rises" is the twelfth episode of the fourteenth season of South Park. It aired on Comedy Central on November 3, 2010^[1] and is the second of a three-part arc that began with the episode "Coon 2: Hindsight".

The episode was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker, and was rated TV-MA L in the United States. In its original American broadcast on November 3, 2010, "Mysterion Rises" was watched by 3.263 million viewers. According to Nielsen ratings, "Mysterion Rises" was seen by 2.85 million overall households.

Plot

The episode starts off with comic-like recap of the previous episode ("Coon 2: Hindsight") before turning into a Batman-like title screen. The group is now led by Mysterion, although still called "Coon and Friends" (because it "pisses Cartman off"), and hold a bake sale to aid those in the Gulf affected by Cthulhu's arrival at the end of the previous episode, meeting a strange man who state their efforts to stop Cthulhu are futile. Coon and Friends then return to find that Captain Hindsight has ransacked their base looking for incriminating photos of him with Courtney Love. The boys reveal the pictures are fake and solely constructed by Cartman as blackmail, but Hindsight is too conflicted to believe them. Mysterion tells Hindsight that if he does not believe them, he has no choice but to pull the trigger. All the other heroes are shocked by this show of what can only be fearlessness or foolishness as Mysterion tells them to leave. In the process, Human Kite (Kyle) inadvertently reveals Mysterion to be Kenny. After Hindsight admits that he is growing tired of the burden placed on him by his powers, and Kenny explains that he too has been cursed with an ability of his own: he cannot die. It is revealed that every time Kenny dies, he simply wakes up in his bed the next day restored to full health. Furthermore, nobody seems to be able to remember his death, even if they witnessed it first hand.

While this occurs, Cartman is at the airport to make his way to Cthulhu, who delayed Cartman's flight by defecating on the runway. After attacking a little girl (in his mind, a villain), Cartman arrives at Cthulhu's location and tries to get the attention of Cthulhu, so he can get revenge on his former team. However, Cthulhu is uninterested and leaves Cartman. Cartman then decides to be cute and adorable to manipulate Cthulhu. After introducing himself as "the little Coon" and rubbing Cthulhu's belly (much like Mei from My Neighbor Totoro), Cartman befriends Cthulhu. He then calls a press conference and declares them the new, and this time trademarked, "Coon and Friends". Along the way to South Park, Cartman and Cthulhu are shown destroying various things: a synagogue, hippies, and San Francisco, all things that Cartman despises. By then, after deliberating over his situation, Hindsight decides to remove his powers and resume being news reporter Jack Brolin. But seeing an innocent person with an injured arm crying for his help makes Brolin realize that "Hindsight" should not have removed his powers.

Back at South Park, after Coon and Friends learn about cult of Cthulhu, where they discover that Kenny's parents were a part of it, Kenny (as Mysterion) goes to his house. It turns out his parents were only indirectly involved with the Cult of Cthulhu (they went for the free beer), and he forces them to tell him whereabouts of the South Park chapter. Together with the other heroes, they go to the Cult meeting, and notice familiar faces (Mr. Adler, the Goth Kids, and the Star Trek nerds). Kenny, however, becomes alarmed over a line they say:

That is not dead which can eternal lie.
And with strange aeons even death may die.^[2]

He abandons his friends and confronts the Goth kids in an alley about what it means. The leader of the cult then shows up and asks for the Goth kids' assistance in dispensing of Mysterion. Coon and Friends show up too late, as the leader takes Kindergoth's switchblade and stabs Kenny in the chest. At this point, it is revealed that the Human Kite is Kyle when he exclaims "You bastards!" in reaction to Kenny's death. Inevitably, Kenny wakes up in his bed, unharmed. The rest of the Friends show up at his bedroom door asking him why he ran away from the cult and that they have to defeat Cthulhu, completely unaware of the fact that he just died. Kenny sighs in disappointment.

Cultural references

File:TreyParker-2007.jpg

Trey Parker wrote and directed this episode.

"Mysterion Rises" was written and directed by series co-founder Trey Parker. It first aired on November 3, 2010 in the United States on Comedy Central. Like most South Park episodes, "Mysterion Rises" was first conceived by Parker and fellow co-founder Matt Stone within a week of the episode's broadcast date.

The episode's title is a play on the title for the upcoming Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises,^[3] announced only days before the episode aired. Cartman interacting with Cthulhu while on his belly and the animation sequence while flying with Cthulhu are a reference to My Neighbor Totoro. The song playing during the flying sequence is also a parody of the Totoro theme song.^[4] In this episode there is a parody clip of LeBron James' "Rise" commercial for Nike (giving the episode title a double parody). The line "I am not a role model" was originally used by Charles Barkley, hence the wink at the end.^[4] The goth kids believe the rise of Cthulhu will be like a never-ending Nine Inch Nails concert, and hope Cthulhu will bring an end to The Disney Channel.^[3]

While selling lemon bars, Coon & Friends are approached by a man who warns them of the futility of their plot by mentioning the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire by H. P. Lovecraft.

Mysterion's revelation to Captain Hindsight that he is unable to die, despite constantly dying violently, is basically a self-reference to the running gag on every previous South Park episode on which Kenny died since the very beginning of the show.^[3] In addition, his superhero name "Mysterion" may be a reference to the 1968 marionette TV series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, as that show's lead character is, like Kenny, immortal--though he is killed in many episodes, he repeatedly returns to life, a power he has gained from the Mysterons, an alien race.

Clyde has a poster in his room titled Gunslaam Wing, an obvious reference to the anime Mobile Suit Gundam Wing and the Arm Slaves from Full Metal Panic!; the robot on the picture even resembles Wing Zero. He also has a poster of a Hajime Sorayama gynoid on his bedroom door.

During the meeting of the Cult of Cthulhu, the book case behind the cult leader is filled with boxes, which in close-ups is revealed to be several copies of Arkham Horror, a board game based on Lovecraft's work (the uppermost box is marked "Expansion 1" - Arkham Horror has come with many expansions the last years).^[5]

Reception

Sean O'Neal of The AV Club gave the episode a C+ rating.^[3]

Ramsey Isler of IGN gives the episode an "impressive" 8 out of 10. He complains that the episode had very few laugh-out-loud moments but praised the show for experimenting with new visual styles and presenting a more ambitious vision than the past few episodes.^[4]

Home release

"Mysterion Rises", along with the thirteen other episodes from South Park's fourteenth season, were released on a three-disc DVD set and two-disc Blu-Ray set in the United States on April 26, 2011.^[6]