"South Park" The China Probrem (TV Episode 2008) Poster

(TV Series)

(2008)

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8/10
Awesome.
downscale13 October 2008
Warning: Spoilers
This was a great shocking South Park episode.

It begins in a dream of Cartman's watching the Chinese Opening Cerimony. He wakes up crying about how there's 2 billion of them, their economy's improving, and their technology improvements are going to bring down the US.

Cartman goes to rally the guys but Kyle is too concerned about the raping of their friend. Stan tries to explain that there was nothing they could do,. Cutting from that to Cartman bursting in on Butters in the tub, to get him in on his worry of the Chinese. Telling him that the Chinese want his parents dead because they're American, Butters doesn't want his parents to die, so he joins Cartman in the group "The American Liberation Front" he started.

On to Kyle having a Nightmare about the night they witnessed the raping of their friend. Turns out they were watching the 4th Indiana Jones movie. Cutting back to Cartman and Butters, they're en-route to P.F. Chang's to impersonate Chinese people, to infiltrate them and find out their plans for a US invasion. They enter to find a White girl working as hostess and seats them. They find an Asian family dining in the restaurant, and try to get them to spill the beans on "the plan".

Stan then finds Jimmy on a park bench and talks about how he doesn't know what to do about Kyle, and finds that Jimmy is having similar feelings about the movie as Kyle. Stan walks off just wanting to have things back to normal, and has a flash back to George Lucas and Steven Speilburg raping Indiana Jones, and breaks down in the street crying.

Cartman and Butters are still trying to get the invasion plan from the Asian family. The Family gets angry and call on the hostess to assist them. When she tries to get the boys back to their seat, Cartman flips out, and gives Butters a gun to hold on the people in the restaurant for betraying their country, since they're clearly American in a Chinese place. A customer thinks it's stupid and tries to leave, so Cartman tells Butters to shoot him to stop him from leaving. Butters closes his eyes, pulls the trigger, and shoots him in the crotch. Cartman scolds him for it.

Moving on to Kyle in the Park County District Attorney's office to sue Lucas and Speilburg for raping Indiana Jones. Stan and company come in to support him. The lawyer is upset about it and sends them out of his office. Once leaving the lawyer has a flashback to a Bar scene, with a pinball machine with Lucas, Speilburg, and Indiana Jones. The remembering of the act convinces him to assist the boys in their lawsuit.

Returning to P.F. Changs the Asian Family is trying to tell Cartman that there isn't a plot to take over America by the Chinese but he won't hear it as the police arrive. Cartman comes out to explain that Butters and himself are the good guys, and notices a Chinese man in the police force, and returns to the restaurant. The police begin to move in and Butters is ordered to fire a warning shot.He closes his eyes, pulls the trigger, and shoots the Chinese Police Officer in the crotch. Cartman flips his lid on Butters.

Cutting to the Police office the lawyer is submitting the boys' sworn statements, the Police Chief doesn't agree with the claims, and asks another officer if he had seen the movie. Coiled at a desk and keeping to himself, fading to a flashback scene the officer is having about Indiana and the Directors, in a recreation of the infamous scene from "Deliverance".

Back to P.F. Changs, Cartman is on the phone with the President explaining to him how he knows about the plot, as he comes back to find Butter's has shot a S.W.A.T. Team officer in the crotch that was attempting to enter from the ceiling duct. Cartman gives up on the American Liberation Front, he doesn't want to be part of it if it is going to be accomplished by "shooting guys in the nuts".

Returning to the Police busting in Spielburg and Lucas' door with a warrant for their arrest, only to find them raping a Storm Trooper (from Star Wars).

The South Park Police are at P.F. Chang's when the report comes in that Speilburg and Lucas were captured for what they did, causing a touching moment among the police force, and joyous tears from the previous hostages of Cartman's plot.

Cartman learns that he wants America Free, but not at the expense of it's dignity. He'd rather be Chinese, than a country full of "unethical dick shooters".
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8/10
Okay episode
gangstahippie9 October 2008
The China Probrem is the first episode of the second half of Season 12.I do not live in America so I do not get comedy central.In Canada we get comedy network which plays newer episodes on Friday, but those "new" ones are season 11 episodes.I saw this episode on the internet.It was an okay episode with a few laughs but I did not like it all that much.The episode has Kyle,Stan and the other kids being depressed because their friend got raped.We later find out that they watched Indiana Jones 4 and their friend Indy got metaphorically raped by Spielberg and Lucas.For the record, I did not see Indiana Jones 4.The boys then try to bring Spielberg and Lucas to justice.Meanwhile, Cartman is worrying about the Chinese taking over, so he and Butters go undercover to a Chinese restaurant to find out about an invasion, however it ends up being a hostage situation.This episode has a few laughs, but overall it was just mediocre.
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Great, but Underrated
marco-lin9130 October 2008
Warning: Spoilers
This is a very fun episode and some people just need to appreciate certain South Park Episodes. There is MORE to South Park than potty humour and weirdness.

Sometimes, they actually have a message. For instance, no it's NOT just "to point out the obvious that China is a strong power." Actually, it very well described how people are based their feelings on fear. Cartman is often used as a symbol for stupidity, hypocrisy, childishness and all these things. It's no different this time.

Everyone is overreacting about China. Fine, they have a lot of propaganda, and they are in a way intimidating, though America would have done exactly the same in their position. It's the arrogance of these countries. Because of these fears, some actually fear the Chinese people, and in South Park, they showed how a lot of ignorant people thing.

Cartman believes in all the stereotypes of the Chinese, though Trey and Matt showed that these beliefs are based on nothing, hence the perfect English. They actually kind of 'discussed' this serious topic, and the fact that they did that by making an extremely funny episode, is simply GENIUS.

About the Indiana thingy, I thought it was quite funny and I'd guess that Trey or Matt (or both, or a lot of their friends) were very disappointed and thought it would be funny to use South Park to spread that message. When it was revealed that the cause of their "trauma" and their "raped" friend was Indiana Jones... That was actually hilarious, and the end too. Can't really see how you can't appreciate this episode.

The "You don't shoot in the penis, man!" was really funny too, and very true. I mean... Dude, if I were ever to lose my little Timmy...

Anyways, in short: Before rating an episode, try to see and appreciate the brilliant and genius little details in the episodes. They're not as childish and stupid as you think.
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10/10
Brilliant, as usual
megamart919 October 2008
Warning: Spoilers
South park is so incredibly brilliant. It is the funniest show I ever watched, and I hope the guys go on for ages.

Cartman convinces Butters to declare war on the Chinese. And it's not the most interesting story, But with just one joke (You don't shoot someone in the dick Butters!) they save it all. The way butters gets screwed over all the time is classic BTW. The other story of this episode is simply fantastic. I laughed my ass off. The whole flashback thing and how they "Raped Indiana Jones" is so funny. Great episode as always.

the only downside is that I have to wait a whole week before I can see another great south park episode.
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10/10
If only we had listen back in 2008
anzainsdaad16 November 2020
In 2008 south park warn us about the huge global problem of C C P China ....

If only we had listen then , before it's too late
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3/10
A weak start to the second half of season 12.
TOMNEL11 October 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Let's hope the rest of season twelve isn't as bad as this episode. The Cartman/Butters plot was one of the weakest plots in the history of the show. It's dumb and nonsensical and had no point but to point out the obvious that China is a strong power. The Stan and Kyle plot was at least somewhat amusing, but it too was nothing special. Put these two plots together and you get one of worst episodes of the series.

Cartman has a dream that the Chinese are going to take over America because of the Olympics. He gets Butters to go undercover as a Chinese person with him and they go to PF Chang's. They hold the restaurant up at gunpoint, and to go along with the weird, disjointed plot, Butters has bad aim and has a recurring gag of hitting guys in the crotch with his shots. Meanwhile, Kyle and Stan can't go on anymore since their friend was raped. Indiana Jones was raped in his latest movie by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, and Kyle wants to sue him. Stan, Jimmy, Clyde and Kenny are backing his decision, as does everyone else as soon as they think back to the movie.

What the heck was Trey Parker thinking when he wrote that horrible Cartman plot? Cartman has gone through some dumb story lines, but this has to be one of the worst. Nothing remotely funny happened. Why is the recurring gag of shooting someone in the groin funny? It's not. Most of the laughs came from the various ways Indiana Jones was raped, and even that got repetitive.

Season twelve was pretty good up to this point. How about some good episodes for the second half guys?!

My rating: * 1/2 out of ****. 30 mins. TVMA
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2/10
This episode raped my adulthood (****note the sarcasm****)
SLionsCricketreviews13 January 2018
Warning: Spoilers
South Park is absolutely one of my favourite shows by this point and unfortunately, this episode is one of the lowest points of the show in my opinion. I have thought long and hard about the star rating to give this episode and given how I usually consider myself a somewhat generous person when it comes to trivial matters like this, I think the aforementioned star rating is a strong indicator of just how much I loathed this episode.

If "Super Fun Time" was still an indication of good South Park, this is an indication of South Park at its lowest. It's a painfully unfunny drag of an episode with little to no redeeming qualities or characteristics as they have become associated with South Park. Whatever satire Matt Stone & Trey Parker may be attempting at with this episode (how absurd fanbases are for these "raped our childhoods" claims) feels entirely ambiguous to me. Are Matt and Trey mocking the people who make such immature and outlandish claims or are they conforming to these claims? Did Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull also rape their childhoods?

If anything, I'd argue that Matt and Trey did a damn fine job attempting to rape Indiana Jones (both literally and figuratively) in this episode and once more, I'm not clear whether it's an intentional mockery on their part towards people who make stupid claims such as that or whether they themselves are oblivious of what they're doing in this episode.

There's arguably one moment in this entire episode that amused me and that was the Chinese police officer who was part of the barricade outside the PF Chang restaurant. It's nothing more than a visual piece of humour and regardless of how silly it might be, it worked well enough.

Beyond that, I found this one an entirely irredeemable stinker. I adore Stan and Kyle and they're such equally powerful moral voices for the crudeness of South Park but here they come across as the epitome of what I hate about the Internet culture nowadays, feeling so self-entitled and feeling so betrayed and angered and pathetic when things don't meet such expectations. The entire storyline makes me cringe and makes me want to vomit, a similar reaction to what the characters probably experienced watching the movie.

The Cartman/Butters plot is also incredibly bad and the fact that Matt and Trey couldn't use two of the show's best and funniest characters as well as one of the strongest dynamics is near unfathomable. Actually, it is fathomable and that is South Park is on the decline. And there's nothing wrong with that especially given how strong it had been for so long. "The China Probrem" lends some credence to the 'South Park is not funny anymore' claim even if this twelfth season has already had a number of very impressive episodes.

There's also something to be said for how low Matt and Trey dip to in order to find some humour. It's an usually criticism given how South Park is notorious for its often very immature (and offensive to some) sense of humour but this episode features no real humour outside of witnessing Indiana Jones get raped by Spielberg and Lucas repeatedly AND gunshot wounds to the groin. For a show that can be as intelligent in its sense of humour as South Park, this episode is its antithesis.

Now I'm aware that many people on these IMDb pages take subjective opinions far too seriously and personally so just grow up please. I love South Park and as far as I am concerned, this is one of its lowest points. It in no way affects my disposition of the show in general but feels as if it justifies a star rating I *rarely* give any movie or episode. It's far from an ideal start to the second half of this season given the very solid previous entry and the celebrated "Breast Cancer Show Ever" which follows it.
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5/10
Absolutely right
daniel_kvick10 October 2008
South Park used to be my favorite show back in the days. But since the 9th season and counting, the episodes have just not been the same as before. They are way too dramatic, often too much over the line with the joking and making fun of celebs. And as you say, they don't show the boys as much as before. But I guess that is just because the show has been developing every season. It's not like family guy or Simpson's that has been the same kind of series for a long time. South Park has always been about immature but still smart humor without a crappy message. South Park was as best between season 3 and 7. 1 and 2 was also kind of good but not as much since the animation was kind of crappy...
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1/10
Horrific and Sad
BabyDexter444431 October 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I Love this show to bits, I like most episodes, but this episode was so bad, I consider it the worst episode of South Park, the main plot about George and Steven "raping" people's childhoods is disgusting, and seeing everyone crying is just upsetting. I honestly feel bad that they had to see them ruin the movies, and it's not funny to see everyone cry at this, further more the Cartman subplot, while the only saving part, wastes time in this episode to develop the main plot, honestly this episode is so sad, I cried while watching it.

I would rate it 0/10 but the Cartman subplot barely saves it.
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