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A Nightmare on Face Time "A Nightmare on Face Time" "A Scause For Applause" "Obama Wins!" Obama Wins!
"A Scause For Applause"
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ScauseForApplausePromo
Episode no. Season 16
Episode 13
Production no. 1613
Original airdate October 31, 2012
Episode chronology
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"A Nightmare on Face Time" "Obama Wins!"
List of all South Park episodes

"A Scause For Applause" is the thirteenth episode of Season Sixteen and the 236th overall episode of South Park. It aired on October 31, 2012.[1]

Synopsis[]

A serious doping scandal shakes everyone's faith in a beloved icon. Everyone who once supported the fallen hero is now cutting off their symbolic yellow wristbands.[1]

Plot[]

SPW pic -- Spoiler Spoiler warning!
Plot details follow.

The episode begins at Walgreens, where people are lining up to have their yellow wristbands cut off. Cartman is in the line telling how everyone got duped and how he feels like a tool. Clyde and Mr. Mackey are also getting their wristbands cut off, with Mr. Mackey taking it worse because he does not know what to believe in anymore. When Cartman gets to have his wristband cut off, it is shown that he wears many wristbands, following the fad. The other boys wait for Cartman and when he arrives, Kenny makes the statement that Cartman is more stupid because he bought a wristband. When Cartman counteracts the statement, Stan just walks away, saddened.

At Stan's house, Randy is also mad that he believed in the "guy" and shows Stan some of the stuff coming out about the "guy".

Channel 4 News reports that the drug, HGH was used by Jesus at the time of his crucifixion, showing a video of scientists making statements and in testing labs. They also show a video of Pope Benedict XVI making a statement.

The pope says that Roman Catholics cannot tolerate any deity that used illegal substances to perform his miracles.

Stan, still sad, goes to his room and looks at his own "What Would Jesus Do?" wristband.

At South Park Elementary, Butters is telling Cartman about a conversation he had with a preacher, saying that the preacher said that he would have to put an asterisk next to "Jesus" when he read the new testament. Cartman comments that it is Dark Times. When Cartman goes to his locker he sees that Stan still has his W. W. J. D. Bracelet. The other Male Fourth Graders tell Stan that he should get rid of his wristband and that Jesus being on drugs is making everyone feel cheated. Mr. Mackey then walks by, asking what he will do. Craig also agrees with Cartman but Stan does not give in. Later, on the Charlie Rose Show, Stan is interviewed by Charlie Rose. In the interview, Stan tells Charlie that he just likes the wristband, which in turn, brown wristbands come out for people who want to be themselves, mimicking Stan. Stan, confused, is told by Butters that he was really moved for what Stan did for the farmers in Belarus.

At Stan's house, Butters shows him a video of the farmers saying that they will STANd GROUND. Stan, confused, asks Butters where he got a brown wristband. Butters tells him that he got his at 7-11 and then takes Stan to see.

At 7-11, the worker at the counter notices Stan and then Steve Nelson asks Stan if he is ready for his Nike commercial. Stan simply says yes.

The commercial involves Stan doing numerous physical exercises, standing up at various places and talking about how he never cut off his wristband and how he stood his ground.

At the school, scientists interrupt Mr. Garrison's lesson to get Stan's bracelet because Craig made accusations that Stan cut off his wristband and then glued it back together. The scientists eventually get hold of the bracelet and announce that Stan did in fact cut it off.

Kyle confronts Stan about it and Stan comes to the solution that it was the French Scientist.

At the scientist's house, the scientist is repeatedly doing tasks for his wife while Stan breaks in. The scientist's wife gets him to check to see if someone is in the house. Meanwhile, Stan finds Jesus also sneaking into the house. Jesus explains that he is trying to find something to discredit the scientist, once they both realize they are doing the same thing, they are caught by the scientist who then makes them cocoa bread and sausages while they talk. Jesus and Stan both deny what has been said about them and come up with the solution that the farmers of Belarus are what everyone should be focusing on and that they need bracelets.

At P.F. Pityef Bracelet Factory, Stan asks the owner to make bracelets. The owner refers to them as scauses and when Stan asks what a "Scause" is. The owner in a Dr. Seuss rhyming fashion, tells them what "Scauses" are.

Scauses are causes that are worn on the wrist, that P.F. Pityef Bracelet Factory provides. The owner also mentions a few different scauses while explaining. All the while making scauses for Stan and Jesus. He ends his explanation by going to South Park to sell the new scauses leaving Stan and Jesus confused as to "what the hell just happened".

Back at the school, Mr. Mackey gives some students an update and says that he now wears an orange bracelet to support the farmers in Belarus. Cartman asks what the new bracelet is and Clyde explains but says that it isn't made with reduced plastic. Cartman says that he doesn't care about that but Clyde points out that he has a bracelet saying he does. Butters asks Stan if he cut off his wristband to shed light on the people of Belarus. Stan says that he may have, leaving it a mystery. Butters, glad, calls Stan a "Cute, sneaky little butthole".

Jesus, meanwhile, is being interviewed live, and while he is talking about how they need to help the farmers of Belarus, the farmers are killed, making the orange scauses worthless.

In town, people are mad at the P.F. Pityef Bracelet Factory owner because he has taken all of their money and has left them with Scauses.

Stan and Jesus are trying to think of a way to stop the owner. Jesus takes a swig of HGH and becomes a hulk, destroys the P.F. Pityef Bracelet Factory and kills the owner by jamming him into one of his machines, his body being brutally torn apart in the process.

Later, Jesus tells the town that they should all wear their causes, not on scauses, but on T-shirts... He then starts a protest to Free Pussy Riot.

Critical Reception[]

AV Club gave "A Scause for Applause" a "A-" rating saying: "Still, that wasn’t enough to sour the episode by a long shot. When South Park takes aim at mass social psychology versus specific pop-culture references, the results are still strong at this point in the show’s run. Tonight’s installment wasn’t about doping, but about belief systems. It painted both sides as deeply flawed, but far from inherently evil. If anything, the only evil tonight came from a third party seeking to exploit the other two for monetary purposes. In shuffling off one deity (or bracelet) for another, the show could have made a statement about the equal pointlessness of them all. (In the case of Cartman, you could say that’s true.) But one could also view the casting off of one bracelet for another as a way to constantly seek inspiration and motivation from the purest source possible. Our restlessness may not always derive from cynicism, but sometimes from eternal optimism. It’s hysterical to see a confused Butters urge on his new hero. (“A little unnecessary, but go Stan!” he says after Stan angrily goes after his accusers.) But it’s also incredibly endearing. Butters believes in Stan because he desperately wants to believe in something. And while a factory might use that desire against him, that doesn’t mean it’s an inherently wrong impulse to have."[2]

IGN gave "A Scause for Applause" a "6.2" rating saying: "A Scause for Applause certainly had its moments -- the first act, overall, was quite enjoyable -- but the latter half of the episode began sacrificing a lot of the comedy for ham-fisted opinions and second-string wordplay. It's unfortunate that this solid premise never ended up going where it needed to go, because it really had the potential to excel."[3]

References[]


  1613: "A Scause For Applause" edit
Story Elements

P.F. Pityef Bracelet FactoryWalgreensThe Charlie Rose ShowJesus ChristBelarusian FarmersHuman Growth Hormone • "Gonna Fly Now" • STANground

Media

ImagesScriptWatch Episode

Release

South Park: The Complete Sixteenth Season

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