The Ending Of South Park: The Streaming Wars Explained
"South Park" isn't going away any time soon, much to the chagrin of those who abide by political correctness.
The show's creators — Trey Parker and Matt Stone — signed a massive deal where they would take the show through Season 30 as well as come out with a slew of specials for Paramount+, many of which will take place in the quiet mountain town. One of these exciting specials that utilizes the series' signature brand of political satire is "South Park: The Streaming Wars," and as you can likely surmise, it takes aim at the recent gluttony of streaming subscriptions people can sign up for, including Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, and so many others.
Of course, it does this in a roundabout fashion. The special follows Randy Marsh and Steve Black, who discover they can make a ton of money by selling the "streaming rights" to water they own to the people of Denver, which is in the midst of a drought. To prove their water can reach Denver, they both hire Stan and Tolkien to create boats to prove their streams arrive at the reservoir. Plenty of other shenanigans ensue, so let's take a look at where the characters are now so that you can be ready for the next installment of "South Park," which has taken a greater interest than ever before in serializing its story.
What's Pi Pi's plan?
At the beginning of "The Streaming Wars," it seems like water park operator Pi Pi is just another concerned citizen who needs access to streaming rights to keep his business afloat. But by the end, it's clear his true intentions are much darker than anyone could've imagined.
Over time, Steve realizes he doesn't have enough water to support his farm, Credigree Weed, so he goes to Pi Pi to get him to revoke his streaming rights. Pi Pi refuses, revealing his collaboration with the water commissioner and ManBearPig (a stand-in for climate change). His plan is to get the town to completely use up its water supply so that he has sole ownership of all of the water once the rest dries up. Of course, this being "South Park," Pi Pi's water park is known for being 50% water and 50% urine.
Before long, all of the citizens will rely on Pi Pi to supply them with the only liquid around. This change of heart can be seen as a metaphor for how corporations have already begun to take advantage of the climate crisis for their own personal gain. In "The Streaming Wars," a business owner works alongside climate change and a government official to create an even bigger crisis than there was before. If there ends up being "The Streaming Wars 2," we'll undoubtedly see Pi Pi pursue his endgame even further.
Is Steve Black dead?
The last we see of Steve Black, he was attacked by ManBearPig while confronting Pi Pi. Instead of ripping him to shreds, ManBearPig instead tosses him out a window, where he lands on a water slide. He travels all the way down while bleeding from a stab wound, and that's the last we see of him.
It's rare to come out of an encounter with ManBearPig alive, but one would assume that if the creators behind the show wanted Steve dead, they would've shown it in a gruesome fashion. Later, Tolkien receives a phone call from his mother, talking about how his father has gone missing. It leaves the door open for the other marijuana farmer to return to the series later on.
While it's unclear what Steve's fate was, he still has a beef with Randy going on. It's unlikely to be resolved any time soon, so audiences should anticipate a glorious comeback for the character in the future on "South Park."
Is Cartman's breast augmentation canon?
While everyone else in South Park deals with climate change and streaming services, Eric Cartman, as usual, is only interested in himself. And as we know from watching Season 25 of the animated sitcom, Cartman and his mother now live in a giant hot dog.
He's solely interested in getting out of the hot dog, so he hatches a plan. He'll force his mom to get cosmetic surgery so that she can attract the rich man, Cussler, who's buying up properties close to the creek so that he can have his own streaming services. Once his mom gets with Cussler, they can move out and finally be happy once again.
Even though Cartman gets the $10,000 for the surgery, his mother refuses, and in a bid of desperation, Cartman says that if she doesn't get a breast augmentation, then he will. His mother calls his bluff, and before you know it, Cartman has massive breasts, which everyone learns about the next time he goes to school. It's the kind of development most other sitcoms would play for a cheap laugh before moving on by the next episode, but "South Park" has played with serialization as of late, so we wouldn't be surprised if he still has them for the next episode.
If the series really wanted to go back on the idea, Cartman could be recovering from another surgery to have them removed, but the concept of Cartman needing to raise enough money once again to afford another surgery may be too funny of an idea for the writing team to pass up.
What does South Park have to say about streaming?
There are always layers to what "South Park" has to say, and as the title of the special suggests, the underlying message has to do with the state of streaming. Stan and Tolkien are tasked with creating what's effectively content for all these different streamers. The problem is that they begin to get stretched too thin and simply go where the money is. This leads to a decline in the quality of the "content," and Butters ends up saying the most poignant thing of the entire special.
He ranted, "Everyone knows at the end of the day, there's only gonna be like three streaming services ... They don't give a f*** how good anything is. And the people who made all the deals, they don't give a f*** because they're all gonna get fired anyway." It's interesting in the context of Parker and Stone's massive deal with Paramount+. It sounds like they're fully aware they're taking the streaming site for a ride, and they're just going to enjoy it while it lasts.
So is Butters' rant just a way for the creators to slyly poke fun at streaming culture, or do they have some insider information they're trying to let viewers know about? That remains to be seen, but fans can be confident that if they have more to say about streaming, they'll have no problem incorporating it into another "South Park" plotline.