Our take
A busy, scattershot finale that throws a season's worth of running jokes about streaming, holograms and online fame into a parody of a celebrity Christmas TV spectacular. Some gags hit hard and the self-mocking tweet feed is clever, but it is the least festive of the show's Christmas episodes and works best if you have seen the rest of season 18. The thread between the two brothers gives it a heart.
What happens
The second half of a two-part finale, as the country prepares for the biggest holiday spectacular ever shown on television. Kyle, still struggling to connect with his little brother Ike, who would rather watch other people play video games online, tries to lure young people back into the family living room with a Twitter hashtag. Cartman, now an internet star as Cartman Brah, has taken over the celebrity-packed Christmas special and given it an obscene name. Randy, secretly the pop star Lorde, tries to tell the authorities that a hologram of Lorde is making money against his will, but nobody believes him, while the Marshes team up with an escaped Michael Jackson hologram and a Tupac hologram hunts it down. The special itself is a parade of celebrity holograms, with a feed of viewers' tweets running across the screen mocking how little sense it makes. When Cartman declares himself transgender to stay on trend, Ike and his friends answer Kyle's plea for help by calling in PewDiePie, who appears in live action and stops him. It closes with Kyle and Stan talking it all over.
Can the kids watch it?
Not for children: rated 15 in the UK on the Season 18 set, with strong language, sexual references and jokes about real celebrities' scandals, so for 15 and over.
Cast and crew
Starring
- Trey Parker as Eric Cartman, Stan Marsh, Randy Marsh
- Matt Stone as Kyle Broflovski, Butters Stotch
- April Stewart as Sharon Marsh, Taylor Swift
- Mona Marshall as Sheila Broflovski
Guest stars
- Felix Kjellberg as PewDiePie (himself, live action)
- Bill Hader
Writer
- Trey Parker
Director
- Trey Parker