The latest dose of conspiratorial subversion arrives in the form of a little culturing for Randy and Sharon Marsh – Stan’s doltish parents – in the form of a trip to Denver to see a hit musical. Randy is understandably bummed about being dragged along for the experience, but an unexpected bout of road head on the way home from the wife reverses his attitude entirely.
Soon, Randy is a full musical convert. The couple decides to travel to New York, where they catch every show that Broadway has to offer. Mr. Marsh has discovered a magical secret, you see: all Broadway musicals are actually filled with subliminal messages planted by the “bros” in charge (Sondheim, Elton John, Andrew Lloyd Weber, that is) that instruct women to give blowjobs to their date. It works every time, and it works so damn well that Randy devises a plan to write and produce his own musical.
Centering on the quest to get women to fellate on reflex on football Sunday, Randy’s production is an over-the-top bout of flagrant sexualization that leads the Broadway Bros to intervene. His “The Spooge-Covered Blowjob Queen” musical lacks subtext, they say. You can’t just build a Broadway dialogue around the need for oral sex. Everybody knows that!
In a subplot doomed to intertwine with the lead story, an unlikely romance is taking root between Shelley and Larry Feegan, a life-jacket wearing weirdo whose parents are strict vegans. When Shelley visits for dinner and tells them that they should let him make his own choices, the family is aghast – but Larry promptly falls in love with her. He’s so smitten, he even goes out and eats a Slim Jim – before taking off his life preserver to show his metamorphosis into an independent man.
And so the budding romance leads to a date, and here’s where things get sticky. Sharon couldn’t get the night free to head to the theater, so she gives Shelley and Larry the family’s tickets to see “Wicked”. You know what that means – and so does a horrified Randy, who desperately rushes to the theater to stop the show.
The brilliance of subversion that Trey Parker & Matt Stone bring to the table goes into overdrive here, as the shiteous and doomed “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” musical falls into the crosshairs in the most subtly hilarious of ways. Insistent on putting an end to Broadway once and for all, Randy puts on a Spider-Man suit and begins swinging haphazardly all over the theater, knocking people over, breaking open a water main and getting stuck hanging from the ceiling by his ankle. The production is put on hold, and a flood destroys nearly everything.
Most survive the flooding theater, except one little boy. A little vegan boy named Larry. The same Larry who took off his life vest to impress a girl. Ah, how nicely some circles come around.
A clever little one-second plug for “The Book of Mormon” concludes the show (Robert Lopez, who worked with Parker and Stone on the “Mormon” play, contributed to Wednesday’s episode.), and before any of us realize it, we’re scouring the internet for tickets to the local showing of “Phantom Of The Opera”.
I can’t explain it. It just… feels right.
CraveOnline Rating: 9 out of 10
