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Damien (South Park episode)
Encyclopedia
"Damien" is the eighth episode of the first season
of the animated television series South Park
. It originally aired on Comedy Central
in the United States on February 4, 1998. In the episode, the boys' class is joined by a new student named Damien, who has been sent by his father Satan to find Jesus and arrange a boxing match between the two. The majority of South Park residents bet on Satan to win the match due to his enormous size and muscular physique, but Satan ultimately throws the fight and reveals he bet on Jesus, thus winning everybody's money.
The episode was written by series co-founders Trey Parker
and Matt Stone
, along with writer Brian Graden
. It was directed by Parker, and was rated TV-14-LV in the United States for strong to extreme language & bloody violence. The episode serves as a satire on religion, faith and the nature of good and evil, as well as a commentary on commercialism
, the cult of celebrity in America and the nature of children. It was originally written as a Christmas
special, but the original broadcast was pushed forward when Parker and Stone decided instead to make "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" the season's holiday episode.
"Damien" received generally positive reviews and was viewed by 3.2 million households when it was first broadcast, making it the highest rated cable program the week it aired. The episode marked the first appearance of Satan, who would become a recurring South Park character, as well as the character of Damien himself, who was inspired by the antagonist of the 1976 horror film, The Omen
. Parker and Stone also said the episode introduced several key characteristics of the Cartman
character that have endured throughout the rest of the series. Michael Buffer
, the boxing ring announcer best known for the catchphrase, "Let's get ready to rumble!", makes a guest appearance in "Damien" as himself.
is excited about his upcoming birthday party and lets everyone invited know what present he expects to receive from each - and when they protest, he threatens to ban them from eating the food his mother makes, something that immediately convinces them. They encounter a new student named Damien, son of Satan, from the seventh circle of Hell
. The other boys mock the "new kid" and, in response, Damien turns Kenny
into a duck-billed platypus
. Damien informs Jesus that Satan will rise for a final battle with him of good versus evil. South Park residents immediately begin making bets on the fight, which will be shown on pay per view for $49.95. Cartman is angered to learn the event is scheduled for the same time as his party, and the children struggle to choose between the two events.
The entire town bets on Jesus to win the fight, but begin to lose faith when Satan appears for the weigh-in. He is huge and weighs a little over 320 pounds (145.1 kg), while Jesus weighs a mere 135 pounds (61.2 kg), and the citizens of South Park begin changing their bets. Jesus confronts the South Park residents about their changed betting slips after learning only one person is still betting on Jesus to win. Distraught, Jesus asks Stan
, Kyle
and Chef
to help him train. Damien gets counseling from Mr. Mackey, who recommends he just try being nice no matter what the other children do, like to the unpopular British child Pip. Damien tries to apologise to the boys for setting fire to the playground and turning Kenny into a duck-billed platypus, stating that he was "doing his father's bidding" and he did not have a choice. The boys however, still continue to act negatively towards Damien. Cartman's birthday party begins, as does the fight. Damien and Pip arrive uninvited to the party, but the children finally accept Damien after he hurls Pip in the air and makes him explode in a shower of fireworks. However, Cartman ends his party early and kicks everyone out after opening Kyle's present to discover that Kyle didn't buy him the present he was asked to get.
Meanwhile, Jesus is disheartened by the town's lack of faith in him, and he does not retaliate to Satan's attacks against him, despite Satan's apparent taunting of "hit me!" Chef and the children make it for the end of the fight and offer Jesus some words of encouragement. Inspired, Jesus finally throws a single weak punch. However, Satan then takes a dive and goes down for the count. Afterward, Satan reveals that his plan had, in fact, been to bet on Jesus and then throw the fight, winning him a lot of money and real estate from the South Park residents. The townspeople are angered by this, until Stan reminds them that Jesus told them not to bet on him. The whole town then asks forgiveness of Jesus, who accepts the apology. Kenny dies when Jimbo identifies him as a rare duck-billed platypus and shoots him. Damien bids goodbye to Stan and Kyle since his dad "is always on the move" he has to leave. Stan and Kyle feel sympathy for Damien and state that "parents can be so cruel." Meanwhile, Cartman has continued his party even after kicking everyone out and eaten all the food himself.
"Damien" was written by series co-founders Trey Parker
and Matt Stone
, along with writer Brian Graden
. It was directed by Parker and Stone. "Damien" first aired on Comedy Central
in the United States on February 4, 1998. It was highly anticipated in part because it was the first new episode of South Park in about two months, since the extremely popular Christmas
special "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" aired on December 17, 1997. Before "Damien" even ran, Mike Duffy of Detroit Free Press
said the episode was "certain to become one of the show's signature moments". In fact, Parker and Stone originally intended for "Damien" to be the season's Christmas episode. Although they had long planned to feature Mr. Hankey in the show, they did not decide to make him a Christmas character until halfway through the filming of "Damien", during which time they decided to make "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" the holiday episode instead. Nevertheless, they decided to finish production of "Damien" first, even though it would not air until after the "Mr. Hankey" episode.
Parker said he and Stone did not intend for "Damien" to be offensive to Christians
or any other religion: "In South Park, Jesus is a great guy, he's on our show, and in this episode he's the hero. We're not in the business of offending people. We're in the business of making people laugh." The mean way Damien is treated by his fellow students when he joins the school, as well as Damien's reactions to the treatment, were inspired by Parker's experience of the second grade, when he started at a Cheyenne
, Wyoming
elementary school in the last three weeks of the school year. Parker said, "It was brutal ... Everybody already had their little groups and the year was almost over, so I wasn't going to fit into any of them, and I just wanted to destroy and kill, which was the inspiration for this show."
Michael Buffer
, the boxing ring announcer best known for his catchphrase, "Let's get ready to rumble!", made a guest appearance as himself in "Damien". Parker and Stone originally planned to use the catchphrase without Buffer, but when they learned that Buffer had legally trademarked the phrase, they included him in the episode since getting the rights for the catchphrase cost nearly as much as hiring Buffer for a guest appearance. Parker and Stone both said Buffer was friendly and they enjoyed working with him. Voice actor Mike Judge
, star of Beavis and Butt-head
and King of the Hill
, had originally been slated to provide the voice of the Damien character, and even recorded several lines for the part. However, since Judge lives in Austin
, Texas
, it proved too difficult to for him to come back and rerecord lines as the script and episode changed, so Stone instead provided the character's voice.
By the time "Damien" was animated, much of the drawing and animation responsibilities that had previously been handled by Parker and Stone were now being delegated to a team of animators. The duo were particularly proud of the animation during the boxing match between Jesus and Satan, which used elements of perspective and three-dimension seldom used in the series before; Parker said it was "definitely the most action (oriented) stuff we'd done (so far)". While animating Jesus, Parker and Stone deliberately left glitches in the animation that made it appear skin was showing beneath the beard on the left-hand side of the character's face. Parker said this was done because it was the way Jesus appeared in the crudely animated The Spirit of Christmas
, a 1995 animated short film by Parker and Stone that served as a precursor to South Park, and they wanted to maintain that nuance for the character.
Parker and Stone said a number of Cartman's characteristics which have endured throughout the South Park series started in "Damien". Specifically, his voice took on a higher-pitch that was more nasally and whiney than in previous episodes; Stone described it as a "self-indulgent accent". Some of his regular vocal mannerisms were also developed in the episode, including his use of the sound "Nyah" while saying the word "Here", and the way he says "Hey you guuuuuuys" while talking to his friends. Parker, who provides the voice of Cartman, said the characteristics came about naturally while filming the episode: "This show for some reason, for whatever reason, maybe I just lost interest, but I was trying all these messed up things with him and all these things sort of stuck."
"Damien" included the first appearance of Satan, who would become a commonly recurring character throughout the series. Although Satan displays an evil and unscrupulous personality in "Damien", he is portrayed in later episodes as a thoughtful, sensitive and often deeply conflicted character. "Damien" was the first episode Parker and Stone wrote that included school counselor Mr. Mackey and local religious leader Priest Maxi, but they were also included in "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", which aired before "Damien" even though it was produced afterward. Although Jesus had been introduced as a South Park character in previous episodes, "Damien" marked the first time he interacted with the main characters outside of his public access talk show, Jesus and Pals. Parker said many viewers thought the character was a crazy person who falsely believed he was Jesus, and he and Stone wanted to show in this episode that he was supposed to be the actual Jesus. "Damien" is also the first episode to feature South Park's bar, which is simply called "Bar".
Prior to the broadcast, Parker and Stone said "Damien" would be the first episode in which Kenny would not be killed; ultimately, however, Kenny was shot by Jimbo at the end of the pay-per-view fight. Kenny is turned into a duck-billed platypus in the episode, which Parker said was done because, "Duck billed platypuses are something I've always been infatuated with. They're just so bizarre." In the original script, Pip, the unpopular British student inspired by the character of the same name in Charles Dickens
's Great Expectations
, was originally supposed to be killed and permanently removed from the show after "Damien", in which Damien projects Pip into the air and blows him up in a shower of fireworks. However, Parker and Stone decided they should not kill any student characters except for Kenny, so they decided not to kill Pip and to bring him back for future episodes.
"Damien" was later released, along with eleven other episodes, in a three-DVD
set in November 1998. It was included in the second volume, which also included the episodes "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig
", "Death" and "Pinkeye". The episode, along with the other twelve from the first season, was also included in the DVD release "South Park: The Complete First Season", which was released on November 12, 2002. Parker and Stone recorded commentary tracks for each episode, but they were not included with the DVDs due to "standards" issues with some of the statements; Parker and Stone refused to allow the tracks to be edited and censored, so they were released in a CD completely separately from the DVDs.
and the cult of celebrity in American culture. Parker said the writers sought to satirize the speed and ease at which the followers of Jesus lose faith in him and bet against him. Religious writer Michel Clasquin said the abandonment of Jesus demonstrates, "Like many people in the real world, the faith of the town's people cannot withstand the hard times." Parker said, "Everybody puts their trust in Satan and ends up getting screwed. There is a bigger message -- all in all, a pretty wholesome message. That's why South Park works. Sometimes we have a message."
Parker also said he and Stone purposely wrote the episode to present Jesus as the hero from a "humanist
approach"; Clasquin said this is demonstrated by the fact that Jesus becomes caught up in people's expectations for the fight and becomes offended when people bet against him: "This satirical gesture beautifully draws attention to the sheer humanity of Jesus. He really is a man, just as we are men and women. He is open to fear and uncertainty." Several writers said the episode also lampooned the way Americans can turn anything, even a religious situation, into a commercially hyped event. Matt Zoller Seitz of Star-Ledger
said: "They aren't making fun of organized religion (though they have in the past). They're making fun of those who would turn religion into entertainment and entertainment into a kind of religion." Seitz said the episode mocks "morality cops who misbehave in private" like Priest Maxi, who secretly bets the parish against Jesus even as he admonished congregation members for siding with Satan.
Religious writer Michel Clasquin said the episode also demonstrates the ease with which people blend their religious convictions with lessons from pop culture, particularly with Stan's confusion of a Star Trek
quote with a lesson from Jesus Christ. Additionally, Clasquin said the fact that even Priest Maxi recognizes Jesus as "that guy from the public access show" demonstrates that even the supposedly most religious people are not always the most open to genuine religious experiences. Clasquin also said elements of the Crucifixion of Jesus
are alluded to in the boxing match with Satan.
In addition to the religious themes, the cruel way in which Damien is treated by the other children is a satire on the tendency of schoolchildren to relentlessly pick on new students. Stone said of this aspect of the episode, "The whole basis of South Park was that kids are little shitheads and civilization and society controls them. Instead of what a lot of hippies and Democrats think, which is we're born innocent and pure and society corrupts us. We believe the first way, that society controls you and makes you a better person, ultimately, because when you're little, you're just a little asshole."
character at the ending of the 1988 horror film, Hellbound: Hellraiser II
, when Pinhead emotionally recalls his old life, when he was a good person. The animators went through several sketch drafts for Satan because, in Parker's words, "There's so many ways to go with him and we couldn't figure out the right one for a long time". The large and muscular look of the character stemmed from the fact that the script called for Satan to massively outweigh Jesus, and that look has persisted for the character throughout the rest of the series.
The character of Damien himself was also first featured in this episode; although he appeared as a background character in a handful of future episodes, he seldom has a speaking role and is never again featured as prominently as he was in "Damien". The character was inspired by Damien Thorn
, the child antichrist
character in the 1976 horror film The Omen
. The music which plays in the episode whenever Damien performs magic is also directly inspired by the music from that film; that same demonic chorus would later be reused in the twelfth season
episode "Britney's New Look
". (The lyric "Rectus Dominus" repeatedly sung by the demonic chorus in the episode translates from Latin as "Ass Master".) The scene in which the boys tell Damien his mom is "a real dog" is also a reference to The Omen. In that film, the actual Antichrist's mother was a jackal.
In addition to Michael Buffer, the American boxing promoter Don King is featured prominently in "Damien" as Satan's promoter. Parker said he and Stone decided to spoof King only because "it's just sort of who annoyed us that week. It's so random ... there is no point to who we're ripping on. It's definitely nothing personal." Nancy Kerrigan
, the Olympic
figure skater
attacked on orders of fellow skater Tonya Harding
at the 1994 Winter Olympics
, is referred to in a pep talk Stan gives Jesus. Stan wrongfully claims Kerrigan won the gold medal
until Kyle reminds him she won the silver
; Parker said this was done because he felt the perception of Kerrigan was extremely high among Americans considering she only actually achieved second place. During that same pep talk, Stan tells Jesus, "You know, someone once said, 'Don't try to be a great man, just be a man.'" Although Stan says this was a quote from Jesus himself, it was actually a line from the 1996 film, Star Trek: First Contact
. "Damien" also includes a reference to singer Nancy Sinatra
, the daughter of legendary crooner Frank Sinatra
. Mr. Garrison, while discussing great singers of the baroque
period, goes on to say that "Nancy Sinatra was quite a choice piece of ass".
The Jesus Vs. Satan pay-per-view event "Boutin' at the Mountain" is a parody of similarly advertised pay-to-watch boxing events featured on the premium cable channel HBO. Before Jimbo shoots Kenny in his platypus state, he screams, "It's coming right for us!" This is a reference to the previous South Park episode "Volcano", in which Jimbo takes the children hunting and tells them to shout the phrase before shooting anything to get around restrictive hunting laws. Cartman insults Damien by asking if he got his haircut from Stevie Wonder
, a blind soul and R&B singer. For his birthday, Cartman wants the complete line of a set of action figures called Mega Man. Although named Mega Man
, the multi-colored figures were actually inspired by the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
, the 1993 children's action series which was still popular at the time of the episode's original broadcast. The script was originally written with direct references to the Power Rangers, but Comedy Central asked Parker and Stone to change the name due to copyright issues. Cartman receives Ants in the Pants
, an actual children's tabletop game, as a birthday present. Stone described Ants in the Pants as "the lamest game ever", which is why Cartman responds so negatively to the gift in the episode.
, a record high for the show until it was broken two weeks later by the episode "Mecha-Streisand
" (which received a 6.9 rating, translating to 5.4 viewers in 3.2 million households). It was the highest rated cable program the week it aired, with viewership among 18–49 year olds being higher than the number of households. The network averages viewer ratings of 276,000 households during prime time and, prior to South Park, the channel's highest rating was from the second season premiere of Absolutely Fabulous
, was which was seen by 1.24 million households.
Parker said following the tremendous success of "Mr Hankey, the Christmas Poo", much of the direct feedback he received for "Damien" was negative. Parker described it as the "first sort of backlash" he had experienced with South Park, with fans claiming the show as losing its edge and that Parker and Stone had "sold out". Parker said, "We kept hearing that word so much. We were like, 'What does that mean, sold out? What did we get and what did we do?' We just kept doing what we thought was funny, we didn't go start making commercials or anything. But everybody was saying we sold out." Nevertheless, the episode received generally positive reviews, and has been described as one of South Park "classic episodes".
Rolling Stone
contributor Doug Pratt called it a "high point" of the first season. Kinney Littlefield of The Orange County Register
said of the episode, "All this proves once again that animated series are great platforms for hot topics that live action shows don't dare grab head on. South Park allegory of good and evil is more apt and knowing than anything seen on' Christy
or' Touched by an Angel
. Funnier too." However, Littlefield also said some of the show's graphic dialogue, like the phrase "poop on a stick", was growing "pretty darn redundant". Gary Budzak of The Columbus Dispatch
described the "Damien" episode as perhaps "the most outrageous yet". Virginia Rohan of The Record
praised the episode, saying, "The episode is funny, and ultimately, good does conquer evil, albeit for all the wrong reasons." Chicago Sun-Times
writer Lon Grahnke gave the episode three stars and called it simultaneously strange and funny. Eric Mink of the New York Daily News called the episode "awfully funny" and praised its satirical element, although he warned it was potentially very offensive to some viewers: "A scene in which the kids offer profane between-rounds encouragement to Jesus could make even thick-skinned viewers wince a bit." Likewise, Star-Ledger reporter Matt Zoller Seitz said, "Tonight's episode is crazy, vulgar and borderline blasphemous; it is also, if you're in the right frame of mind, paralyzingly funny."
South Park (season 1)
The first season of the American animated television series South Park initially ran for 13 episodes on the US network Comedy Central, from August 13, 1997 to February 25, 1998. The creators of the series, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, wrote and directed most of the season's episodes, while Dan...
of the animated television series South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
. It originally aired on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
in the United States on February 4, 1998. In the episode, the boys' class is joined by a new student named Damien, who has been sent by his father Satan to find Jesus and arrange a boxing match between the two. The majority of South Park residents bet on Satan to win the match due to his enormous size and muscular physique, but Satan ultimately throws the fight and reveals he bet on Jesus, thus winning everybody's money.
The episode was written by series co-founders Trey Parker
Trey Parker
Trey Parker is an American animator, screenwriter, director, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of the television series South Park along with his creative partner and best friend Matt Stone.Parker started his film career in 1992, making a holiday short...
and Matt Stone
Matt Stone
Matthew Richard "Matt" Stone is an American screenwriter, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of South Park along with creative partner and best friend, Trey Parker....
, along with writer Brian Graden
Brian Graden
-Biography:Graden grew up in Illinois and graduated from Hillsboro High School in 1981. He graduated from Oral Roberts University in 1985 with a degree in business, and later graduated with an MBA from Harvard University....
. It was directed by Parker, and was rated TV-14-LV in the United States for strong to extreme language & bloody violence. The episode serves as a satire on religion, faith and the nature of good and evil, as well as a commentary on commercialism
Commercialism
Commercialism, in its original meaning, is the practices, methods, aims, and spirit of commerce or business. Today, however, it primarily refers to the tendency within open-market capitalism to turn everything into objects, images, and services sold for the purpose of generating profit...
, the cult of celebrity in America and the nature of children. It was originally written as a Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
special, but the original broadcast was pushed forward when Parker and Stone decided instead to make "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" the season's holiday episode.
"Damien" received generally positive reviews and was viewed by 3.2 million households when it was first broadcast, making it the highest rated cable program the week it aired. The episode marked the first appearance of Satan, who would become a recurring South Park character, as well as the character of Damien himself, who was inspired by the antagonist of the 1976 horror film, The Omen
The Omen
An original score for the film, including the movie's theme song Ave Satani, was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, for which he received the only Oscar of his long career. The score features a strong choral segment, with a foreboding Latin chant...
. Parker and Stone also said the episode introduced several key characteristics of the Cartman
Eric Cartman
Eric Theodore Cartman is a fictional character in the American animated television series South Park. One of four main characters, along with Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Kenny McCormick, he is generally referred to within the series by his last name...
character that have endured throughout the rest of the series. Michael Buffer
Michael Buffer
Michael Buffer is an American professional ring announcer for boxing and professional wrestling matches. He is known for his trademarked catchphrase, "Let's get ready to rumble!" He is known for pioneering a distinct announcing style in which he rolls certain letters and adds other inflections to...
, the boxing ring announcer best known for the catchphrase, "Let's get ready to rumble!", makes a guest appearance in "Damien" as himself.
Plot
CartmanEric Cartman
Eric Theodore Cartman is a fictional character in the American animated television series South Park. One of four main characters, along with Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Kenny McCormick, he is generally referred to within the series by his last name...
is excited about his upcoming birthday party and lets everyone invited know what present he expects to receive from each - and when they protest, he threatens to ban them from eating the food his mother makes, something that immediately convinces them. They encounter a new student named Damien, son of Satan, from the seventh circle of Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
. The other boys mock the "new kid" and, in response, Damien turns Kenny
Kenny McCormick
Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is one of the four central characters along with his friends Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Eric Cartman. His oft-muffled and indiscernible speech—the result of his parka hood covering his...
into a duck-billed platypus
Platypus
The platypus is a semi-aquatic mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young...
. Damien informs Jesus that Satan will rise for a final battle with him of good versus evil. South Park residents immediately begin making bets on the fight, which will be shown on pay per view for $49.95. Cartman is angered to learn the event is scheduled for the same time as his party, and the children struggle to choose between the two events.
The entire town bets on Jesus to win the fight, but begin to lose faith when Satan appears for the weigh-in. He is huge and weighs a little over 320 pounds (145.1 kg), while Jesus weighs a mere 135 pounds (61.2 kg), and the citizens of South Park begin changing their bets. Jesus confronts the South Park residents about their changed betting slips after learning only one person is still betting on Jesus to win. Distraught, Jesus asks Stan
Stan Marsh
Stanley Randall "Stan" Marsh is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by and loosely based on series co-creator Trey Parker. Stan is one of the show's four central characters, along with his friends Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman...
, Kyle
Kyle Broflovski
Kyle Broflovski is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by co-creator Matt Stone. Kyle is one of the show's four central characters, along with his friends Stan Marsh, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman...
and Chef
Chef (South Park)
Jerome "Chef" McElroy is a fictional character on the Comedy Central series South Park. He was voiced by Isaac Hayes. A cafeteria worker at the local elementary school in the town of South Park, Colorado, Chef was generally portrayed as more level-headed than the other adult residents of the town...
to help him train. Damien gets counseling from Mr. Mackey, who recommends he just try being nice no matter what the other children do, like to the unpopular British child Pip. Damien tries to apologise to the boys for setting fire to the playground and turning Kenny into a duck-billed platypus, stating that he was "doing his father's bidding" and he did not have a choice. The boys however, still continue to act negatively towards Damien. Cartman's birthday party begins, as does the fight. Damien and Pip arrive uninvited to the party, but the children finally accept Damien after he hurls Pip in the air and makes him explode in a shower of fireworks. However, Cartman ends his party early and kicks everyone out after opening Kyle's present to discover that Kyle didn't buy him the present he was asked to get.
Meanwhile, Jesus is disheartened by the town's lack of faith in him, and he does not retaliate to Satan's attacks against him, despite Satan's apparent taunting of "hit me!" Chef and the children make it for the end of the fight and offer Jesus some words of encouragement. Inspired, Jesus finally throws a single weak punch. However, Satan then takes a dive and goes down for the count. Afterward, Satan reveals that his plan had, in fact, been to bet on Jesus and then throw the fight, winning him a lot of money and real estate from the South Park residents. The townspeople are angered by this, until Stan reminds them that Jesus told them not to bet on him. The whole town then asks forgiveness of Jesus, who accepts the apology. Kenny dies when Jimbo identifies him as a rare duck-billed platypus and shoots him. Damien bids goodbye to Stan and Kyle since his dad "is always on the move" he has to leave. Stan and Kyle feel sympathy for Damien and state that "parents can be so cruel." Meanwhile, Cartman has continued his party even after kicking everyone out and eaten all the food himself.
Production
Trey Parker
Trey Parker is an American animator, screenwriter, director, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of the television series South Park along with his creative partner and best friend Matt Stone.Parker started his film career in 1992, making a holiday short...
and Matt Stone
Matt Stone
Matthew Richard "Matt" Stone is an American screenwriter, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of South Park along with creative partner and best friend, Trey Parker....
, along with writer Brian Graden
Brian Graden
-Biography:Graden grew up in Illinois and graduated from Hillsboro High School in 1981. He graduated from Oral Roberts University in 1985 with a degree in business, and later graduated with an MBA from Harvard University....
. It was directed by Parker and Stone. "Damien" first aired on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
in the United States on February 4, 1998. It was highly anticipated in part because it was the first new episode of South Park in about two months, since the extremely popular Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
special "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" aired on December 17, 1997. Before "Damien" even ran, Mike Duffy of Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press
The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is entitled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...
said the episode was "certain to become one of the show's signature moments". In fact, Parker and Stone originally intended for "Damien" to be the season's Christmas episode. Although they had long planned to feature Mr. Hankey in the show, they did not decide to make him a Christmas character until halfway through the filming of "Damien", during which time they decided to make "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" the holiday episode instead. Nevertheless, they decided to finish production of "Damien" first, even though it would not air until after the "Mr. Hankey" episode.
Parker said he and Stone did not intend for "Damien" to be offensive to Christians
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
or any other religion: "In South Park, Jesus is a great guy, he's on our show, and in this episode he's the hero. We're not in the business of offending people. We're in the business of making people laugh." The mean way Damien is treated by his fellow students when he joins the school, as well as Damien's reactions to the treatment, were inspired by Parker's experience of the second grade, when he started at a Cheyenne
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming and the county seat of Laramie County. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne, Wyoming, Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Laramie County. The population is 59,466 at the 2010 census. Cheyenne is the...
, Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
elementary school in the last three weeks of the school year. Parker said, "It was brutal ... Everybody already had their little groups and the year was almost over, so I wasn't going to fit into any of them, and I just wanted to destroy and kill, which was the inspiration for this show."
Michael Buffer
Michael Buffer
Michael Buffer is an American professional ring announcer for boxing and professional wrestling matches. He is known for his trademarked catchphrase, "Let's get ready to rumble!" He is known for pioneering a distinct announcing style in which he rolls certain letters and adds other inflections to...
, the boxing ring announcer best known for his catchphrase, "Let's get ready to rumble!", made a guest appearance as himself in "Damien". Parker and Stone originally planned to use the catchphrase without Buffer, but when they learned that Buffer had legally trademarked the phrase, they included him in the episode since getting the rights for the catchphrase cost nearly as much as hiring Buffer for a guest appearance. Parker and Stone both said Buffer was friendly and they enjoyed working with him. Voice actor Mike Judge
Mike Judge
Michael Craig Judge is an American animator, film director, writer and voice actor, best known as the creator and star of the animated television series Beavis and Butt-head , King of the Hill , and The Goode Family .He also wrote, directed and in some instances produced the films Beavis and...
, star of Beavis and Butt-head
Beavis and Butt-Head
Beavis and Butt-head is an American animated television series created by Mike Judge. The series originated from Frog Baseball, a 1992 short film by Judge. After seeing the short, MTV signed Judge to develop the concept. Beavis and Butt-head originally aired from March 8, 1993 to November 28, 1997...
and King of the Hill
King of the Hill
King of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...
, had originally been slated to provide the voice of the Damien character, and even recorded several lines for the part. However, since Judge lives in Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, it proved too difficult to for him to come back and rerecord lines as the script and episode changed, so Stone instead provided the character's voice.
By the time "Damien" was animated, much of the drawing and animation responsibilities that had previously been handled by Parker and Stone were now being delegated to a team of animators. The duo were particularly proud of the animation during the boxing match between Jesus and Satan, which used elements of perspective and three-dimension seldom used in the series before; Parker said it was "definitely the most action (oriented) stuff we'd done (so far)". While animating Jesus, Parker and Stone deliberately left glitches in the animation that made it appear skin was showing beneath the beard on the left-hand side of the character's face. Parker said this was done because it was the way Jesus appeared in the crudely animated The Spirit of Christmas
The Spirit of Christmas (short film)
The Spirit of Christmas is the name of two different animated short films made by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. They are notable for being precursors to the animated series South Park. To differentiate the two, they are often referred to as Jesus vs. Frosty and Jesus vs. Santa .- Jesus vs. Frosty...
, a 1995 animated short film by Parker and Stone that served as a precursor to South Park, and they wanted to maintain that nuance for the character.
Parker and Stone said a number of Cartman's characteristics which have endured throughout the South Park series started in "Damien". Specifically, his voice took on a higher-pitch that was more nasally and whiney than in previous episodes; Stone described it as a "self-indulgent accent". Some of his regular vocal mannerisms were also developed in the episode, including his use of the sound "Nyah" while saying the word "Here", and the way he says "Hey you guuuuuuys" while talking to his friends. Parker, who provides the voice of Cartman, said the characteristics came about naturally while filming the episode: "This show for some reason, for whatever reason, maybe I just lost interest, but I was trying all these messed up things with him and all these things sort of stuck."
"Damien" included the first appearance of Satan, who would become a commonly recurring character throughout the series. Although Satan displays an evil and unscrupulous personality in "Damien", he is portrayed in later episodes as a thoughtful, sensitive and often deeply conflicted character. "Damien" was the first episode Parker and Stone wrote that included school counselor Mr. Mackey and local religious leader Priest Maxi, but they were also included in "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", which aired before "Damien" even though it was produced afterward. Although Jesus had been introduced as a South Park character in previous episodes, "Damien" marked the first time he interacted with the main characters outside of his public access talk show, Jesus and Pals. Parker said many viewers thought the character was a crazy person who falsely believed he was Jesus, and he and Stone wanted to show in this episode that he was supposed to be the actual Jesus. "Damien" is also the first episode to feature South Park's bar, which is simply called "Bar".
Prior to the broadcast, Parker and Stone said "Damien" would be the first episode in which Kenny would not be killed; ultimately, however, Kenny was shot by Jimbo at the end of the pay-per-view fight. Kenny is turned into a duck-billed platypus in the episode, which Parker said was done because, "Duck billed platypuses are something I've always been infatuated with. They're just so bizarre." In the original script, Pip, the unpopular British student inspired by the character of the same name in Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
's Great Expectations
Great Expectations
Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens. It was first published in serial form in the publication All the Year Round from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It has been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times....
, was originally supposed to be killed and permanently removed from the show after "Damien", in which Damien projects Pip into the air and blows him up in a shower of fireworks. However, Parker and Stone decided they should not kill any student characters except for Kenny, so they decided not to kill Pip and to bring him back for future episodes.
"Damien" was later released, along with eleven other episodes, in a three-DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
set in November 1998. It was included in the second volume, which also included the episodes "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig
An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig
"An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig" is the fifth episode of the first season of the animated television series South Park. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on September 10, 1997. In the episode, the boys of South Park try to force Kyle's pet elephant Biff to crossbreed with...
", "Death" and "Pinkeye". The episode, along with the other twelve from the first season, was also included in the DVD release "South Park: The Complete First Season", which was released on November 12, 2002. Parker and Stone recorded commentary tracks for each episode, but they were not included with the DVDs due to "standards" issues with some of the statements; Parker and Stone refused to allow the tracks to be edited and censored, so they were released in a CD completely separately from the DVDs.
Themes
Journalists have described "Damien" as a satire on religion, faith and the nature of good and evil, as well as a commentary on commercialismCommercialism
Commercialism, in its original meaning, is the practices, methods, aims, and spirit of commerce or business. Today, however, it primarily refers to the tendency within open-market capitalism to turn everything into objects, images, and services sold for the purpose of generating profit...
and the cult of celebrity in American culture. Parker said the writers sought to satirize the speed and ease at which the followers of Jesus lose faith in him and bet against him. Religious writer Michel Clasquin said the abandonment of Jesus demonstrates, "Like many people in the real world, the faith of the town's people cannot withstand the hard times." Parker said, "Everybody puts their trust in Satan and ends up getting screwed. There is a bigger message -- all in all, a pretty wholesome message. That's why South Park works. Sometimes we have a message."
Parker also said he and Stone purposely wrote the episode to present Jesus as the hero from a "humanist
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
approach"; Clasquin said this is demonstrated by the fact that Jesus becomes caught up in people's expectations for the fight and becomes offended when people bet against him: "This satirical gesture beautifully draws attention to the sheer humanity of Jesus. He really is a man, just as we are men and women. He is open to fear and uncertainty." Several writers said the episode also lampooned the way Americans can turn anything, even a religious situation, into a commercially hyped event. Matt Zoller Seitz of Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
said: "They aren't making fun of organized religion (though they have in the past). They're making fun of those who would turn religion into entertainment and entertainment into a kind of religion." Seitz said the episode mocks "morality cops who misbehave in private" like Priest Maxi, who secretly bets the parish against Jesus even as he admonished congregation members for siding with Satan.
Religious writer Michel Clasquin said the episode also demonstrates the ease with which people blend their religious convictions with lessons from pop culture, particularly with Stan's confusion of a Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
quote with a lesson from Jesus Christ. Additionally, Clasquin said the fact that even Priest Maxi recognizes Jesus as "that guy from the public access show" demonstrates that even the supposedly most religious people are not always the most open to genuine religious experiences. Clasquin also said elements of the Crucifixion of Jesus
Crucifixion of Jesus
The crucifixion of Jesus and his ensuing death is an event that occurred during the 1st century AD. Jesus, who Christians believe is the Son of God as well as the Messiah, was arrested, tried, and sentenced by Pontius Pilate to be scourged, and finally executed on a cross...
are alluded to in the boxing match with Satan.
In addition to the religious themes, the cruel way in which Damien is treated by the other children is a satire on the tendency of schoolchildren to relentlessly pick on new students. Stone said of this aspect of the episode, "The whole basis of South Park was that kids are little shitheads and civilization and society controls them. Instead of what a lot of hippies and Democrats think, which is we're born innocent and pure and society corrupts us. We believe the first way, that society controls you and makes you a better person, ultimately, because when you're little, you're just a little asshole."
Cultural references
The voice for Satan, provided by Parker, was inspired by the voice of the PinheadPinhead (Hellraiser)
Pinhead is a fictional character from the Hellraiser series. Created by Clive Barker and portrayed by Doug Bradley, Pinhead is a prominent figure in the series, mostly featured as the main antagonist....
character at the ending of the 1988 horror film, Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Hellbound: Hellraiser II is a 1988 horror film directed by Tony Randel. It draws heavily upon, and was made by much of the same cast and crew as its precursor, Hellraiser.-Summary:...
, when Pinhead emotionally recalls his old life, when he was a good person. The animators went through several sketch drafts for Satan because, in Parker's words, "There's so many ways to go with him and we couldn't figure out the right one for a long time". The large and muscular look of the character stemmed from the fact that the script called for Satan to massively outweigh Jesus, and that look has persisted for the character throughout the rest of the series.
The character of Damien himself was also first featured in this episode; although he appeared as a background character in a handful of future episodes, he seldom has a speaking role and is never again featured as prominently as he was in "Damien". The character was inspired by Damien Thorn
Damien Thorn
Damien Thorn is the main fictional character and the main antagonist in The Omen series. He is the Antichrist and the son of the Devil. The character has been portrayed by Harvey Stephens, Jonathan Scott-Taylor, Sam Neill, and Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick...
, the child antichrist
Antichrist
The term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, refers to a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner...
character in the 1976 horror film The Omen
The Omen
An original score for the film, including the movie's theme song Ave Satani, was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, for which he received the only Oscar of his long career. The score features a strong choral segment, with a foreboding Latin chant...
. The music which plays in the episode whenever Damien performs magic is also directly inspired by the music from that film; that same demonic chorus would later be reused in the twelfth season
South Park (season 12)
Season twelve of South Park, an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, began airing on March 12, 2008. The twelfth season concluded after 14 episodes on November 19, 2008...
episode "Britney's New Look
Britney's New Look
"Britney's New Look" is the second episode of the twelfth season of the animated series South Park, and the 169th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on March 19, 2008...
". (The lyric "Rectus Dominus" repeatedly sung by the demonic chorus in the episode translates from Latin as "Ass Master".) The scene in which the boys tell Damien his mom is "a real dog" is also a reference to The Omen. In that film, the actual Antichrist's mother was a jackal.
Nancy Kerrigan
Nancy Ann Kerrigan is a two-time American Olympic figure skating medalist and 1993 U.S. champion.-Early life and skating career:...
, the Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
figure skater
Figure skating
Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...
attacked on orders of fellow skater Tonya Harding
Tonya Harding
Tonya Maxine Harding is an American figure skating champion. In 1991 she won the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and placed second in the World Championships. She was the second woman, and the first American woman, to complete a triple axel jump in competition...
at the 1994 Winter Olympics
1994 Winter Olympics
The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Lillehammer failed to win the bid for the 1992 event. Lillehammer was awarded the games in 1988, after having beat...
, is referred to in a pep talk Stan gives Jesus. Stan wrongfully claims Kerrigan won the gold medal
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...
until Kyle reminds him she won the silver
Silver medal
A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....
; Parker said this was done because he felt the perception of Kerrigan was extremely high among Americans considering she only actually achieved second place. During that same pep talk, Stan tells Jesus, "You know, someone once said, 'Don't try to be a great man, just be a man.'" Although Stan says this was a quote from Jesus himself, it was actually a line from the 1996 film, Star Trek: First Contact
Star Trek: First Contact
Star Trek: First Contact is the eighth feature film in the Star Trek science fiction franchise, released in November 1996, by Paramount Pictures. First Contact is the first film in the franchise to feature no cast members from the original Star Trek television series of the 1960s...
. "Damien" also includes a reference to singer Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sinatra
Nancy Sandra Sinatra is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra, and remains best known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"....
, the daughter of legendary crooner Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
. Mr. Garrison, while discussing great singers of the baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
period, goes on to say that "Nancy Sinatra was quite a choice piece of ass".
The Jesus Vs. Satan pay-per-view event "Boutin' at the Mountain" is a parody of similarly advertised pay-to-watch boxing events featured on the premium cable channel HBO. Before Jimbo shoots Kenny in his platypus state, he screams, "It's coming right for us!" This is a reference to the previous South Park episode "Volcano", in which Jimbo takes the children hunting and tells them to shout the phrase before shooting anything to get around restrictive hunting laws. Cartman insults Damien by asking if he got his haircut from Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
, a blind soul and R&B singer. For his birthday, Cartman wants the complete line of a set of action figures called Mega Man. Although named Mega Man
Mega Man
Mega Man is a video game franchise from Capcom, starring the eponymous character Mega Man, or one of his many counterparts. The series is well-known and comprises well over fifty releases, easily making it Capcom's most prolific franchise. As of December 31, 2010, the series has sold approximately...
, the multi-colored figures were actually inspired by the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is an American live-action children's television series based on the 16th installment of the Japanese Super Sentai franchise, Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger. Both the show and its related merchandise saw unbridled overnight success, catapulting into pop culture in mere months...
, the 1993 children's action series which was still popular at the time of the episode's original broadcast. The script was originally written with direct references to the Power Rangers, but Comedy Central asked Parker and Stone to change the name due to copyright issues. Cartman receives Ants in the Pants
Ants in the Pants
Ants in the Pants is a children's tabletop game. The object of the game is to spring as many of your 'ants' as possible into the 'pants'. The game shares similarities with Tiddlywinks....
, an actual children's tabletop game, as a birthday present. Stone described Ants in the Pants as "the lamest game ever", which is why Cartman responds so negatively to the gift in the episode.
Reception
"Damien" received a 6.4 Nielsen ratingNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
, a record high for the show until it was broken two weeks later by the episode "Mecha-Streisand
Mecha-Streisand
"Mecha-Streisand" is the 12th episode of the first season of the animated television series South Park. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on February 18, 1998. In the episode, Barbra Streisand obtains the Diamond of Panthios from the South Park boys and transforms into a...
" (which received a 6.9 rating, translating to 5.4 viewers in 3.2 million households). It was the highest rated cable program the week it aired, with viewership among 18–49 year olds being higher than the number of households. The network averages viewer ratings of 276,000 households during prime time and, prior to South Park, the channel's highest rating was from the second season premiere of Absolutely Fabulous
Absolutely Fabulous
Absolutely Fabulous, also known as Ab Fab, is a British sitcom created by Jennifer Saunders, based on an original idea by her and Dawn French, and written by Saunders, who plays the leading character. It also stars Joanna Lumley and Julia Sawalha, along with June Whitfield and Jane Horrocks...
, was which was seen by 1.24 million households.
Parker said following the tremendous success of "Mr Hankey, the Christmas Poo", much of the direct feedback he received for "Damien" was negative. Parker described it as the "first sort of backlash" he had experienced with South Park, with fans claiming the show as losing its edge and that Parker and Stone had "sold out". Parker said, "We kept hearing that word so much. We were like, 'What does that mean, sold out? What did we get and what did we do?' We just kept doing what we thought was funny, we didn't go start making commercials or anything. But everybody was saying we sold out." Nevertheless, the episode received generally positive reviews, and has been described as one of South Park "classic episodes".
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
contributor Doug Pratt called it a "high point" of the first season. Kinney Littlefield of The Orange County Register
The Orange County Register
The Orange County Register is a daily newspaper published in Santa Ana, California. The Register is the flagship publication of Freedom Communications, Inc., which publishes 28 daily newspapers, 23 weekly newspapers, Coast magazine, and several related Internet sites.The Register is notable for its...
said of the episode, "All this proves once again that animated series are great platforms for hot topics that live action shows don't dare grab head on. South Park allegory of good and evil is more apt and knowing than anything seen on
Christy (TV series)
Christy is an American drama series which aired on CBS from April 1994 to August 1995, for twenty episodes.Christy was based on the novel Christy by Catherine Marshall, the widow of Senate chaplain Peter Marshall...
or
Touched by an Angel
Touched by an Angel is an American drama series that premiered on CBS on September 21, 1994 and ran for 211 episodes and nine seasons until its conclusion on April 27, 2003. Created by John Masius and produced by Martha Williamson, the series stars Roma Downey, as an angel named Monica, and Della...
. Funnier too." However, Littlefield also said some of the show's graphic dialogue, like the phrase "poop on a stick", was growing "pretty darn redundant". Gary Budzak of The Columbus Dispatch
The Columbus Dispatch
The Columbus Dispatch is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since The Columbus Citizen-Journal stopped printing in 1985....
described the "Damien" episode as perhaps "the most outrageous yet". Virginia Rohan of The Record
The Record (Bergen County)
The Record is a newspaper in northern New Jersey. It has the second largest circulation of New Jersey's daily newspapers, behind The Star-Ledger. Owned by the Borg family since 1930, it is the flagship publication of the North Jersey Media Group. Stephen Borg is the publisher of The Record...
praised the episode, saying, "The episode is funny, and ultimately, good does conquer evil, albeit for all the wrong reasons." Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
writer Lon Grahnke gave the episode three stars and called it simultaneously strange and funny. Eric Mink of the New York Daily News called the episode "awfully funny" and praised its satirical element, although he warned it was potentially very offensive to some viewers: "A scene in which the kids offer profane between-rounds encouragement to Jesus could make even thick-skinned viewers wince a bit." Likewise, Star-Ledger reporter Matt Zoller Seitz said, "Tonight's episode is crazy, vulgar and borderline blasphemous; it is also, if you're in the right frame of mind, paralyzingly funny."