Tsst
Encyclopedia
"Tsst" is the seventh episode of the tenth season of Comedy Central
's animated comedy
television series South Park
, it aired on May 3, 2006 and is the mid season final of season ten.
The episode focuses primarily on Eric Cartman
, his mother, and "The Dog Whisperer
" Cesar Millan
. The episode is rated TV-MA, and was written and directed by Trey Parker
.
In this episode, Liane cannot control her son anymore, and decides to use the help of dozens of reality TV shows to show that Cartman's behavior can be controlled.
is in Mr. Mackey's office with his mother, Liane, where he is forced to explain why he told Billy Turner that he poison
ed his milk, handcuffed
him to a flagpole and gave him a hacksaw
, telling him that he had to saw off his foot to get the antidote. When Liane realizes she cannot control her son anymore, she attempts to get help from an expert. At first, she tries to enlist the aid of the nanny from the reality TV program Nanny 911
after Mr. Mackey recommended it to her, but to no avail; Cartman rebels against Nanny Stella
before playing mind games with her by speculating about why she is a nanny but with no children of her own. Her second attempt is with Jo Frost
from Supernanny
, who ends up in an psychiatric hospital
three days later eating her own feces
and repeating the phrase "It's from hell
!" Liane ultimately recruits Cesar Millan
, the "Dog Whisperer", from the show of the same name
.
Millan evaluates Cartman as dominant, aggressive
, and obese. He teaches Liane to show Cartman she is the "pack leader", while treating Cartman as one would train a dog. Millan teaches Liane that dogs nip each other in the neck to show dominance, and it also works well with children. He, and later Liane, uses two fingers to nip at Cartman's neck to show that they are dominant whenever he shows aggressive or undesirable behavior, and otherwise totally ignores him unless he acts in a submissive fashion. This, at first, angers and annoys Cartman and makes him run away from home. Cartman tries to seek help from his classmates, but none of them are sympathetic to his problem. He ends up living on the street for four hours before he decides to return home. In Cartman's absence, Liane has taken up her favorite hobby of Japanese sumi-e
paintings. When he returns, Liane continues disciplining Cartman in the way Millan teaches her. Cartman is given a completely healthy dinner and he threatens to call Social Services. After being "nipped" several times by his mother he reaches a relaxed
and submissive state in which he behaves much like a dog. Cartman brushes his teeth when his mother commands him to, seemingly against his own will. He's in shock, asking "What's happening to me?"
However, he denounces the regular dinner as "just like Auschwitz", and attempts to persuade his friends to help him kill Liane, comparing her dominance to Hitler
and claiming that, having lost almost 10 pounds, he now knows how the Jews
felt during the Holocaust
. When his friends refuse to help him murder his mother
, he decides to carry out his plan himself, despite his recognition that he will be the most likely suspect. Cartman sneaks into Liane's bedroom, but upon trying to kill her with a knife, he has a struggle in his mind between his newly-good and his normal, "demonic" sides. Finally, he vomits up black bile, drops the knife, and goes through a bizarre static-like inner conflict sequence in the hallway, where he transforms shape as well, bulging and changing color, similar to the ending of the movie Altered States
.
In the morning, Liane finds the knife, but also sees that Cartman is already awake, dressed, and ready for school. He has even made his own healthy breakfast and is studying before school starts, which astounds her. At the same time, Millan comes to have a final check. Liane thanks him for converting her son into a good child and being her new friend, and tells him she has tickets for the two of them to see Madame Butterfly together. Cesar informs Liane that he only sees her as a client, and now that his work is done, he must leave. Losing her only friend, a desperate Liane promises to take Cartman to KFC
and get him a Mega Ranger from Target
, as long as he spends time with her. Cartman asks if he could have two Mega Rangers and Liane agrees, going so far as to tell him "you can have whatever you want". In the final scene they hug, but Cartman smiles triumphantly and malevolently into the camera, while a choir of terror sings.
rated this episode an 8 for impressive and said "While not among the terrific episodes that began the season, this was a very fun installment of the show, and a nice spotlight on Cartman and what it might take to finally make him obey."
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
's animated comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
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 aired on May 3, 2006 and is the mid season final of season ten.
The episode focuses primarily on Eric 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...
, his mother, and "The Dog Whisperer
Dog Whisperer
Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan is a reality television series that features Cesar Millan's work with problem dogs. In the United States, the program airs exclusively on the Nat Geo WILD channel with season 8 expected to premiere in 2012....
" Cesar Millan
Cesar Millan
Cesar Millan, is a Mexican-born American dog trainer. A self-taught expert, he is widely known for his television series The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan, now in its seventh season and broadcast in more than eighty countries worldwide...
. The episode is rated TV-MA, and was written and directed by 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...
.
In this episode, Liane cannot control her son anymore, and decides to use the help of dozens of reality TV shows to show that Cartman's behavior can be controlled.
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 in Mr. Mackey's office with his mother, Liane, where he is forced to explain why he told Billy Turner that he poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
ed his milk, handcuffed
Handcuffs
Handcuffs are restraint devices designed to secure an individual's wrists close together. They comprise two parts, linked together by a chain, a hinge, or rigid bar. Each half has a rotating arm which engages with a ratchet that prevents it from being opened once closed around a person's wrist...
him to a flagpole and gave him a hacksaw
Hacksaw
A hacksaw is a fine-tooth saw with a blade under tension in a frame, used for cutting materials such as metal or plastics. Hand-held hacksaws consist of a metal arch with a handle, usually a pistol grip, with pins for attaching a narrow disposable blade. A screw or other mechanism is used to put...
, telling him that he had to saw off his foot to get the antidote. When Liane realizes she cannot control her son anymore, she attempts to get help from an expert. At first, she tries to enlist the aid of the nanny from the reality TV program Nanny 911
Nanny 911
Nanny 911 is a reality television show in the United States, which originally aired on FOX ....
after Mr. Mackey recommended it to her, but to no avail; Cartman rebels against Nanny Stella
Stella Reid
Stella Reid is a British nanny, best known as the co-star of the Fox network reality television show Nanny 911, on which she shares her child-rearing expertise with desperate parents.-Early life:...
before playing mind games with her by speculating about why she is a nanny but with no children of her own. Her second attempt is with Jo Frost
Jo Frost
Joanne "Jo" Frost is a British nanny and television personality. She was the central figure of the reality television program Supernanny...
from Supernanny
Supernanny
Supernanny is a reality TV programme which originated in the United Kingdom about parents struggling with their children's behaviour. The UK version has aired on Channel 4 with E4 showing repeats since 2004. The program returned in 2010...
, who ends up in an psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
three days later eating her own feces
Coprophagia
Coprophagia or coprophagy is the consumption of feces, from the Greek κόπρος copros and φαγεῖν phagein . Many animal species practice coprophagia as a matter of course; other species do not normally consume feces but may do so under unusual conditions...
and repeating the phrase "It's from 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...
!" Liane ultimately recruits Cesar Millan
Cesar Millan
Cesar Millan, is a Mexican-born American dog trainer. A self-taught expert, he is widely known for his television series The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan, now in its seventh season and broadcast in more than eighty countries worldwide...
, the "Dog Whisperer", from the show of the same name
Dog Whisperer
Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan is a reality television series that features Cesar Millan's work with problem dogs. In the United States, the program airs exclusively on the Nat Geo WILD channel with season 8 expected to premiere in 2012....
.
Millan evaluates Cartman as dominant, aggressive
Aggressive
“Aggressive” is a New York-based Grammy award-winning music video and commercial directing team of Alex Topaller and Daniel Shapiro.Aggressive has been described by Movie Creation Mag as “having a fascination with the wonderful, in the likes of the surrealist Rafal Olbinski” and “tenacious about...
, and obese. He teaches Liane to show Cartman she is the "pack leader", while treating Cartman as one would train a dog. Millan teaches Liane that dogs nip each other in the neck to show dominance, and it also works well with children. He, and later Liane, uses two fingers to nip at Cartman's neck to show that they are dominant whenever he shows aggressive or undesirable behavior, and otherwise totally ignores him unless he acts in a submissive fashion. This, at first, angers and annoys Cartman and makes him run away from home. Cartman tries to seek help from his classmates, but none of them are sympathetic to his problem. He ends up living on the street for four hours before he decides to return home. In Cartman's absence, Liane has taken up her favorite hobby of Japanese sumi-e
Ink and wash painting
Ink and wash painting is an East Asian type of brush painting also known as ink wash painting. Only black ink — the same as used in East Asian calligraphy — is used, in various concentrations....
paintings. When he returns, Liane continues disciplining Cartman in the way Millan teaches her. Cartman is given a completely healthy dinner and he threatens to call Social Services. After being "nipped" several times by his mother he reaches a relaxed
Relaxation (psychology)
In psychology, relaxation is the emotional state of low tension, in which there is an absence of arousal that could come from sources such as anger, anxiety, or fear. Relaxation is a form of mild ecstasy coming from the frontal lobe of the brain in which the backward cortex sends signals, or...
and submissive state in which he behaves much like a dog. Cartman brushes his teeth when his mother commands him to, seemingly against his own will. He's in shock, asking "What's happening to me?"
However, he denounces the regular dinner as "just like Auschwitz", and attempts to persuade his friends to help him kill Liane, comparing her dominance to Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and claiming that, having lost almost 10 pounds, he now knows how the Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
felt during the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
. When his friends refuse to help him murder his mother
Matricide
Matricide is the act of killing one's mother. As for any type of killing, motives can vary significantly.- Known or suspected matricides :* Amastris, queen of Heraclea, was drowned by her two sons in 284 BC....
, he decides to carry out his plan himself, despite his recognition that he will be the most likely suspect. Cartman sneaks into Liane's bedroom, but upon trying to kill her with a knife, he has a struggle in his mind between his newly-good and his normal, "demonic" sides. Finally, he vomits up black bile, drops the knife, and goes through a bizarre static-like inner conflict sequence in the hallway, where he transforms shape as well, bulging and changing color, similar to the ending of the movie Altered States
Altered States
Altered States is a 1980 American science fiction-horror film adaptation of a novel by the same name by playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky. It was the only novel that Chayefsky ever wrote, as well as his final film. Both the novel and the film are based on John C...
.
In the morning, Liane finds the knife, but also sees that Cartman is already awake, dressed, and ready for school. He has even made his own healthy breakfast and is studying before school starts, which astounds her. At the same time, Millan comes to have a final check. Liane thanks him for converting her son into a good child and being her new friend, and tells him she has tickets for the two of them to see Madame Butterfly together. Cesar informs Liane that he only sees her as a client, and now that his work is done, he must leave. Losing her only friend, a desperate Liane promises to take Cartman to KFC
KFC
KFC, founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States. KFC has been a brand and operating segment, termed a concept of Yum! Brands since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo as Tricon Global...
and get him a Mega Ranger from Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
, as long as he spends time with her. Cartman asks if he could have two Mega Rangers and Liane agrees, going so far as to tell him "you can have whatever you want". In the final scene they hug, but Cartman smiles triumphantly and malevolently into the camera, while a choir of terror sings.
Cultural references
- After Cartman is leaving his mother's room, he stumbles around the hallway and appears to take on different physical appearances. The transformations closely resemble the final scene in Ken RussellKen RussellHenry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. He attracted criticism as being obsessed with sexuality and the church...
's feature film Altered StatesAltered StatesAltered States is a 1980 American science fiction-horror film adaptation of a novel by the same name by playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky. It was the only novel that Chayefsky ever wrote, as well as his final film. Both the novel and the film are based on John C...
. The scene involves Dr. Jessup (William HurtWilliam HurtWilliam McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...
) fighting off an "altered state" of physical being. During this struggle, he repeatedly throws himself back and forth between the walls of a hallway while his physical shape changes. Both Cartman and Dr. Jessup appear to have complexions that sporadically change to something that resembles the static from a TV without a signal.
Reception
IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
rated this episode an 8 for impressive and said "While not among the terrific episodes that began the season, this was a very fun installment of the show, and a nice spotlight on Cartman and what it might take to finally make him obey."