Die Hippie, Die

"Die Hippie, Die"
South Park episode
Cartman in jail for imprisoning hippies.
Episode no.	Season 9 Episode 2
Directed by	Trey Parker
Written by	Trey Parker
Original air date	March 16, 2005
Episode chronology
← Previous "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina" Next → "Wing"
List of season 9 episodes List of South Park episodes

"Die Hippie, Die" is the second episode of the ninth season of the American animated television series South Park. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on March 16, 2005.

Plot

Cartman runs a 'pest control' service to rid the town of hippies, people he feared and hated for most of the series, mainly because "they smoke pot, wear crap and smell bad." Having studied hippies in his quest to eradicate them, Cartman deduces the hippies are about to start a music festival in South Park. His attempts to warn the town council are futile, and he is arrested soon afterwards for imprisoning 63 hippies in his basement.

The town of South Park is soon invaded by the largest population of hippies in history, and the music festival threatens to destroy the town. They manage to convert Stan, Kyle and Kenny to their cause with talks of corporate evils, and the trio get caught up in the massive hippie crowd where they all listen to jam band music.

Cartman pleads with the mayor to stop the festival, but it turns out that the mayor was the one who permitted the music festival in the first place thinking it would make the town some money. But after seeing the chaos that the eccentric hippies are creating, the mayor is ridden with guilt and shoots herself in the head (she survives and appears later in the strategy room when Cartman is enacting his plan). The band playing on the festival stage resembles Phish, with the same instrumentation as the famous jam band. The guitarist and bassist in the unnamed cartoon band specifically resemble Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon.

Stan's parents know where the kids are, but when they realized what they did in Woodstock (which was very embarrassing), they go to save Stan. Randy tries to get through the crowd, but fails early due to excessive marijuana smoke exposure. The rest of the town then pleads with Cartman to rid the town of the hippies. Cartman eventually agrees to help, but only after Randy promises to offer a Tonka radio-controlled bulldozer and Kyle's mother assures that Kyle will never have one, instead having to watch Cartman playing with the bulldozer.

Meanwhile, Stan, Kyle and Kenny realize that the hippies are doing nothing to oppose the corporations that they have demonized and that their idea of a perfect society is the same as the currently existing one. They try to leave but the crowd is 7 miles in radius and Stan's efforts to talk sense into the hippies only makes matters worse. Cartman, with the help of a scientist (Randy), an engineer (Butters Stotch's mother Linda) and a "black man to sacrifice himself in case anything goes wrong" (Chef), builds a giant drill ("Hippie Digger") to bore through the hippie crowd. While they are boring through, the drill breaks down and Chef goes out and "sacrifices" himself to pull the emergency power switch. Cartman then uploads the Slayer song "Raining Blood" into the speakers (as Cartman reasons, "hippies can't stand death metal"). The plan works and the hippies disperse, saving South Park. Stan sees Randy and they end up hugging each other, knowing that they are safe. Cartman then pulls out a knife and tells Kyle that he has plans for him. Kyle is then forced to watch Cartman having fun with his Tonka bulldozer in the school parking lot.

Slayer's reception

Kerry King, Slayer's lead guitarist, said that he found the episode humorous and expressed his interest in the show, mentioning it in an interview, saying "It was good to see the song being put to good use. If we can horrify some hippies, we've done our job."^[1]

References

1. ^ Atkinson, Peter (2006-04-24). "Songs about God and Satan – Part 1: An Interview with Slayer's Kerry King". KNAC.com. http://www.knac.com/article.asp?ArticleID=4550. Retrieved 2007-02-09. 

External links

• Die Hippie, Die Full episode at South Park Studios
• Die Hippie, Die Episode guide at South Park Studios