In "201", a superhero-like group of religious figures (The Super Best Friends) team up to save South Park from the celebrities and their monster Mecha-Streisand, while Eric Cartman learns the true identity of his father.

Prior to the broadcast of "201", the Islamist organization Revolution Muslim posted a warning on their website that Parker and Stone risked being murdered for their depiction of Muhammad.

Comedy Central modified Parker and Stone's version of the episode, bleeping all references to Muhammad—to the effect of disruptively obscuring the entire two-minute moral conclusion of the story.

On January 31, 2014, the original, uncensored version of "201" was leaked when it was pulled from the South Park Studios servers and was posted online in its entirety without approval by Comedy Central.

Meanwhile, the Ginger Separatist Movement and the townsfolk are negotiating the handover of Muhammad when Mecha-Streisand begins to attack South Park, killing Pip Pirrup in the process after he pleads with Streisand not to "smash our little town to bits".

Muhammad, who is visually obscured throughout the entire episode by a black box superimposed with the word "CENSORED", is taken by Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Kenny McCormick to Dr. Mephesto's lab.

The Super Best Friends are called to South Park to help; after their powers fail to subdue Mecha-Streisand, they pacify her by having Krishna adopt the form of Neil Diamond and providing her the opportunity to perform a duet with him on a stage constructed by Jesus.

As the town begins to rebuild following the Mecha-Streisand attack ("for the 39th time", according to Mayor McDaniels), Stan, Kyle, and Kenny find an overly despondent Cartman, crying uncontrollably near an ambulance.

Mitch Conner attempts to cheer up Cartman: reminding him that, while he is indeed half ginger, this also means that he is "half-Bronco", observing that this makes him "pretty cool".

[9] Pip Pirrup, who became a background character after his own eponymous episode and made only two speaking roles after before completely disappearing from the show in Season 11, makes a brief appearance and is killed off when Mecha-Streisand steps on him.

[4][6] "201" continues the theme from "200" that argues against fear and censorship, and calls for support of free speech, both of Muhammad's image and any subject considered taboo.

Van Gogh was a filmmaker who was murdered by a man named Mohammed Bouyeri in 2004 for making a short film on violence against women in some Islamic societies.

The entry included audio clips of a sermon by al-Qaeda imam Anwar al-Awlaki calling for the assassination of anyone who has defamed Muhammad, saying, "Harming Allah and his messenger is a reason to encourage Muslims to kill whoever does that.

"[14][15] Subsequently, the website for the organization was hacked, temporarily redirecting web traffic to images of Muhammad with a bomb on his head and an older Muslim man passionately kissing a young boy.

Several other portions of dialogue were also censored, including almost the entirety of three consecutive monologues spoken by Kyle, Jesus and Santa Claus at the end regarding the moral of the episode.

"Super Best Friends" was also pulled from the South Park Studios site following the increased media attention from "201", and have not been available on the show's subsequent streaming platforms Hulu, HBO Max and Paramount+.

[21][28] During Mitch Conner's flashback of the Vietnam War at the beginning of the episode, "Time of the Season" by English rock group the Zombies plays in the background.

Club writer Sean O'Neal said "201" was an improvement over "200", but nevertheless felt "201" was "less a cohesive episode than a grab bag of balls-out crazy scenes and cameos only loyal fans would really appreciate."

"[9] Even after Comedy Central announced they were responsible for the censorship in "201", he speculated as to whether it was possibly a publicity stunt by Parker and Stone to create controversy and increase viewership.

[33] Ramsey Isler of IGN said the episode built on the events of "200" and delivered a strong payoff, particularly with the subplot about Cartman's father and the way it tied back to "Scott Tenorman Must Die".

Isler said the bleeps added by Comedy Central provided some unintentional laughs and underscored the episode's underlying theme opposing censorship.

"[35] Toronto Sun columnist Mike Strobel pointed out Revolution Muslim is a relatively small group of "a half-dozen wannabe Osamas", but said because of Comedy Central's response, "The loonies and terrorists win one.

"[39] Margaret Wente of The Globe and Mail said the censorship of "201" could be "the lowest point in the history of American TV", and that it represented a gravitation toward fear in a post-September 11 attacks world.

[11] Los Angeles Times columnist Patrick Goldstein said there were "no easy answers" and that he was not surprised Comedy Central took the threat seriously, but added, "in a democracy, artists and political satirists should be allowed to say what they believe, even if it offends some of its audience".

[40] Roger Catlin of the Hartford Courant suggested Comedy Central actually drew more attention to the Muhammad controversy, not less, by censoring the episode.

The petition stated:[42] We, the undersigned, condemn the recent threats against the creators of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, by the extremist organization, Muslim Revolution.

Stewart criticized Comedy Central's decision to alter the episode, while simultaneously acknowledging they likely did so to protect their employees from "possible harmful repercussions".

[35][40] Bill Maher, host of the HBO talk show Real Time with Bill Maher, said the threats against "201" demonstrated the importance of the First Amendment and other American civil liberties, and said, "When South Park got threatened last week by Islamists incensed at their depiction of Muhammad, it served—or should serve—as a reminder that our culture isn't just different than one that makes death threats to cartoonists.

[46] Animated comedy series Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane voiced this ambivalence on the part of the creative community, saying "No one is a bigger critic of organized religion than I am", but nevertheless added, "It's tricky.

[48] In a 2016 oral history of South Park in The Hollywood Reporter, Vernon Chatman, the voice of Towelie as well as a writer and producer on the show said that after Comedy Central censored the episode, series co-creator Trey Parker purchased a ticket to South Africa and showed it to the head of the network as a threat because Dave Chappelle had fled to Africa, though Parker never actually went.