Damien (South Park)
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.
"Damien" received generally positive reviews and was watched by 5.55 million viewers when it was first broadcast, making it the highest rated cable program the week it aired.
Parker and Stone also said the episode introduced several key characteristics of the character Eric Cartman that have endured throughout the rest of the series.
The other boys mock him and, in response, Damien turns Kenny McCormick into a duck-billed platypus, then later sets the playground on fire.
The entire town bets on Jesus to win the fight, but begin to lose faith when Satan appears for the weigh-in.
Damien tries to apologize 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.
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.
[1][2][3] Before "Damien" even ran, Mike Duffy of Detroit Free Press said the episode was "certain to become one of the show's signature moments".
[5] 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.
However, since Judge lives in Austin, Texas, it proved too difficult for him to come back and rerecord lines as the script and episode changed, so Stone instead provided the character's voice.
[5][7] Judge later provided Kenny's un-muffled line when he removed his parka in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.
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]".
[5] Parker and Stone said a number of Cartman's characteristics which have endured throughout the South Park series started in "Damien".
[5] 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.
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.
"[5] In the original script, Pip, the unpopular British student inspired by the character of the same name in Charles Dickens' 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.
[13][14] "Damien" has been described as a satire on religion, faith and the nature of good and evil,[10] as well as a commentary on commercialism and the cult of celebrity in American culture.
"[16] Several writers said the episode also lampooned the way Americans can turn anything, even a religious situation, into a commercially hyped event.
"[18] Seitz said the episode mocks "morality cops who misbehave in private"[18] like Priest Maxi, who secretly bets the parish against Jesus even as he admonished congregation members for siding with Satan.
[16] 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.
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 lyric "Rectus Dominus" repeatedly sung by the demonic chorus in the episode translates from Latin as "Ass Master".)
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.
The figures were stated to be inspired by Voltron in the video game South Park: Chef's Luv Shack.
[23] Parker said following the tremendous success of "Mr Hankey, the Christmas Poo", much of the direct feedback he received for "Damien" was negative.
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.
"[10] However, Littlefield also said some of the show's graphic dialogue, like the phrase "poop on a stick", was growing "pretty darn redundant".
"[28] Chicago Sun-Times writer Lon Grahnke gave the episode three stars and called it simultaneously strange and funny.
"[15] 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.
