Scott Tenorman Must Die
Eric Cartman excitedly boasts to Stan Marsh, Kenny McCormick and Kyle Broflovski that he is the first to reach puberty, since he has gotten his first pubic hairs.
However, not knowing that "getting pubes" means you have to grow them yourself, Cartman only has pubic hair because he bought a handful of it from high schooler Scott Tenorman for $10.
Enraged, Cartman writes a letter to Radiohead to get them to visit South Park, claiming that Scott is a victim of "cancer, in his ass."
Also, in an attempt to publicly humiliate Cartman again, Scott cooks a chili intentionally contaminated with pubic hairs from all the teenagers of South Park.
Cartman's final phase of his plan occurs when the members of Radiohead come along and – unaware of what just happened – make fun of Scott for crying.
According to South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, "Scott Tenorman Must Die" represented significant shifts both in the writing of the show and the characterization of Cartman.
[1][2][3] The creators debated whether it was okay to have Cartman kill Scott's parents and feed them to him, as it was a "crazy [thing] to do with a kid",[2] and would be setting a new bar for the series and the character.
[1][5] The creators could only come up with the cat and mouse situation between Cartman and Tenorman, which they had described as reminiscent of the relationships in classic cartoons such as Tom and Jerry and Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner.
[6] "Scott Tenorman Must Die" was written by Trey Parker, and directed by South Park animation director Eric Stough.
[7] In its first draft, the episode's title was "Scott Tenorall Must Die", but Parker decided to change the character's name afterwards, as he thought that Tenorman sounded funnier.
[17] The episode eventually aired on July 11, 2001 on Comedy Central in the United States, after "It Hits the Fan", "Cripple Fight" and "Super Best Friends".
During one of his earlier attempts at tricking Scott into giving back his money, Cartman mentions that rock singer Courtney Love is in South Park, drunk and engaging in public nudity.
Cartman's inspiration for the idea of having Scott's penis bitten off by a pony is the film Hannibal, in which "the deformed guy trained giant pigs to eat his enemy alive.
"[24]: 50 The very ending of the episode, where the iris appears, is an allusion to the Looney Tunes cartoons, with Cartman assuming the role of the stuttering Porky Pig, delivering his signature line "That's all folks!
"[25]: 733 The use of the Looney Tunes ending has been seen as an ironic reinforcement of the fact that the episode's tragic plot has overstepped the established boundaries of cartoon comedy.
"[26]: 148 The plot of "Scott Tenorman Must Die" has been compared to that of the Shakespeare tragedy Titus Andronicus, in which the humiliated protagonist also exacts revenge by feeding his enemies their own relatives.
[27][37][38][39] Digital Spy and Special Broadcasting Service listed "Scott Tenorman Must Die" as one of the most controversial South Park episodes.
[40][41] Rolling Stone listed Cartman feeding Scott Tenorman his own parents as the second-best South Park moment, calling the episode "the perfect high-low amalgamation of the show's ability to be both shocking and brilliant at the same time", and IGN named Cartman describing Scott Tenorman's tears as "yummy" his best line from the show.
This means that Eric Cartman unknowingly orchestrated his own father's death and fed him to his half-brother in "Scott Tenorman Must Die.
[48] "Scott Tenorman Must Die" was released on VHS in June 2002, along with the episodes "It Hits the Fan" and "Cripple Fight," on a video titled Insults to Injuries.
