"Tegridy Farms" is the fourth episode of the twenty-second season of the American animated television series South Park. The 291st overall episode of the series, it aired on Comedy Central in the United States on October 17, 2018.

The episode parodies the popularity of vaping, its increased use by children, and the legalized use of marijuana in Colorado.

Plot

Randy and Sharon Marsh are called in to Mr. Mackey's office because their daughter Shelly has been texting inappropriate pictures to the recess monitor so that she can get away with vaping during recess. Frustrated with the recent issues in South Park including events over the previous three episodes, Randy convinces Sharon to sell their home and move out to a farm where they can live off of the land. Randy finds a farm where he is able to grow and harvest marijuana; he also starts to manufacture everything possible from hemp. Randy meets an agricultural inspector who will authorize him to sell his marijuana, and that inspector turns out to be Towelie who personally samples the various strains of marijuana. Randy is later visited by a vape salesman who wants to add Randy's product to their line, but Randy angrily refuses, not wanting to be associated at all with vaping. Randy later sees the vape salesman purchase his neighbor's marijuana farm. When his son Stan is caught with a vape pen, Randy vows to take action.

Kyle Broflovski discovers that his brother Ike is also vaping, along with other kindergarten-age children who are addicted to the fruity flavors and the nicotine. Kyle, Stan and Eric Cartman discover that Butters Stotch is the person selling vaping pens and accessories to the children, and Cartman punches him for doing so. Later, Butters confronts Cartman in a restroom and reveals that they are partners in this process, but Kyle overhears their conversation. Kyle attempts to report Butters and Cartman to the principal, but Cartman begs Kyle to let them continue selling until they get out of debt for the products they already purchased. Kyle agrees but makes Cartman promise to stop marketing to kindergartners; instead, during lunch Cartman calls in a costumed character of Vaping Man who crashes through the wall with a style and look similar to the Kool-Aid Man. Cartman and Butters introduce Kyle to their dealer but then blackmail him by planting a dead prostitute's body near the dealer then attacking him and stealing his cash and vape products. Kyle visits Mr. Mackey at his home for help, but discovers Butters and Cartman have already arrived there as they tell Kyle that the sixth-graders are angry at all of them for attacking their vape supplier, and that the only solution is to rob the vape store to appease the original dealer who is Vaping Man.

Randy arrives at a Big Vape store and attacks all the people there, while at the same time, Kyle, Butters and Cartman are stealing the vape juice from upstairs. They are confronted by the vape salesman when Randy arrives, and Kyle discloses all of the details of the vaping epidemic at the school. The salesman attacks Randy, but Randy has brought along Towelie who attacks the salesman allowing Randy to defeat the salesman. Randy starts to vaporize all of the large tanks of vape juice before lighting a marijuana cigarette and tossing it inside, causing the building to explode. Randy celebrates with Towelie back at the farm as Stan sadly realizes that this farm lifestyle will continue.

Reception

Jesse Schedeen with IGN rated the episode a 9.2 out of 10 and summarized in his review, "'Tegridy Farms' is easily one of the best South Park episodes in several years, in large part because it captures so much of what made the show stand out in its earlier seasons. It features a healthy sprinkling of topical humor but a ridiculous storyline that can hold up over time. It also banks heavily on the appeal of Randy without completely ignoring the younger characters."^[1]

Joe Matar with Den of Geek rated the episode 2 out of 5 stars and stated in his review "There's nothing particularly wrong with the plot of 'Tegridy Farms.' It makes enough sense and sticks to one topic. It's just so inconsequential and aimless that it's difficult to care about any of it. The greater sin is how, like the rest of Season 22 so far, it's almost uniformly unfunny."^[2]

John Hugar with The A.V. Club gave the episode an A grade and opened his review stating "I'll be honest, while I appreciate South Park's earnest social commentaries, as well as their desire to atone for the negative effect the show's early years might have had on society, ultimately, this show is at its best when it just focuses all of its energy on telling jokes and making fun of shit, which was certainly the case tonight."^[3]

References

External links

• "Episode 2204 'Tegridy Farms' Press Release". South Park Studios. October 15, 2018.