It was a 4 episode arc. A double-decker sandwich if you will, 2 delicious breads, with weak meat but with condiments to make up for it. Twas season six, the end of the Professor Chaos season where they weren't hanging out with Tweek anymore. In fact it was the 2nd run of episodes of 2002, premiering in November.
In the episode 'Ladder to Heaven' hilarious things happen and notable to this post- Cartman drinks Kenny's ashes thinking they are chocolate milk mix. Thus he inherits Kenny's soul. This arc plays for initial value in the Ladder to Heaven episode, and is mentioned and played with for 2 episodes (The Return of The Fellowship of The Ring to the Two Towers and Death Camp of Tolerance) and is dutifully wrapped up as the other plot in The Biggest Douche in the Universe.
Let's look at this phenomena, which happens seamlessly in in the wacky world of South Park. A character sharing bodies with another character? Don't even bat a lash, just go with it and enjoy. Great. In the Ladder to Heaven, Cartman uses Kenny's memories to retrace the steps to find a ticket so that the boys can have their candy shopping spree, but soon Kenny's presence makes itself even more known calling Cartman a 'blood belching vagina'. Here we see the layer of character development. We know Cartman would never say anything bad about himself as he is his favorite person, and we finally get to hear the dialogue of Kenny, the member of the group with the sickest mind and twisted knowledge of sex (he did know what Fingerbang actually meant). Over the next two episodes, we are simply reminded of the fact that Kenny is in Cartman. Sure, it is fun to play with, but we do get a pay-off episode of the Kenny in Cartman body. So these 2 "tween" episodes just show us- crazy things happen to the boys and the boys just keep living. Why? Because they are 9.
As in The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers, Kenny is only there as a reminder, letting the plot really happen. "There are 4 of us, Kenny is in Cartman's body. Remember?", "There are actually 7 of us, Kenny is in Cartman's body," Stan says on seperate occasions. While in the Death Camp of Tolerance, a rich soil for Cartman to revel in, we only get one instance of Kenny's presence in Cartman. As Mr. Garrison returns as the 4th grade teacher, Kenny overtakes Cartman's hand with his sense of boyhood mischief as he throws a paper airplane against Cartman's best wishes. Mr. Garrison scolds Cartman, but the boys inform their teacher that Cartman drank Kenny's ashes and that Kenny is the real culprit. Garrison goes on to spank, for the 1st time, Mr. Slave. So an episode introducing Mr. Slave as well as Lemmiwinks much more than makes up for the fact they aren't playing with the Kenny-Cartman dynamic. In fact, I'd be disappointing if they actually did.
In the final episode, Cartman is sick with Kenny's spirit and the boys visit John Edwards to talk to Kenny. Cartman ends up going to Scotland with Chef to get the spirit out and everything working out hoo rah. I'd like to think that Kenny is always a sick, dying child. So while even in Cartman, that continues. There is a fun little instance where Cartman laughs at 'The Stapler' starring Rob Schneider rated PG-13 and says it was Kenny as well as Cartman telling Kenny 'The Carrot' isn't funny. The ultimate resolution is Chef and Cartman losing the pot roast that contains Kenny's spirit and in inevitably ends up in the body of the much maligned Rob Schneider. They wrapped up the loose end by doing a funny running joke. Calling out Rob Schneider for doing shitty PG-13 movies where he falls down as someone else is a great, specific pop cultural touchstone to poke fun of their own note character of Kenny, and an ultimate pay-off of seeing Rob Schneider die in an iconic Kenny scene fromt he first season. And there goes the Kenny in Cartman plot.
Kenny is really the forgotten character, and even while in the show's biggest star, he is still forgotten. Stan, Kyle and Cartman did forget about him (Kenny's mother even calls this out in Ladder to Heaven), until they want something from him. But as hardcore fans will note, Kenny should be forgotten, he is there to die, to mumble, and to play the dirty, perverse part of childhood. When dying became a crutch, they rounded Kenny out some, but he still is a mumbling character who won't convey much. And during the 5th and 6th season Kenny dies for good for awhile because South Park has smart writers who can make that work. Kenny is the least important of the 4 boys, but by playing with his character this early in the series (season 6 is about midway- but currently they are in season 14) they established they can do anything they want with Kenny. Which they do amicably.
Truly, one of the least recognized strengths of South Park is they know when to do things. Unlike the Simpsons, they have made a successful movie. They did so by doing it early in the series run at the height of its mania. And allowed itself to grow into satire. OK, sure, hearing more of Cartman saying more of Kenny's dialouge would be great, but simply knowing that a main character's spirit is in another main character's body and having it not be a big deal whatsoever is pretty great too. South Park, you sly dogs.
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