After 21 Years, South Park Season 28 Officially Brings Back These Iconic Characters

Although it took the show over two decades, South Park season 28’s finale finally brought back some of the show’s most iconic one-off characters, and the timing of their return couldn’t have been better. Ever since South Park season 1, the show has never had a shortage of memorable side characters, from Satan’s son Damian to Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo.

However, South Park season 28 mostly ignored these guest stars as the series was busy introducing a slew of new characters. South Park season 28’s satirical takedown of the Trump administration saw the series mock Pete Hegseth and Kristi Noem, depicting the two government officials as an inept idiot and a callous dog murderer, respectively.

Although South Park season 27 brought back Towelie for one episode, season 28 of the series focused on Trump, his vice president JD Vance, controversial Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, Noem, and Hegseth, too much to introduce any old characters. That is, until the series finale, episode 5, “The Crap Out.’

South Park’s Season 28 Ending Brings Back The Woodland Critters

“The Crap Out” marked the show’s first Christmas special since 2019, only a few weeks after South Park season 28’s Thanksgiving special. This episode primarily focused on Trump trying to ensure that his lover, Satan, didn’t give birth to their baby, with the help of Vance. Vance and Trump secretly started an affair earlier in season 28.

At first, it seemed like Thiel, Trump, and Vance were united in wanting to stop the birth of the Antichrist, but Satan was alone in happily anticipating the birth of his baby. However, that changed when Stan’s Christmas wish unexpectedly came true. Despondent in the nursing home where he now lives, Stan stared into the toilet and wished for a Christmas miracle.

Stan ended up living in a nursing home thanks to South Park season 28’s Tegridy Farms storyline. For the past seven seasons, the Marsh family lived on a marijuana farm owned by Stan’s erratic father, Randy. However, when Randy’s business went bust, the family was forced to move into the nursing home.

Stan’s Christmas wish on a toilet bowl seemed like an obvious setup to bring back one of the show’s most infamous characters, the aforementioned Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo. After all, Mr. Hankey appeared to the boys before when they needed a Christmas miracle on more than one occasion.

South Park’s Woodland Critter Comeback Mocks The Show’s Biggest Problem

A still from South Park featuring the core four around a fire.

However, much to Stan’s understandable chagrin, it wasn’t Mr. Hankey who magically materialized in the retirement home bathroom. Instead, it was the murderous, adorable Woodland Critters from season 8, episode 14, “Woodland Critter Christmas,” a South Park Christmas special that originally aired back in 2004.

That infamously goofy, gruesome outing saw this band of merry forest animals enlist Stan’s help in bringing about the birth of the Antichrist. At first, Stan didn’t realize what he was doing, but the moment he learned the truth, he obviously tried to undo the terrible plan put in place by the animals.

In the episode’s ending, the entire story was revealed to be a tasteless tale told by Cartman to the rest of the South Park boys, thus explaining its sudden ending and absurd, inconsistent plot. However, in South Park season 28’s ending, the Woodland Critters are seemingly real.

Stan notes this inconsistency, thus allowing the Critters and, by extension, the show itself to mock its storytelling. The Woodland Critters claim that the episode’s plot and the bigger storyline of the preceding two seasons make complete sense and are easy to follow. Ironically, these claims instead highlight just how convoluted and obviously improvised the plot is.

The animals patronize Stan and claim that their presence is obviously understandable, asking whether he really wants to point out all the inconsistencies in this “Big crap out,” or simply accept the story and go along for the ride. In the universe, the “Crap out” refers to Satan giving birth, but it is simultaneously a joking reference to the plot’s sudden, under-planned ending.

South Park’s Christmas Comeback Fixes a 9-Year-Old Series Problem

South Park previously admitted that the show’s serialized plotting didn’t work back in season 20, episode 10, “The End of Serialization as We Know It.” Released shortly after the 2016 election, the episode effectively conceded that the show’s creators had predicted the election incorrectly, and their planned season ending had to be hastily revised.

In contrast, the ending of “The Crap Out” proves just how much South Park’s two-week breaks between episodes saved the show in seasons 27 and 28. The series is still wildly improvising, but season 28’s storyline does come together in the end, and, while hardly an airtight plot, the storyline is self-aware enough to succeed regardless.

Through the Woodland Critters, “The Crap Out” refutes the idea that South Park’s serialized plots need to be thoroughly planned to work as satirical storylines. The Critters constantly haranguing Stan for questioning the plot essentially functions to remind viewers that serialization works fine, provided the audience doesn’t expect South Park’s story to make sense.

Release Date: August 13, 1997
Showrunner: Trey Parker
Directors: Adrien Beard
Writers: David A. Goodman, Nancy M. Pimental, Kenny Hotz, Philip Stark, Dave Weasel, Dan Sterling, Susan Hurwitz Arneson, Trisha Nixon, David R. Goodman, Tim Talbott, Pam Brady, Robert Lopez, Dani Michaeli, Kyle McCulloch, Karey Dornetto, Jonathan Kimmel, Jane Bussmann