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| "Butters' Very Own Episode" | ||||
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| South Park episode | ||||
 "Everyone knows it's Butters! - That's me!" |
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| Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 14 |
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| Written by | Trey Parker | |||
| Directed by | Eric Stough | |||
| Production no. | 514 | |||
| Original airdate | December 12, 2001 | |||
| Season 5 episodes | ||||
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| ← Season 4 | Season 6 → | |||
| List of South Park episodes | ||||
"Butters' Very Own Episode" is episode 79 of the Comedy Central series South Park and the season finale for the show's fifth season, making it the first season not to have a Christmas special. It originally aired on December 12, 2001.
Plot
Butters' Very Own Episode begins with his own theme, and Butters is excited because his parents' anniversary is coming up, and the whole family is going to Bennigan's to celebrate. A few days before this event, Butters' mom asks him to go and spy on his father, to find out what gift he was buying her. However, Butters (without understanding what he was seeing) finds his father going into a gay movie theater and bath house to have casual sex with men. He blithely reports back what he finds (complete with photographic evidence) to his mother, who goes completely insane due to the sudden shock. The next morning she is showing signs of insanity by constantly painting the walls green and talking to herself. Later, Butters follows his dad to the bath house at night, only to find him lying on a bed masturbating, and also sees Mr. Garrison have sex with an unknown man, along what appears to be Mr. Slave (who would later be introduced in the series on the show's 6th season). At home that night, Mr. Stotch advises Butters not to tell what he's seen, saying it's okay to tell a little white lie if it keeps people from getting hurt. Butters responds that that won't be an issue, as he has already spilled the beans to his mother, which in turn alarms Mr. Stotch.
At that moment Mrs. Stotch (who has decided to kill herself) enters the room and dully announces that she will be taking Butters for a car ride; Mr. Stotch, she states, will be staying home alone so he can think about what he has done. Mr. Stotch is concerned, but momentarily at a loss for words. It is revealed that Butters' mom intends to commit suicide, and has decided that she must kill Butters so that he won't be left with his father, but Butters is once more oblivious to her motivations and proceeds to confide in her about difficulties he has been having at school. She sends her car with Butters in it into the river, expecting him to drown, and then returns to their house to hang herself. Butters assumes that the incident with the car was an accident, and when his car is washed ashore, he tries to go back home so that their anniversary won't be ruined and they will still be able to go to Bennigan's.
Meanwhile, Mr. Stotch walks in on his wife writing her suicide note, and prevents her from taking her own life. He admits to his affairs, explaining that his fascination with homosexuality grew out of experimentation on the Internet, and likens it to an addiction and a sickness. Butters' father refuses to take responsibility for his actions instead, blaming the Internet itself for everything that had transpired. Mr. Stotch insists that he still loves his wife and wants to save their family, but upon finding out that Butters is "dead", he agrees to help cover up the deed and the two concoct a story about Butters being abducted by "some Puerto Rican guy," which is a reference to Susan Smith.
As the media centers in on the "missing child" case, the pair are inducted into a "club" of people whose loved ones have been taken from them by "Some Puerto Rican Guy", including Gary Condit, O.J. Simpson, and the Ramseys. Butters makes his way back to South Park by walking through the Haunted Woods, while his parents begin fighting over which version of their story he must tell, he scolds them for lying and trying to teach him to lie as well. Agreeing with their son, the two go before the press and reveal everything that has happened; the father's homosexual affairs, the mother's attempted murder, and the whole cover-up, and it is only at this point that Butters realizes what actually happened, and is visibly disturbed. This is followed by a lengthy scene in which Butters' father repeatedly screams about "Liars", "slimy scumbag liars" and "murdering murderers" while the camera cuts to the blank but smiling faces of Condit, Simpson, and the Ramseys. Butters, having been completely ignorant of the truth, is aghast and deeply traumatized. When Stan, Kyle and Cartman (recovering from the loss of their friend Kenny in the previous episode), look at him in shock, he attempts to keep his good cheer despite all this. He then explains to the boys that, while the knowledge of what really transpired is horrible and his faith in the inherent goodness of truth is shaken, he's certain a delicious meal at Bennigan's will get him feeling back to normal: "I'm gonna be okay!" The boys are stunned and Stan asks "Really?" to which Butters sadly replies "No, I'm lying." Eventually, he then happily leaves to join his family at Bennigan's.
| Preceded by “Kenny Dies” |
South Park episodes | Followed by “Jared Has Aides” |
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