10 Best South Park Episodes
5. The Death Of Eric Cartman
South Park can often feature highly elaborate and complex episodes, spanning multiple settings and juggling many narratives. But sometimes, it just works best when it takes a simple premise and lets a few characters work around it. One of the best examples of this is in the phenomenal episode The Death of Eric Cartman.
After Stan's mother brings the boys back from Soccer practice - which Cartman only attends for the post-practice meal - she treats them all to a KFC dinner. However, while all the other kids are distracted, Cartman eats the chicken skins and goes home.
Outraged, the other kids decide to convince the entire school to ignore him, and after Cartman can't get a response from anyone, he makes the only logical conclusion and assumes that he is dead. After Butters talks to him, he considers the innocent kid to be the only one who can see him and enlists his help to pass on to Heaven.
As stated before, the episode is so simple, as it focusses on the dynamic between Butters and Cartman. Seeing the gullible and precious little guy up against the manipulation of Eric is always a recipe for brilliance, and this episode delivers on that from the first moment. It gives you constant laughs and a great spotlight on Butters - who's always a welcome addition to the limelight.