South Park: Kenny’s 12 Greatest Deaths

After dozens of deaths by any means imaginable, it’s quite remarkable that Parker and Stone managed to make Kenny passing away a moment of genuine emotion and pathos. That they did so without dropping any of their signature cynicism, and while taking a look at an important matter of public debate, remains quite staggering some 18 years later.

In the wryly titled “Kenny Dies”, the titular kid is hospitalised with a wasting disease, and his prognosis is not good. The episode slowly subverts our expectations, as rather than rushing to their friend’s aid in a series of wacky events, the boys slowly come to terms with Kenny’s mortality.

There’s a minor plot - Cartman petitions congress to allow the stem cell research he believes may help, singing “Heat of the Moment" by Asia in a genuinely tear-jerking scene - but it’s all for nought, as Kenny succumbs to his illness towards the end of the episode.

This is dealt with in a remarkably dramatic and serious manner by Stone and Parker, who wrote Kenny out due to dwindling ideas as to how they might kill him. He returns, of course, and they still kill him off from time to time, but his “permanent” death ranks as one of the greatest, saddest, and most true moments South Park ever created.