The Ungroundable

"The Ungroundable"
South Park episode
The South Park Vampires' Club hangs out in the school gym.
Episode no.	Season 12 Episode 14
Directed by	Trey Parker
Written by	Trey Parker
Production code	1214
Original air date	November 19, 2008
Episode chronology
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List of season 12 episodes List of South Park episodes

"The Ungroundable" is the 14th and final episode of the 12th season of the animated series South Park, and the 181st episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on November 19, 2008. The episode spoofs vampire films including the Twilight craze and The Lost Boys. The episode was written and directed by series co-founder Trey Parker, and was rated TV-MA L in the United States.

Plot

The kids in Mr. Mackey's computer class are playing Call of Duty: World at War instead of working when Butters comes running into the classroom claiming that he has seen vampires around the school. None of the other kids believe him and Cartman suggests that he go "document the vampires" (simply to get rid of him).

Butters sneaks into the school gym and hides to document the members of the South Park Vampires' Club on his tape recorder. One of the vampires talks about vampire related customs and they "feed" by drinking Clamato juice. However, Butters' tape recorder malfunctions, exposing him in front of the vampires. Butters attempts to repel them with a crucifix before running away.

The Goth kids confront the vamp kids, only to receive a retort that they are just as dark and sinister as the goths. The goth kids, disgusted, point out that the vamps do not even smoke. After a minor confrontation with his parents (who were outraged that he misorganized the pantry), Butters thinks aloud, concluding that nobody listens to him. Having come to believe that if he becomes a vampire he will not get yelled at anymore, he asks the vampire kids to let him join them. They take him to Hot Topic and change his appearance to match theirs.

Butters returns home to his parents, who are angry at him because of his lateness and his dyed hair. Butters responds that he is now "ungroundable" and hisses at his parents, thus completely shocking them. The Goth kids are brought to the principal's office and told not to let their vampire fad "get out of hand" to which they are furious and say that they are not trying to be part of the trend. Reluctantly, they decide to wear normal clothes from Gap so no one can refer to them as "vampire kids" anymore, however, when they are referred to as "that fat girl, the big nose kid, the midget and the kid with pock marks on his face" they decide to quickly change out of their Gap clothes.

Meanwhile, Butters, believing he is actually a real vampire, sneaks into Cartman's room in the middle of the night in a failed attempt to "feed," only resulting in him giving Cartman a hickey. At home, Butters' parents are outraged about receiving a call from Ms. Cartman and ask him if he "got gay with one of his schoolmates [that] night," to which Butters responds that he needs to eat and exits through his window. The Goth kids try to figure out what is causing all the kids to dress like vampires and after some thought, they kidnap the head vampire, Mike McCalsky, and successfully threaten him into admitting he is not really a vampire. Afterwards, they decide to mail him to Scottsdale. They soon realize that sending the "head vampire" to Scottsdale did not solve the problem and know it must be something else causing it. While drinking coffee at the Village Inn restaurant and just beginning to face defeat from the vampire kids, Butters informs them that Hot Topic is the source of the vampire craze. He takes them there and they burn down the store.

At home, Butters "reverts" back to normal and becomes "groundable" once more, much to his parents' relief, who immediately ground him for misorganizing the pantry again. In the end, the Goth kids explain to everyone at school the differences between Goth kids and "douchebag vampire wanna-be boner" kids. They receive a standing ovation, only for the eldest Goth kid to flip everyone off.

Reception

IGN gave the episode a satisfactory review, saying "While there are lots of funny bits in this episode, it's far from a home run. It's clever, and well put together and makes a few good points – but it's just not as laugh out loud funny as you'd expect South Park to be".(...)"Nonetheless, what often makes South Park work are the little moments, the vocal tics of the characters and so forth. I imagine "per se" will catch on, if only for a little bit, as the pseudo-intellectual affectation of vamp-douche-ese. While "The Ungroundable" isn't a home run in terms of laughs, given the current Twilight craze, the show continues to serve as a satirical chronicle of our times, which makes even a middling episode an argument for South Park's continual longevity." They gave the episode a 7.4 rating out of 10.

External links

• "The Ungroundable" Full episode at South Park Studios
• "The Ungroundable" Episode guide at South Park Studios
• "The Ungroundable" at the Internet Movie Database
• "The Ungroundable" at TV.com