The Ungroundable

"The Ungroundable"

"The Ungroundable" is episode 1214 (#181) of the animated series South Park. It is the 12th season finale, and aired on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at 10:00 PM EST. The title is a reference to the film The Untouchables.

Plot summary

Butters runs into the classroom terrified, claiming that he's seen vampires all around the school. None of the other kids believe him, being preoccupied with the new Call of Duty game, and Cartman, wishing to get rid of Butters, suggests that he go "document the vampires' movements." Butters enthusiastically agrees.

The members of the South Park Vampires' Club are sitting in the gym, discussing what type of vampire they are. Butters spies on them, documenting their activities in his tape recorder. One of the vampires suggests that they "feed," and they begin to drink Clammoto. Suddenly, Butters' tape recorder malfunctions, and it begins to blare out another of Butters' recordings. The vampire kids run over, and Butters pulls out a crucifix, attempting to repel them before running away.

The Goth kids see the vampires and are horrified, wondering if they're trying to be goth. One of them tells the others that they're "vamp," and that they "wear plastic fangs and drink freakin' clammato juice." They confront the vamp kids, who tell them that they're just as dark and sinister as the goths. The goth kids, meanwhile, point out that the vamps don't even smoke.

After a minor confrontation with his parents, Butters thinks aloud to himself that nobody listens to him, and that vampires probably don't get "hollered at" by their parents. The next day, Butters approaches the vamp kids, telling them that he wants to be a vampire. The vamp kids attempt to take over the spaces used by the goth kids who tell them to go away. As part of the initiation process, the vampire kids then take Butters to the South Park Mall, where they go to Hot Topic and buy Butters black clothing, hair dye, jewelry and plastic vampire teeth. They then make him drink clammato juice to complete his "transformation."

Butters returns home to his parents, who are angry at him because of his lateness and his dyed hair. Butters responds that because he is a vampire, he is no longer subject to the rules of humans, stating that he is "ungroundable."

During the night, Butters goes to Cartman's room to "feed." As he tries to bite Cartman's neck, Cartman wakes up. Butters is disappointed in himself that he can't get up the courage to kill Cartman, and vomits after remembering the taste of the "blood," and flees through Cartman's window.

The goth kids decide that the way to stop the vampire fad is to "get rid of the head vampire" who confesses that he's not actually a vampire. They decide to ship him to "the most horrible place on earth" - Scottsdale.

At home, Butters' parents explain that they got a call from Mrs. Cartman and ask him if he "got gay with one of his schoolmates tonight," to which Butters responds that he needs to eat and leaves out of his window. His parents comment that Butters has "become something we cannot ground."

Butters approaches the goth kids at a local diner where more vampires have begun to hang out. Butters suggests that destroying the vampires' lair will destroy them. He takes them to Hot Topic where the goth kids burn the contents of the store. Butters runs home and tells his parents that he's changed back, and that he's human again. Butters' father then yells at him because he's incorrectly organized the pantry again. He grounds Butters, and after he runs upstairs, he hugs his wife, saying that Butters is finally ground-able again.

Later, at a school gym, the goth kids explain to all of South Park students differences between being goth and being a "vampire" (ineffaceably pointing at a very stereotypical view of both subcultures), receiving a welcoming applaud from the students.