The Shopping Network Scam

South Park, S16E02

Somehow a kindly gesture from Stan's grandfather turns into a quest to find the origin of all of the overpriced jewelry sold around America.  Typical of this show, a simple matter is taken way out of proportion and the boys manage to get themselves in the middle of it.  At least this time, there is a sort of happy ending and Stan learns that it's better to give than to receive (at least if his grandfather is going to give him a gift he doesn't want in the first place).

I liked that this episode dealt with the sort of a scam that the shopping networks operate in order to fleece customers out of their money.  It's true that many elderly people, such as Stan's grandfather, buy items on there with their retirement/social security money and don't realize that they are paying much more than necessary.  Stan finds out that his bolo tie is worth no more than 15 dollars, and at the worst price is worth about a 7-layer burrito from Taco Bell.  Through the worthlessness of his own gift that has real gold and diamonds, he figures out that old people are targeted by shopping networks on TV.

I rarely watch those sort of things except a few seconds when flipping to another channel, but this episode did a good job of expanding upon the annoying points of shopping channels.  I think that the host displaying the different products, Dean, was particularly funny.  He was even better when he had to deal with Stan calling in to tell him that he should kill himself.  My favorite part might have been when Dean was trying to stay professional on air while Stan said things like:

You're the definition of evil--kill yourself.

Stan was not playing around with that guy.  Even when Dean suggested that they might have to sue Stan if anyone did kill themselves, Stan still didn't give a damn.  It was great.

I didn't care too much for Cartman's own shopping network until he had to stock up on more supplies (I'm surprised he got anything from the playground at all) at a discount jewelry store that used the same tactics on him.  There's nothing better than karma catching up with Cartman, although sometimes it takes a while.

Rather than be amused by the cycle of jewelry from the American pawn shop all the way back to an Indian sweatshop where they recreate the same jewelry from pieces sent to them from the smelting factory, I wanted it to be over with.  The showed the process for much longer than I cared for.  It did emphasize the pointlessness of Stan trying to point fingers at someone for his grandfather getting deceived, but it didn't do much for me as a joke.

I thought it was nice that Stan gave his grandfather a picture of the dog he had loved but couldn't remember its face anymore.  They, of course, undercut the sweet moment with a joke (Stan's grandfather said his bolo tie was gay just like Cartman had said earlier), but I still liked the moment.

As messed up as it is to tell someone to kill themselves, I couldn't help but laugh when Dean had nothing but elderly callers telling him to end his life in the same fashion that Stan had done.  Since they had turned the camera away from his face, we sort of knew that he was going to do it in the end and a little before the episode finished, he finally did it.  A grim ending, but pretty typical of this show, so it was good to see that they aren't ever going to change.

I didn't like this one as much as I did the first one this season (mocking the TSA with toilet safety was genius), but it was still pretty good.  With a lot of shows approaching their season finales very soon, it's great to know that South Park will be around to pick up some of the comedy slack.

Lord Of The Coins

Grimm, S01E13

A theft at a jewelry leaves another dead body for Hank and Nick to investigate.  What makes this story more interesting than most is that we learn a little about Nick's unknown past (did he ever mention his parents were in a car crash?), and we get to see another side of Captain Renard, though not the kind that reveals any of the questions I have.  The whole quest to get the coins that bring you power and whatnot just reminded me of Lord of the Rings.  When Hank was trying so hard to keep them, I just was waiting for him to come out with "My precious..."

Anyway, Nick found out that his parents were mostly likely killed by a creature named Soledad.  He not only made Nick an orphan 18 years ago, but also ruined the relationship between another eagle-like creature named Farley and Marie.  Huh, so Grimm sometimes date the creatures?  I know not all of them are bad, but it seems kind of backwards.  Then again, Monroe is like Nick's best friend (if his friend was like his assistant against his will).  I found that this information could have been more intriguing but for some reason it wasn't.  I guess because we only got to hear it from Farley's side, and he's not the best storyteller around.  We can't, of course, have Marie give her side now that she is dead, but I wish there was something to add to that background story.  Juliette, instead of Nick, confirms that Farley was indeed living in Rhinebeck around the time his parents were killed.  I didn't know his girlfriend was such a sleuth.  I just think it's odd she is able to get that information so easily.

Nick also gets a good bit of information about the Soledad's kind after he enlists Monroe to translate some journals in German for him.  That's none too surprising, but again I just feel bad that Nick uses him so unashamedly.  The second Monroe finds something that interests him (antique cameras and such), Nick pretty much kicks him out.  The reason I even mention this typical Monroe abuse moment by Nick is because Monroe had a pretty funny line about Soledad-type creatures:

They ate a baby.  That's rude.

Sick as that is, his definition of "rude" cracked me up.  I could have used a little more Monroe comedy this time to offset all of the "drama."  It's not that it was too intense for me, but it would have helped me keep engaged with the story better.

What I liked most of all was Captain Renard becoming possessed by those coins.  I knew he would already know what those coins would do, but I didn't think that he would be able to be taken in by their power.  I guess not even reapers are impervious them.  Hank sure wasn't.  I liked how ambitious he became and how good he looked in his police uniform.  And  that guy has a pretty nice body!  We got a good look at it when he was absentmindedly rubbing the coins between his fingers in his room.  I'll admit that scene was a little creepy, but getting to check out his great abs distracted me from that fact pretty well.

Luckily for him, Farley took the coins away from him before he went mad with power.  I have to hand it to Nick that he was able to get into Farley's room before the creature could escape with them, though.  I don't have much confidence in Nick's skills as a detective, but he has his moments.  I guess eagle creatures aren't much of fighters because Nick smacked him down once and took the coins.  If anyone has been watching this show, Nick can't fight for crap, so if Farley had fought a little harder, he would have probably won.  The stupid thing is that Nick took them back to Marie's trailer of Grimm goods and hid them.  I just know that someone is going to find that place and get those coins or some horrible weapon from there.  That is not a secure place!

The last thing I want to mention is that Nick watched a film that showed Hitler was a creature.  What the hell??  When I saw that I was like "Really, Grimm writers?"  There's something stupid about that, and I'm not sure what.  I guess it shouldn't be surprising that historical figures could be creatures in the Grimm universe, but I feel like it was an unnecessary reveal.  They ended the episode like that as if it would make you gasp.  I would have rather they did something with Renard at the end instead of that.  Or something that would reveal more about Nick's past.  I would have rather that Farley mentioned it in his story than the way it came out as if the viewers were wondering about Hitler's humanity.  Thanks for answering a question no one asked.

This week's episode didn't deal with Juliette and Nick's relationship, which is a shame.  And there was nothing else about why Renard pretty much knows about everything going on in the creature world.  I loved him speaking French, by the way.  It would be nice to know what it is that makes him multilingual and with whom he was speaking in Paris.  I feel like with this show I keep shouting for answers, but get almost nothing in return.  Seriously, Grimm--it's time to give us more than what we see.  You're not so thrilling of a show that I won't drop you.