"The Last of the Meheecans" is the ninth episode of the
fifteenth season of the American animated television series ''
South Park
''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...
'', and the 218th episode of the series overall. It first aired on
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
on October 12, 2011. In the episode, what begins as an innocent game between the boys turns serious when
Cartman
Eric Theodore Cartman, commonly referred to by his surname Cartman, is a fictional character in the adult animated sitcom ''South Park'', created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. He is voiced by Parker, and is one of the series' four main charact ...
joins the
U.S. Border Patrol
The United States Border Patrol (USBP) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency under the United States' U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Customs and Border Protection and is responsible for securing ...
. Unsurprisingly, Cartman turns out to be excellent at stopping Mexicans.
The episode was written by series co-creator
Trey Parker
Randolph Severn "Trey" Parker III (born October 19, 1969) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, and composer. He is known for co-creating ''South Park'' (since 1997) and ''The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his creative partner Matt Stone. P ...
and is rated
TV-MA
The TV Parental Guidelines are a television content rating system in the United States that was first proposed on December 19, 1996, by the United States Congress, the television industry and the federal communication commission (FCC), and went ...
L in the United States. The plot references
illegal immigration to the United States
Illegal immigration to the United States is the process of migrating into the United States in violation of federal immigration laws. This can include foreign nationals (aliens) who have entered the United States unlawfully, as well as thos ...
across the
Mexican border
Mexico shares international borders with three nations:
*To the north the United States–Mexico border, which extends for a length of through the states of Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.
*To the south ...
and the show ''
Border Wars''. The title is derived from ''
The Last of the Mohicans
''The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757'' is a historical romance written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1826.
It is the second book of the '' Leatherstocking Tales'' pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. '' The Pathfinde ...
'', complete with a title card with the same typeface.
Plot
The boys play "
Texans vs. Mexicans" at a sleepover at
Cartman's house, a game in which the "Mexicans" (led at first by
Butters, and then
Kyle
Kyle or Kyles may refer to:
Places
Canada
* Kyle, Saskatchewan, Canada
Ireland
* Kyle, County Laois
* Kyle, County Wexford
Scotland
* Kyle, Ayrshire, area of Scotland which stretched across parts of modern-day East Ayrshire and South Ayrshir ...
due to Butters' poor leadership skills) attempt to elude the "
border patrol
A border guard of a country is a national security agency that performs border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Germany, Italy or Ukraine) and rescue service duties.
Name and uniform
In dif ...
" (led by an overly gleeful Cartman) and cross the border into Texas (Cartman's backyard). All of the "Mexicans" do so, winning the game, much to Cartman's irritation. However, Butters is not among his teammates, having been lost, and when Cartman later realizes that Butters is not present, he realizes the game is not over. As Butters' teammates begin searching for him, Cartman's team resumes protecting the backyard. Butters' team puts up fliers to help find him, to which a vindictive Cartman puts up his own, telling anyone to find Butters to shoot him on sight, not caring if he dies as it would help him win the game.
As Butters tries to find his way back, he is struck by a passing car. The couple in the car, believing Butters to be a Mexican immigrant named "Mantequilla" (Spanish for "
butter
Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment ...
"), take him to their home and employ him as a stereotypical Mexican servant, giving him menial jobs to perform such as cleaning windows and washing dishes. However, the couple eventually abandons Butters at an
El Pollo Loco
El Pollo Loco (Spanish for "The Crazy Chicken") is the name of two independent restaurant chains that specialize in Mexican-style grilled chicken. Both were founded by Juan Francisco Ochoa. He established the first El Pollo Loco restaurant in G ...
restaurant, believing that Butters needs to be with his "own kind" to be happy. Inside, Butters regales the staff with tales of his imaginary exploits. The staff recognize him from "missing" posters put up by his friends and, believing him to be someone famous, they start to question the value of their new lives in the United States. They misinterpret Butters' desire to "cross the border" and rejoin his friends as a desire to return to Mexico, and a mass exodus of Mexican emigrants soon begins. As more and more Mexicans leave, Americans realize they cannot keep up with their newfound menial labor tasks due to having become complacent and lazy, creating a labor shortage and damaging the U.S. economy.
Cartman joins the actual
United States Border Patrol
The United States Border Patrol (USBP) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency under the United States' U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Customs and Border Protection and is responsible for securing ...
as a volunteer, where he is instructed to stop Mexicans from crossing the border, regardless of the "semantics" of which direction they are traveling. Mexican emigrants start being rounded up and ordered to get back to work. Butters, as "Mantequilla", is hailed as a hero in Mexico, in a scene reminiscent of a similar scene in the film ''
Monty Python's Life of Brian
''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' (also known as ''Life of Brian'') is a 1979 British comedy film starring and written by the comedy group Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin). It wa ...
''.
[
He is received in the ]Zócalo
The Zócalo () is the common name of the town square, main square in central Mexico City. Prior to the European colonization of the Americas, colonial period, it was the main ceremonial center in the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. The plaza used t ...
and is credited with instilling a sense of national pride in the Mexican people. However, he soon becomes homesick and attempts to return to the United States. While attempting to cross into the United States, Butters is spotted by border patrol agents, who are overjoyed in their belief a Mexican wants to enter the United States and make no attempt to stop him. Recognizing Butters, an enraged Cartman tries to prevent him from crossing the border. With the Border Patrol's help, Butters successfully eludes Cartman and re-enters the United States, winning the game.
When the boys are reunited at Cartman's house, Cartman once again pouts over his loss of the game, as the gang rejoices at Butters' return. When Butters suggests he be leader next time, Stan and Kyle suggest that while he is a great Mexican team player, he is not a great leader of Mexicans as it took him more than two weeks to cross the border. In response, Butters stands up and gestures with his hands, causing Mexicans everywhere to chant in response, loudly enough for the boys to hear them. An exasperated Cartman begins a Baptist priest walking into a bar joke, and the episode ends.
Production
In the show's commentary, the creators describe their distaste when cops, advisers and television producers get together. '' Border Wars'' and ''DEA
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic enf ...
'' were two of the shows parodied.
The creators picked Butters as the leader of the Mexicans since "Mantequilla" is Spanish for "Butter," which they thought "sounded kinda noble."
Parker wrote the "Work, Mexican, Work" song six years prior to this episode.
Home release
"The Last of the Meheecans", along with the thirteen other episodes from ''South Parks fifteenth season, was released on a three-disc DVD set and two-disc Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
set in the United States on March 27, 2012. The sets included brief audio commentaries by Parker and Stone for each episode, a collection of deleted scenes, and two special mini-features, "Behind The Scenes of City Sushi
"City Sushi" is the sixth episode of the fifteenth season of the American animated sitcom '' South Park'', and the 215th episode of the series overall. It premiered on Comedy Central in the United States on June 1, 2011. In the episode, Butters ...
" and the documentary ''Six Days To Air – The Making Of South Park.'' IGN gave the season an 8/10.
Reception
The episode received positive reviews from critics. Ryan McGee of ''The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' graded the episode a B+, stating, "'The Last of the Meheecans' isn’t really about immigration reform so much as it's about the narcissistic viewpoint that America must be, as a point of irrefutable fact, the best place in the world to live. For some, that’s a fairly ballsy thing to say, but the way in which Parker/Stone say it bypasses political grandstanding and casts their gaze instead on our supposed understanding of those that have immigrated to America and currently live/work here". Eric Hochberger of ''TV Fanatic'' gave the episode a 3.4/5. Mike Nasiatka of 411Mania gave the episode a 7/10, saying the episode was entertaining along with having a killer song.
IGN gave the episode an 8/10 stating, "Butters episodes always provide good material, and this one is no exception."
The episode was never aired in Mexico or Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
, since the TV network Comedy Central Latinoamérica thought the episode would be considered offensive, particularly the scene when Cartman appears to kill a bunch of Mexicans with his taser.
References
External links
"The Last of the Meheecans"
Full episode at South Park Studios
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Last of the Meheecans, The
2011 American television episodes
Television episodes about immigration
Television episodes set in Mexico
South Park (season 15) episodes
Works about immigration to the United States
Censorship in South America
Censorship in Mexico
Television controversies in Mexico