"Succubus" is the third episode of the
third 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 34th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on
Comedy Central in the United States on April 21, 1999.
Plot
Eric 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 chara ...
must go to the local eye doctor, whom he hates because the doctor always makes fun of his obesity by referring to him as "Piggy". Cartman is told that he has bad vision and has his eyes
dilated; he is later given a pair of thick-rimmed glasses which are then stapled to his head so that he cannot take them off. Later, he and the other boys discover that
Chef
A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...
has quit his job at
South Park Elementary and has been replaced by Mr. Derp, a
cliché
A cliché ( or ) is an element of an artistic work, saying, or idea that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, even to the point of being weird or irritating, especially when at some earlier time it was consi ...
cartoon character who tries (and fails) to win them over with his poor
slapstick
Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such a ...
comedy gags.
They then find out that Chef has a new girlfriend, Veronica, (voiced by Michael Ann Young) who has caused his life to change from that of a free-spirited, soul-singing cafeteria chef to that of a mediocre office worker. She is also extremely fond of singing the
love theme from ''
The Poseidon Adventure'', "
The Morning After" at inappropriate times. The boys believe that she is trying to steal Chef away from them and are dismayed when they discover that the two are planning to get married.
Not wanting Chef to go too, the boys seek advice from
Mr. Garrison, who suggests that Veronica is a
succubus: a
demon
A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, ani ...
ess sent from
hell
In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...
to prey on and suck the life out of men.
Meanwhile, a botched attempt at
laser eye surgery leaves Cartman temporarily blinded. While the others mock him, Veronica comes to visit them. She manages to convince them that she is not a monster but, just as she is about to leave, suddenly takes on a demonic face, laughing maniacally and declaring that they cannot stop her from marrying Chef. The boys try to tell Chef of this at the
rehearsal dinner, but he angrily shuts them out. They go back to Cartman's place to formulate a plan to stop the
wedding.
The boys discover that a succubus controls the minds of men with a melody and that playing it backwards will vanquish it. They remember that Veronica always sings
"The Morning After" and proceed to learn how to sing the song backwards. At the wedding, they play a tape of the song backwards while
Stan
Stan or STAN may refer to:
People
* Stan (given name), a list of people with the given name
** Stan Laurel (1890–1965), English comic actor, part of duo Laurel and Hardy
* Stan (surname), a Romanian surname
* Stan! (born 1964), American author ...
and
Kyle sing the words in reverse order. Veronica begins to lose her hold on her human form. When the tape gets jammed, she peels off her human disguise and reverts to her true shape—a bizarre, red-eyed, bat-winged,
witch/
hag-like monster—flying around and wrecking the
church (and killing
Kenny in the process). When the boys finish singing the song, Veronica is sucked back into Hell. Chef, no longer under her evil spell, apologizes to the boys for ignoring them and eventually returns to their school as the chef and as his old self.
Cartman returns to his optometrist, who tells him that, with eyes as bad as his, he will always have to wear glasses. He solves this problem by convincing the doctor to give him an eye
transplant
Transplant or Transplantation may refer to:
Sciences
*Transplanting a plant from one location to another
*Organ transplantation, moving an organ from one body to another
*Transplant thought experiment, an experiment similar to Trolley problem
*Tra ...
, using Kenny's frozen head as a donor. The optometrist then asks for $3.50, suggesting that Chef's parents' tales were not entirely fabricated.
Production
Parker and Stone say in the DVD commentary that the sketch involving the Loch Ness Monster was the inspiration for the character Chef. Originally Comedy Central wouldn't let the creators voice African-American characters on the show. The episode also introduces the word
Derp.
A television promo of the episode showed that the character Ms. Crabtree was originally Chef's replacement in the episode.
References
External links
"Succubus"Full Episode at South Park Studios
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Succubus, The
1999 American television episodes
South Park (season 3) episodes
Demons in television
Television episodes about weddings
Succubi in popular culture