HumancentiPad (South Park)

"HumancentiPad" (stylized as HUMANCENTiPad) is the first episode of the fifteenth season of the American animated television series South Park, and the 210th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on April 27, 2011.

Plot
Kyle is kidnapped after agreeing to an iTunes user agreement, and forced to become part of a "revolutionary new product" that is about to be launched by Apple. Meanwhile, Cartman, who has not acquired an Apple iPad, pesters his mother on the issue, drawing her ire.

Why It's a HumanCentiBad Episode That Can't Walk Or Read

 * 1) It's a harsh Kyle and Liane torture episode. Kyle forced to be part of the HumancentiPad project, after accepting an agreement on his iPad without reading it first, not realizing he accepted something that he didn't want to happen. Meanwhile, Liane Cartman is treated as a sexual abuser by his own son Eric Cartman as a result of her not being able to afford an iPad for him.
 * 2) The episode is beyond disturbing and horrifying, even for South Park standards. It's a parody of the The Human Centipede series of movies which were already terrible and infamous movies about 3 test subjects getting their mouths sewn shut from mouth-to-ass. This concept makes for a really disgusting and disturbing idea for an episode.
 * 3) Cartman is at one of his absolute worst moments as he not only causes a commotion since he wasn't allowed to buy the iPad that he wants, but he ends up lying that his mother had "fucked" him (which translates to sexually abusing him). Although Cartman is supposed to be written as an unlikable character in a hilarious way, this episode takes all the good things that made Cartman well-liked and turns him into an annoying brat.
 * 4) The episode overuses toilet humor in a disturbing fashion with the joke about people defecating into each other’s mouths being repetitive.
 * 5) *The episode also overuses jokes about pedophilia and incest mainly through Cartman's accusations towards his mother.
 * 6) It's never explained how Cartman got on to the Dr. Phil show right after being chastised by his mother for his bad behavior at Best Buy.
 * 7) The cuttlefish and asparagus/vanilla paste joke is unfunny and only serves to add to Kyle's torment. Even though Kyle tells the man he is connected to (Junichi Takiyama) that he clearly wants vanilla paste as heard through his muffled voice, the man does not listen and eats the cuttlefish instead. This scene only exists to be mean spirited to Kyle.
 * 8) Stan, Kenny, and Gerald never even think about calling the police to try to have them help saving Kyle, instead they go straight to the Apple Store.
 * 9) The way the episode portrays Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple is vicious as it portrays him as a sociopath who decides to invent his HumancentiPad because he wanted his iPad inventions to learn to walk and read. This portrayal is also in bad taste given that the episode aired five months before Steve Jobs died of pancreatic cancer. Yes, it was likely done to parody what it's like to work with him and dealing with his temper/anger issues, but it wasn't executed well at all.
 * 10) Liane Cartman while likable in the episode and also poorly treated, acts very cold towards Cartman in the end as after Cartman gets hit by lightning, Liane just sits by him in the hospital bed reading a magazine and coldly ignoring him while he cries while his hair is burned and has casts on. Sure she does have every right to be mad at Cartman for his bratty behavior and his false accusations towards Liane of "fucking" him but still it does not justify her neglect to ask Cartman if he is okay after the suffering he was put through. Although in her defense, this can basically be mostly understandable for the most part since Cartman treated her poorly in this episode most of the time and he got what he deserved in return.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) The first few minutes of the episode where Cartman was pretending to have a iPad was alright, in which is the less gruesome moment in the episode overall.
 * 2) Some funny moments, such as the scene where Cartman has a strop at Best Buy.
 * 3) *Likewise, depending on your view; some of the mean spirited moments can make for unintentional comedy.
 * 4) Despite being somewhat poorly executed, it does show how tedious it's to read Apple's lengthy end user license agreements, and how Apple was putting tracking software built into their iPhones and iPads.
 * 5) Satisfying ending: After Gerald convinces Steve Jobs, Jobs decides to cancel the HumancentiPad, releasing the victims from the device. At the same time, Cartman finally gets his comeuppance at the end by getting struck by a lightning.

Reception
Despite its 7.7/10 rating on IMDb, this episode was not well-received by most fans for its disturbing and cruel nature and the annoying sub-plot with Cartman. As of his "10 Darkest South Park Episodes" video, PhantomStrider now considers it the worst South Park episode. He even finds it worse than "Ren Seeks Help", implying that it is now the worst cartoon he has ever seen.

Gallery
The infamous moment in the episode.

Trivia

 * The title and plot is a reference to the 2009 horror film The Human Centipede.
 * The production of this episode is the focus of the documentary, 6 Days to Air: The Making of South Park.

Videos
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