Butters' Very Own Episode

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"Butters' Very Own Episode"

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"Butters' Very Own Episode"
Episode no.	Season 5 Episode 14
Production no.	514
Original airdate	December 12, 2001
Episode chronology Previous Next "Kenny Dies" "Jared Has Aides"
List of all South Park episodes

"Butters' Very Own Episode" is the fourteenth and final episode of Season Five, and the 79th overall episode of South Park. It aired on December 12, 2001.

Synopsis

Alone and lost, Butters determinedly makes his way through porn theatres and gay bathhouses in an effort to get his dad back home in time to eat at Bennigan's for his parents' anniversary.

Plot

Spoiler warning! Plot details follow.

A theme song about Butters begins playing. Initially, the premise seems light and sitcom-like simple: Butters express excitement about his parents' upcoming anniversary, which they are going to celebrate at Butters' favorite restaurant, Bennigan's. A few days before their anniversary, Mrs. Stotch (Linda) asks Butters to spy on his father (Chris), in order to find out what his gift for her will be. She is convinced that it would be better than her gift for him. Butters follows his dad as he enters first a gay theater called Studcat Theater with Fisting Firemen 9 playing, then a gay bathhouse called The White Swallow, and has casual sex with men. He does not understand the seriousness of what he saw, so he is quite cheerful when he tells his mother about what occurred and shows her the photos he took to prove it, believing his father went to see a sad movie as he left with lots of tissues and that his father was "wrestling" at that bathhouse. She then goes insane and spends the entire day next day painting coat after coat of paint on the wall and is in an odd state of mental absence and/or shock.

The next day, Butters once again followed his dad to the bathhouse that night, and (after briefly encountering Mr. Garrison in a steam room) meets up with Stephen as he is masturbating on a bed in one of the rooms. Chris is horrified upon seeing Butters there and advises him to go back home, like a good little boy. Butters cheerfully says goodbye and leaves. When he gets home, Chris invites Butters to meet with him in his study, and explains to him that it is okay to tell a little white lie in order to avoid emotionally hurting people, and asks him not to tell his mom what he just saw, because if she found out about what Stephen was doing, he thinks she would go crazy. Butters brushes this off and says that it would not be a problem, revealing that he had already told his mother everything he had done that night. Chris is taken aback by this, and becomes extremely frightened.

Linda then comes into the room and says in a dull tone that she wants to take Butters for a little car ride. Butters asks if dad is coming with them. She says no, telling Butters that daddy needs to stay behind so he can think about what he has done. Chris is concerned, but momentarily at a loss for words. Butters gets up from his lap and follows his mom out the door, anticipating the car ride.

It turns out that Linda intended to kill herself after learning about Stephen's activities, and decided that she should kill Butters too by driving into the river, then leaving Butters to drown while he remains in the car. Her reasoning behind this plan is revealed to be so that Butters did not have to live a life without a mother, or for him to grow up being raised by Chris. Butters, once again, has no idea what is really happening, and he proceeds to casually tell his mom about things he did at school. Linda then gets out of the car, shifts the gear to neutral, leaving Butters in the car alone. She tells him to stay put and to not unbuckle his seat belt or leave the car. Butters is confused but trusts his mom entirely and happily does as she asks. Linda says softly that she will be with him shortly afterward. Butters, however, does not drown as she expected him to, rather, the current carries the car for a long time down the stream. When it finally stops, Butters, who is convinced that the car-in-the-water incident was merely an accident, gets out and hurries back home so he and his parents can still go to Bennigan's.

Later, Chris comes into the house just as Linda is finishing her suicide note. Upon seeing him enter, she stops writing and quickly goes to hang herself on a noose that she prepared. He manages to stop her from killing herself and admits to his homosexual affairs. He explains that his bi-curiousness grew out of experimentation on the Internet, and tells her that it is becoming an addiction, while refusing to take responsibility for his actions and instead blames the Internet. He insists that he still loves Linda and does not want to lose his family, but becomes horrified when Linda confesses to having "killed" Butters. Having regained their composure, both agree to cover the murder up, informing the press that Butters was kidnapped by "Some Puerto Rican Guy". As the media centers in on the "missing child" case, the pair are inducted into a "club" of people whose loved ones have taken from them by "Some Puerto Rican Guy", including Gary Condit, O.J. Simpson, and John and Patricia Ramsey.

Butters, after quite an adventure, finally returns. He walks in the door only to see his parents, both looking very stressed, fighting over which version of their story they must tell to the media. They had been so immersed in the argument that it takes them a few seconds to even realize Butters is back. They hug him, but quickly start fighting again, this time over what they should say to the media to explain how Butters got back. They ask Butters if he can tell one more little lie, and Butters snaps. He scolds them for lying and trying to teach him to lie as well. Both parents agree that he is right, they go outside and confess as to what really happened. They explain about Chris' bi-curiosity and affairs, Linda's attempted murder, and the whole cover-up, and it is only at this point that Butters realizes what actually happened, and is visibly disturbed. This is followed by a lengthy scene in which Chris repeatedly screams about "slimy scumbag liars" and "murdering murderers" while the camera cuts to the blank but smiling faces of Condit, Simpson, and the Ramseys, implying that they themselves are guilty of the loss of their own "loved ones". Butters, having been completely ignorant of the truth, is aghast and deeply traumatized. When Stan, Kyle, and Cartman (recovering from the loss of their friend Kenny in the previous episode), look at him in shock, he attempts to respond with a joke. He then explains to the boys that, while the knowledge of what really transpired is horrible and his faith in the inherent goodness of truth is shaken, he is certainly a delicious meal at Bennigan's will get him feeling back to normal: "I'm gonna be okay!" the boys are stunned and Stan asks "Really?" to which Butters sadly replies "No, I'm lying." He then leaves to join his family at Bennigan's, but quickly reappears and sings "That's me!".