One thing I've always appreciated about South Park is that it allows me to say that I've seen incredible, unusual things. From the very first episode this has been true. Back then we who watched the show could say, "Last night I saw a giant satellite dish grow out of some kid's ass", and it has only gotten weirder since. This week, fans of the show can say, "Last night I saw a parade of middle-aged men smoking pot while bouncing down the street on their gigantic testicles". Even more amazing is the fact that this sentence refers to a moment of cogent social commentary.

A few American states have bills that will coming up for a vote this November concerning the legalization, or at least decriminalization, of marijuana. It's an issue that is both specific to our time and, as many believe, long overdue. Though South Park has been on for nearly fifteen years, it has more or less stayed away from the debate until now, which is pretty surprising. Given the show's demographic and its political leanings, an episode dedicated to pot seems like something that should have popped up in the first few seasons. Barring the general drug-centered episode from South Park's early days featuring a very high Mr. Mackey, Parker and Stone have more or less avoided the topic.

This is the right time for such an episode, though. With medical marijuana dispensaries blossoming all around the country, including in Colorado, the topic is ripe for satire. Once such establishment opens in everyone's favorite sleepy mountain town, replacing a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant that has been serving Cartman his own favorite substance for years. This sets off two entertaining plots that both comment on the state of substance control in America.

Let's get the weaker of the two out of the way first. Cartman, deprived of his beloved chicken by a new law restricting the presence of fast food in Colorado, becomes a full-blown addict in withdrawal. This plays a lot better when the episode explores more original material, like Cartman visiting a clinic to get a cup of gravy a la the Methadone Cure. It stays interesting while he rises in the ranks of a black market operation to deal KFC in South Park, then the plot loses its footing in a Scarface parody.

Meanwhile, Randy Marsh learns that he can only get dispensary pot with a prescription, leading to him slipping his own testicles into his microwave to bring on an instant case of cancer. The condition manifests as two massive tumors on which Randy quickly learns to bounce as a means to get around. I love that I can turn on my television and get absurd visuals like that, but I love it even more that the folks at South Park Studios deemed it necessary to make a funny ball-bouncing theme song to go along with it.

The commentary, of course, is that prohibition of substances leads to silly and often dangerous behavior that is far worse than anything the substances themselves do. Thankfully, Parker and Stone decided to let this point speak for itself and have a lot of fun along the way.

Best Moment: Randy and his buddies bouncing down the street. It was a moment of pure, unadulterated goofiness.

Notes: I like that the episode suggested that women love big testicles the way men love big breasts. It added an extra dimension to an already funny premise.

Episode Rating: 4.5/5- This episode did everything a good episode of South Park ought to do, but I feel like the boys were left out of the action a bit too much. Still, "Medicinal Fried Chicken" was funny and had decent commentary without becoming too preachy.