After the hilarious, censored two-part 200th episode spectacular, we weren't exactly sure what Matt Stone and Trey Parker were going to throw at us, but we were definitely hoping for something better than "Crippled Summer."

The episode was clearly divided into two story lines: the South Park boys staging an Intervention (parodying the A&E show) for Towelie, while Jimmy went up against Nathan in a color war at their handicap camp, Camp Tardicaca.  Yes, the two story lines were loosely tied together by Towelie's job at the camp and the Intervention style facts through the the episode, but it was a very loose connection.

While Towelie has been played out over the years, we actually enjoyed most of his intervention storyline.  The strongest part of the episode was the intervention itself at the end.  Between Butters heart-felt speech to Cartman's several hundred page rant against the Jews, we loved it.

We're glad it was Wash Cloth that won Towelie over.  Sure we seem to remember Towelie being some sort of robot that probably shouldn't be able to reproduce, let alone with a human, but it's the humanizing element to the towel that makes him so good.  "Who hired that towel?  It can barely walk, let alone dry someone off."

Now on to the Camp Tardicaca elements.  Clearly the episode had some fun poking fun at old Hannah Barbara / Warner Brothers cartoons with a bunch of the handicap children and the Nathan-Mimsy relationship felt very Mice & Men, but the actual jokes just weren't that good.

Despite Jimmy's ridiculous new balance with his ability to surf and play the ukulele, the character kind of took the backseat to Nathan and Mimsy and their various failed plots to kill Jimmy.  After awhile, the jokes become irritating with really only the Shark humping that had us laughing.

Maybe we're being extra critical because it followed two of our favorite episodes, but we feel like "Crippled Summer" was by far the weakest of the season.  With amazing episodes like "Medicinal Fried Chicken," we just expected more.  Now for our favorite South Park quotes from the episode:

Butters: You're not the Towelie you used to be. Where you used to be fluffy and absorbent, now you are crusty and unable to absorb the smallest amount of waster. | permalink

Kyle: Over the past few months, I have watched you go from an ancillary character with a few amusing catch phrased to a dried out spooge rag covered in the jizz of a thousand older men. | permalink

Counselor: Who hired that towel? It can barely walk, let alone dry someone off. | permalink

Eric Hochberger is the programmer of TV Fanatic, so please forgive his mediocre writing. His programming is far better. Follow him on Twitter and/or email him. Just don't request threaded comments. They're coming.