Damien
Damien
| Season | s01 |
| Episode | e08 |
| Written By | Trey Parker |
| Production Code | 0108 |
| Original Air Date | 1998-02-07 |
Episode Chronology
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Story
If you live in Latin America, you cannot see this episode in his original language
Shunned by the other kids, the Son of Satan calls upon his father to fight Jesus in the ultimate pay-per-view boxing match between good and evil.
Description
At school, Cartman passes out invitations to his birthday party, a celebration of legendary proportions. He's interrupted when Mr. Garrison introduces a new student, a sullen-looking kid named Damien. He's very up-front about the fact that he's the son of Satan. During lunch he turns Kenny into a duckbilled platypus, causes a windstorm in the lunchroom and demands to speak with Jesus.
The boys fetch the Savior. Damien tells Jesus his father Satan wants to battle him for control of the world, right in South Park. The locals, oblivious to the broader metaphysical implications of the conflict, frivolously bet on Jesus. The fight is scheduled for Saturday at the South Park Forum.
Saturday is also Cartman's birthday. The kids are torn about which event to attend. At the prefight weigh-in, they are appalled to see that Satan clocks in at 7-feet 2-inches and 320 pounds, while Jesus weighs only 135 pounds. This causes the townspeople to change their bets en masse from Jesus to Satan.
The day for the fight and Cartman's birthday arrives. Most of the town's kids elect to go to the party including Damien, even though he wasn't invited. He wins over the other children by first torturing and then murdering (but not really) Pip in a highly inventive way.
The scheduling conflict with the Jesus/Satan fight and Cartman's party is resolved when Kyle, instead of bringing Cartman a robot action figure as he was told to, gives him an "Ants in the Pants" game. Furious, Cartman throws everyone out and ends the party.
The kids head for the South Park Forum, where Jesus is taking a tremendous beating. Between rounds Stan gives him a furious pep talk. When the bell rings Jesus strikes his first blow, just an inconsequential tap on the arm. To everyone's surprise, Satan crashes to the mat and is counted out. As he explains before leaving, he is the only person who bet on Jesus -- and now he'll take the towns' hard-earned savings with him to Hell.
What I Learned Today
"Parents can be so cruel. Don't they realize that what a child needs more than anything is security?"
Memorable Quotes
- "Holy crap dude, Satan's huge!" (Stan Marsh)
- "I can't hit Jesus Christ. My mother would never speak to me again." (Chef)
- "God dammit Jesus, snap out of it!" (Stan Marsh)
- "Who cut your hair? Stevie Wonder?!" (Eric Cartman)
- "Holy poop on a stick!" (Mr. Garrison)
- "I bet I can spit the most on him." (Clyde Donovan)
- "Wow, that kid has some real emotional problems." (Damien about Cartman)
- "Ooh, that is one futched up little cracker!!!" (Chef)
Original Songs
When the boys are being mean to the new kid Damien, Chef sings "We're All Special In Our Own Way". It starts off about accepting new people for who they are, and slowly turns into a smooth song about love making.
Characters
Character Debuts
We meet Satan and his son Damien Thorn. Though this episode is Damien's only appearance, Satan on the other hand has gained a much bigger role in the series.
Body Count
Locations
Behind The Scenes
Where Did The Idea Come From
"Damien" was originally intended to be a Christmas holiday episode, evident by the appearance of Jesus and other Christian themes. However, Mr. Hankey was developed as a Christmas character during the production of this episode, so Trey and Matt decided to feature Mr. Hankey in his own holiday episode "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" instead.
The subplot involving Damien is inspired by Trey's experience in second grade when he started attending an elementary school in the last three weeks of the school year. Trey did not fit in since all his classmates had their own friends, a situation he described as "brutal".
Pop Culture References
Shout Outs
The character Damien Thorn is a huge homage to 1976 supernatural horror film The Omen, even sharing a name of the film's child antagonist. Damien's theme music is a parody of The Omen's theme song "Ave Satani". Finally, the boys tell Damien that his mom is a "real dog". In the film, the Antichrist's mother was a jackal.
When Stan tries to buck up Jesus during the fight, he tells him, "Don't try to be a great man; just be a man." The line was lifted word-for-word from the 1996 film Star Trek: First Contact.
For his birthday, Cartman wants the set of green, yellow, and red Mega Man. Mega Man is the legendary video game series from the late 80s. The different colored action figures are also a parody of The Power Rangers, the superhero TV series with source footage from the Japanese Super Sentai franchise.
The Jesus vs. Satan "Boutin' at the Mountain" Pay-Per-View is take-off on HBO's premium pay-to-watch boxing events. Boutin' at the Mountain is also likely a parody of historic boxing event The Rumble in the Jungle between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali.
The announcer screams "Let's get ready to rumble!!!" This phrase is trademarked by professional announcer Michael Buffer, who actually voiced for this episode.
Pwn'd
Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan. When Stan holds Kerrigan up to Jesus as someone who wouldn't let adversity keep her from becoming No. 1, Kyle reminds him that she only took home a silver medal. "Never mind, Jesus," Stan says. "Nancy Kerrigan sucks."
Boxing promoter Don King, known for representing boxers Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, who represents Satan during a prefight press conference. He admonishes reporters who ask if the Prince of Darkness had a hand in the Gulf War to "just let everything be decided in the ring."
As Garrison continues his lecture on "great singers of the baroque era", he goes on to say that "Nancy Sinatra was quite a choice piece of ass."
Bonus Factoids
Pointless Observations
- In Mr. Garrison's classroom, "2x + 3y + 1 = 666" and "666" can be seen on the chalkboard respectively and the wall behind the kids.
- The dissonant chorus music that plays when Damien summons up his evil powers against Pip can be heard in later episodes involving a demonic situation. The episodes so far include "Woodland Critter Christmas", "Tsst!" and Britney's New Look".
- The episode has the first appearance of South Park's bar, simply called "Bar" in this episode. It is later renamed "Skeeter's Bar and Cocktails" owned by Skeeter.
- This is the second episode since "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" to be rated TV-14.
- Five Visitors can be found throughout this episode: in the twister as Satan talks to the crowd of people; in the crowd during the "Match for Spiritual Dominion"; behind Mayor McDaniels at the fight; on the "What We Dream" pegboard on the bottom right corner; and on the "Have you seen me?" poster flies through in Damien's anger.