Official Description

The show’s creators celebrate the THIRD episode of Tegridy Farms. This week, Randy revels in a Tegridy Farms milestone. Meanwhile, Cartman stands his ground and refuses to get a shot.

Full Description

Randy Marsh celebrates the milestone $300,000 in profit that his business, Tegridy Farms, has made selling marijuana by organizing a parade and producing a television commercial touting the new customer base resulting from his recent deal with the Chinese government. However his wife, Sharon, is angered at him for incurring these endeavors without considering their cost or consulting her, despite the fact that they purchased the farm together to avoid the type of business it has now become. She is also angered that the Chinese government purchases their product to use it to frame Chinese protesters in order to justify their arrests.

Meanwhile, fourth grader Eric Cartman, who is terrified of needles, refuses the vaccine required by his school, squealing like a pig and evading restraint whenever a shot is imminent. Threatened with expulsion from South Park Elementary, he attempts to avoid vaccinations by lobbying to be designated a conscientious objector, citing fears that vaccines might make him "artistic". He has his mother, Lianne Cartman, repeat this notion at a town meeting, but she then abandons this ruse to confess with exasperation that she simply cannot restrain him for the shot. Fearing that this may threaten the herd immunity that protects their children, the other parents in town conspire with her to ambush Cartman with a shot as he sleeps, and when this fails, they hire an expert pig wrestler, Big Mesquite Murph, who captures Cartman and places him in a pen. However, Cartman proves too fast for Big Mesquite Murph to restrain, so a rodeo is organized, which will pit the non-immunized children of South Park against those attempting to administer the required shots.

When Lianne goes to Tegridy Farms to buy marijuana, she and Randy end up commiserating over the conflict they are each having with their loved ones. When she tells him he should feel lucky at having a partner in life, he realizes he has not been kind to that partner, who is owed an apology. He apologizes not to Sharon, but to his business partner, Towelie, admitting that he became greedy, and promises to end his business deal with the Chinese. Lianne, realizing that being a mother is the only thing she knows how to do, crashes the rodeo to rescue Cartman, and is accidentally stuck with the needle intended for Cartman. After freeing her son, she takes him home, but denies him the toy that children get after being immunized. Cartman later goes to his doctor himself for the shot, but is told that his mother is exhibiting side effects from the heavy dose she received, which was not intended for an adult. Eric discovers her painting a still life, horrified that the vaccine has indeed made her "artistic".

What I Learned Today

Memorable Quotes

• "I HATE MARIJUANA!" Shelley
• "We can't even risk a point one percent chance of vaccinations making our children artistic." Liane Cartman

Songs

• "China" Song by Red Rockers sang by Randy Marsh

• "I Hate Marijuana" Randy Marsh shows the family his $300,000 commercial

Characters

Cameos

• These characters only have one or two lines, or none at all, but still make a notable appearance in the episode, if briefly.
  • In particular, several parent characters can be spotted briefly in attendance at the PTA Meeting.

Character Debuts

Body Count

Costume Debuts

Locations

Location Debuts

Continuity Nods

• Previous episodes have actually hinted that Liane Cartman had natural artistic abilities:
  • In season 6's "The Biggest Douche in the Universe", she expresses an interest in seeing the Broadway musical Hairspray! as a secondary motivation to visit New York City.
  • She expresses that she had forgotten how artistic she was in season 10's "Tsst!", creating art for pleasure while Cartman is behaving himself.
• Cartman's behavior in the episode is compared to a pig or a hog trying to evade capture, continuing a theme of comparisons between him and pigs:
  • He has, or had, a pet pig named Fluffy who appeared in two early episodes a few seasons apart. She hasn't been heard from in a long time, but Sparky and Mr. Kitty are seldom seen as well so Fluffy's fate is uncertain.
  • In season 3's "The Succubus", Cartman's eye doctor Dr. Lott spends much of the episode referring to him as "piggy" and teasing him about his weight.
  • In season 5's "Scott Tenorman Must Die", Cartman is famously forced by Scott Tenorman to chant that he is a "little piggy", emphasizing his nose as a "snout" and going "oink oink oink".

Behind The Scenes

Where Did The Idea Come From

Pop Culture References

Shout Outs

Pwn'd

• This is the second episode to tackle the anti-vaccination movement, which previously played a role in season 15's "Ass Burgers", where mandatory HPV vaccinations for the girls were a point of discussion between Cartman and Kyle. Mr. Mackey later misdiagnosed Stan with Asperger's Syndrome based on his depression as a result of him having been vaccinated.

Bonus Factoids

Pointless Observations

• This is the 300th episode of South Park in both air and production order.
  • This is referenced in the episode itself by Randy's celebration of earning three hundred thousand dollars thanks to his actions in the previous few episodes.
• This is one of the only episodes in which Cartman's mother is referred to by another parents as simply "Liane", as used by Sheila Broflovski.
• Stephen calls out down the stairs to "Thomas and Linda" during the effort to vaccinate Cartman, while Thomas Tucker, Laura Tucker and Linda Black are at the foot of the stairs, but Linda Stotch is also present next to him.

Errors and Goofs

• Though most of Dr. Bender's dialogue in the same voice he used in his previous appearances, he reverts to Dr. Gauches' familiar voice in the final scene of the episode.
  • As the same medical degree prop is used for both characters, and Dr. Gauche has only spoken once since season 14's Medicinal Fried Chicken, a hundred episodes earlier, some fans assume they represent the same character.
• During the PTA meeting, Richard Adler accidentally uses the model asset created to represent his younger self in "Mysterion Rises", with a different sweater and more hair. This error has occurred in a few previous episodes as well, such as season 20's "Skank Hunt".

Public Reactions

Though there was some limited coverage of the episode's milestone status, it was soon overshadowed by the references to the previous episode, "Band in China". As covered on that page, Randy's forced declaration "Fuck the Chinese government" attracted significant attention.

Season 23

e1 Mexican Joker

e2 Band in China

e3 Shots!!!

e4 Let Them Eat Goo

e5 Tegridy Farms Halloween Special

e6 Season Finale

e7 Board Girls

e8 Turd Burglars

e9 Basic Cable

e10 Christmas Snow