South Park season 25 premiere review: Pajama Day

After a long two-year break (pandemic specials excluded), the humble folks of South Park are finally back. Returning to its traditional episodic form, Feb. 2 saw the premiere of the much anticipated 25th season.

Come on down and try to unwind as we talk about the first episode of season 25 of South Park, titled “Pajama Day”.

First, a quick synopsis. The Fourth Grade class ends up invoking PC Principal’s rage when they, as typical, react silently to Mr. Garrison’s bizarre requests to help with his love life. As punishment, they are not allowed to wear pajamas on Pajama Day. Was ist das, Nazi-Deutschland?

In response to this wicked injustice, the parents of South Park stand in solidarity with the students and start wearing their own pajamas to work. Or so it began in solidarity, until, in typical South Park fashion, the town splits into factions. It’s the jammies versus the anti-jammies.

Here’s what happened in South Park season 25 episode 1

The social satire for this episode is pretty clear; the pajamas act as a cheeky and silly stand-in for masks and how divisive they have become. In that sense, using pajamas is really clever. It is obvious enough that you know what the show is hinting at, while avoiding the politics and science of the matter. In that way, South Park does what it does best and just shows the inherent comedy in the current issues of the day. They get some good mileage out of the gag, though over all it does get repetitive. The episode comes off a little one-note because of it.

That said, there is some variety, and I found those jokes to be highlights. We get a fun montage of all the South Park adults in their onesies set to a dangerously catchy jingle, and a visually absurd dream sequence of the kids rolling down the red carpet in pajamas designed for the Met Gala. There are also a considerable about of jabs directed at Matt Damon and his pyramid sche—I mean, bitcoin commercial, which got me to laugh heartily.

Overall, I’d say this is just about right for the first episode in a new South Park season; social commentary, molehills turned mountains, general chaos. However, personally I think it focused a bit too much on the social satire, and as a consequence the story felt secondary to the episode. The kids’ battle to win back Pajama day fell into the background as the adults arguing took more center stage. However, a solid episode nonetheless.

Grade: B 

What did you think of the episode? Was it worth of being the season 25 opener?