Trey Parker and Matt Stone have always been pretty upfront about how South Park, like all animated sitcoms from the past 35 years, lives in the shadow of The Simpsons. There are plenty of ways that The Simpsons, even in its more uneven recent seasons, still outshines South Park: greater depth of ensemble, stronger emotional moments, even in the sheer number of episodes.
Something that South Park often does better, though, is react to contemporary social trends. Kyle, Stan, Cartman, Kenny and the rest are more or less the same age as Bart (and have been for decades); but The Simpsons has never been as adept at riffing on trends, tech and social issues as South Park, which has always been more immediate and responsive. Perhaps this is why it doesn’t feel like a betrayal to see the boys dealing with, say, looksmaxxing and aura farming, which is exactly what the third episode of South Park’s 29th season addresses.
