Aaron Rupp

OK, so the big question on a lot of people’s minds (besides “is it canon?”) is why the Craig x Tweek pairing in particular. Before the episode even aired I was asking this same question, as even though it’s a popular ship it’s far from being THE most popular. But after seeing the episode play out and re-watching it quite a few times – regardless of how you feel about the pairing in question, in my opinion this was the best episode the show’s had in a very long time – I think I’ve figured out a possible theory as to why this was the case, and looking around into one other cartoon in particular helps to support this theory.

Before we get too far into this, let’s look into what are considered the top three pairings in the South Park fandom based on general fan rankings and the sheer amount of fan works dedicated to each pairing.

Style (Stan x Kyle)

Kyman (Kyle x Cartman)

Creek (Craig x Tweek)

After everything they’ve done together, they end up being ignored for an episode about yaoi?

I know that generally what I’ve seen when lurking around among the fandom is that is an episode like this were to happen, many people feel that Stan and Kyle would’ve been the most likely to be put in this position, and there was quite a bit of surprise when that wasn’t the case. But why? Keen-eyed viewers can easily pick up on all the moments between the two that make it seem like there might potentially be something more to this than just the status of “Super Best Friends,” and entire episodes dedicated to exploring their friendship have often times come off as something resembling a lover’s quarrel to many people instead of just a petty tiff to test their friendship (Guitar Queer-O is one example that comes to mind). If all the hints are there and Matt and Trey are potentially waiting to pull the trigger should this indeed end up canon, then why not now? That episode was the perfect time to do so, was it not?

No, I don’t think it was.

To understand why I don’t believe Style was the right pairing for the job here, we need to understand one very crucial point here that serves as the foundation to this entire theory:

Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny are the de facto main characters of the show.

Remember these faces, because you’ll be seeing them a lot over the years.

This is actually a very crucial point we need to keep in mind as I proceed here. Now, while I’m not going to deny the potential of this pairing to become canon at some point, I don’t feel now was the best time. Consider this for a moment: when you’re writing a story and building your main protagonist, one common thing any great writer will do in any story, whether it’s a fanfiction or something that’s actually published, is look for things that can either define this character or give them an ultimate goal to work towards. This is usually why if said main protagonist ends up in a relationship – regardless of the gender of their lover – that relationship has to make sense or else it just becomes a part of that character that just turns fans off. The safest bets for this are to either have this protagonist be in a relationship right from the beginning just to establish it (it doesn’t always have to actually be a crucial part of the story either, so long as it’s not taking anything away when the protagonist has to do something important to progress the story) or to have their love interest be the objective they’re working for either through the traditional means we all go through in our lives or perhaps a “save the princess” kind of scenario, just to name a few. Sometimes the relationship can be established mid-story, but this is generally a riskier play and I’ve only seen it used successfully if that relationship ultimately becomes crucial to the plot as it progresses.

Now what the hell does this have to do with South Park, you ask?

Well, to put it bluntly: South Park doesn’t fit this same mold that most other stories fall into. With the exception of the recent seasons (and if season 18 laid a permanent foundation to this new formula, then the end of the season typically undoes everything anyway), South Park has rarely had a definitive continuity beyond perhaps two or three parters and the occasional callback to a previous episode. One constant, however, has been our four main protagonists, and we’ve come to know them so well over the course of eighteen and a half seasons that an extreme change of character that doesn’t make sense would alienate a lot of long-time fans I feel. This is why the Style pairing wouldn’t work in my opinion for this episode, because of Stan and Kyle’s status as two of the main characters in this quiet little mountain town, and arguably the two most focused on characters throughout the show. Ignoring the fact that Stan’s still in a canon relationship with Wendy currently (which is a whole different topic), for Stan and Kyle to be “forced together” if they were the chosen two in this episode’s plot would put quite a hole in a lot of that character development. If it were to become canon I think it would be best for these two if it was something gradual.

They’re just very good friends guys. I’m super cereal on this, OK?

This might sound a bit weird, but I feel the best way to pull off something like making Style canon would be to go the route Legend of Korra took. Those of you who are familiar with the cartoon will know what I’m talking about, but for those who don’t (and I’m not going to care about spoilers because this has been floating around on the Internet for about a year now since the show’s end, so odds are you’ve come across it at least once) the ending scene of the series pretty much establishes that Korra (main protagonist) and Asami, two female characters, are starting a relationship. All the hints were there and it was a slow build, but it made the most sense to wait until the very end to establish it and then leave the rest up to the fandom’s imagination because fully establishing it earlier than that would’ve made little sense and thrown the story way off track with this unexpected element completely out of the blue, which is not something Korra needed at that point as the main heroine. This is how I feel Stan and Kyle would need to go to get the most out of the big “canon” reveal if it ever does happen, because while the shippers and most of the fandom would be going insane over such a revelation I feel it would do the two of them more harm than good as the series goes on because we constantly need to have some mention that these two are together, and if it doesn’t contribute to the story then fans might get sick of it even if they were in support of the pairing. It’s one reason why some fans who supported the Stan x Wendy relationship that’s existed since the start of the show have started turning away from it a bit, which is actually a lot easier to pull off when you live in a world where continuity was about as real as pre-Imaginationland ManBearPig up until recent seasons.

These two got it right, and unless South Park ends tonight Stan and Kyle just aren’t there yet.

Kyman… I’m sorry, but while I can understand the thought process behind this pairing, I just have a hard time believing this one is a thing, because it’s clear as day these two are lacking in any “sexual tension” and simply flat out despise one another for the most part and most of their more “positive” one-on-one interactions have either been due to a necessity of one of Cartman’s schemes (like the infamous “Cartman Finds Love” episode from a few seasons ago, which coincidentally was the only other appearance of Cartman’s “Cupid Me”) or because the end result ultimately benefitted at least one of them in some way (usually Cartman again). Despite my personal feelings on this particular ship, though, this one falls into the same exact problems Style does in terms of being the pairing focused on for this particular episode’s script, perhaps even more so because of the heavy antagonism that exists between Cartman and Kyle already. For them to suddenly “accept” being a couple just because Asian girls are drawing yaoi pieces of them would be one of the most extreme changes the show could make because then you throw that whole aspect of what makes these two such perfect frenemies right out the window, and I feel all the celebration from everyone on board with that ship would sink almost immediately with future episodes in that scenario.

Keep dreaming shippers, this is probably as close as you’re going to get.

So what makes Creek so damn different then, huh?

Well, let’s reiterate my earlier foundation point for a moment.

Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny are the de facto main characters of the show.

Do you see Craig or Tweek’s names anywhere in that statement? Of course not, even if Tweek did fill that role at one point once upon a time. Craig and Tweek are clearly both background characters, and that fact alone is what makes them the perfect choice as the pairing for this episode’s script. Think about it: how often do we really see either of these two in the spotlight? Sure, we see a lot of appearances from them as they’re sitting around or walking through the hallways (those keen-eyed viewers who’ve noticed all the times they seem to be sitting or standing beside one another are the main reason why this ship has continued sailing onwards), and maybe on occasion one or both of them will actually have a speaking role as it pertains to advancing the overall plot of an episode, but Craig hasn’t been in a main character-like role in the show since the Pandemic two-parter, which was back in season 12. Poor Tweek hasn’t been in that position since he took over Butters’ place as the replacement Kenny in the main four for about four or five episodes all the way back in season 6. Hell, the fact that these two were getting the main character slots for this episode was the reason that got me very excited about it because Tweek is my all-time favorite character and Craig’s not too far behind him since I can relate a lot to both of them in many ways.

Can you spot the “Creek” here?

Back on topic, these two both being background characters makes them the smart pairing for an episode like Tweek x Craig for one simple reason. Let’s play devil’s advocate for a moment and say that Creek is, in fact, canon. How does that in particular really affect the show, beyond us now having another gay couple to join Big Gay Al and Mr. Slave? Unless we get another episode that focuses on one or both of these guys, or it becomes a necessary point at the end of the season if all the PC madness gets cleared up and South Park goes back to the way it was as though nothing ever happened (again), at best we might see these two holding hands in the background or during one scene where they actually have a small role to advance the plot, or maybe they’re just hanging out… maybe even if something more happens if Matt and Trey really want to push it that far wondering if anyone will scan through every last little detail of every scene to try and find it. It doesn’t change anything that Stan, Kyle, Cartman or Kenny (those last three in particular since season 19 seems to be focusing on them quite a bit, which makes sense since Stan had the spotlight for a good chunk of season 18) might get up to, and I really doubt it will have any significant impact on tonight’s “Naughty Ninjas” episode. The relationship, whether canon or just a pretend one for the sake of making the new PC South Park adults happy, will simply exist in the background just like the two of them will and only become relevant again if a need to address it or use them in a scene arises.

Canon? Pretending? At least from a show standpoint it makes sense either way.