South Park's Latest Episode Is Very Strange, And Not For The Reasons You'd Think

This episode contains spoilers for "South Park" season 28, episode 1, "Twisted Christian."

Last night's "South Park" was weird for a whole number of reasons. Keeping with Matt Stone and Trey Parker's commitment to parodying the trends of the time, "Twisted Christian" sees the mysterious 6-7 meme pick up with just about every kid in school. This is where I show my age in admitting that I still don't entirely know what the Gen Alpha term means, but in the episode itself, it's both an inside joke and a cause for concern among other parties. Tech billionaire Peter Thiel (Stone) soon becomes a pawn of Lil Vance and his plans to stop the Antichrist, otherwise known as the butt baby of President Donald J. Trump (Stone) and Satan (Parker). The episode ends with an "Exorcist"-esque confrontation between Thiel and Eric Cartman (Parker), who can't help but vomit every time someone indulges the 6-7 bit. There's even a side plot involving Jesus (Stone) and PC Principal (Parker) arguing over what it means to be a real Christian, and yet, none of this is the strangest thing about last night's episode.

Hours before "Twisted Christian" aired on Comedy Central, The Wrap reported that the episode wouldn't be the sixth episode of season 27, but the premiere of season 28. It was assumed that season 27 would consist of 10 episodes throughout 2025. The trade added that, while we may be on a new season, the remaining four episodes Stone and Parker are contracted for this year will be released over the next few months. So, what happened? The "South Park" co-creators, as well as Paramount, have yet to comment on the sudden shift, which leaves it all open to interpretation at this point.

Sneakily premiering "Twisted Christian" as the start of a whole new season came as a surprise to just about everyone. For one, the 15 second promo that South Park Studios released to its YouTube channel yesterday advertised it as "an all-new episode." When "Conflict of Interest" aired on September 24, 2025, it wasn't billed as a season finale, nor presented like one. In fact, this week's episode plays like a natural continuation of the butt baby affair. But Paramount+, in addition to cable listings, has indeed referred to last night's round of Trump having a teeny, tiny penis jokes as the true start of season 28. This has understandably caused confusion among viewers and outlets alike, as they've gone back and forth on how to cover it.

Stone and Parker had been in a rigorous negotiating process for the future of "South Park" that continued until mere hours before season 27 was slated to debut on Comedy Central. The deal resulted in a staggering $1.5 billion payday that contractually obligates the pair to produce 50 episodes for Comedy Central over the next five years, so we're getting all of them anyway (via The Hollywood Reporter). Considering the Paramount deal didn't specifically mention the amount of seasons Stone and Parker had to deliver, having a bunch of short seasons isn't entirely out of the realm of possibility. But the decision to cut season 27 really short amid the ongoing thread of the cartoonish Trump administration, with no indicators as to when one season ends and another begins, is really odd.

"Twisted Christian" being considered the start of a new season would technically make season 27 the second shortest in the series' entire run. Seasons 25 and 26 consisted of six episodes each, while "Conflict of Interest" marks the fifth and final episode of its season. The shortest "season" is technically the 24th, which consists of 2020's "The Pandemic Special" and 2021's "South ParQ Vaccination Special." These two are different from the rest of the other double-length episodes Stone and Parker had done for Paramount+ like "Post COVID" and "The Streaming Wars," as those were part of a previous deal with Paramount and were advertised as "exclusive events." Television business deals can be so confusing sometimes.

Needless to say, Season 27 has certainly been one of the series' most eventful in quite some time, as its premiere episode, "Sermon on the 'Mount," took ruthless jabs at Trump and Paramount for bending the knee to his current administration. The following episode ("Got A Nut") dug even further, delivering hilarious jabs at the targeted ICE raids run by Trump's current Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem. Not helping matters, the show took some heat when right-wing podcaster Charlie Kirk was assassinated five weeks after its parody of him being a "master debater," despite Kirk having been flattered by the whole thing (via The Hollywood Reporter). God only knows how the rest of this season is going to unfold, especially since "Twisted Christian" is the show's weakest episode since its new Paramount deal. If nothing else, though, it certainly gives an interesting entry point for a battle between Cartman and the incoming Antichrist.

Every episode of "South Park" is currently streaming on Paramount+.