All these years later, South Park still exists in a category of comedy all its own.
I don't know if those who still dismiss it as mere gross-out humour ever saw past the first three seasons, where the nasty jokes would soon come to function as vessels for topical commentary that, in turn, got at something deeper that's wrong with modern society (even a "dated" parody of the hype around Paris Hilton works quite well in the Cardi B/Kardashians era). I don't know if critics know how human the characters became, how escalatingly insane each episode's plot got (oft adding to the effect of its commentary), or how all-encompassing the social satire got (thus falsely earning labels like "centrist" and "nihilist" for simply acknowledging insanity within all contemporary groups that possess it, and for pontificating that squabble may be an inevitability of America, as suggested in I'm A Little Bit Country, if not humanity itself).
South Park: Post COVID isn't quite up there with the show's finest moments. However, much like the other two COVID specials, it provides the multi-layered wit and go-getter attitude of Trey Parker and Matt Stone -- where each opportunity for a joke is taken -- that was often missing from the later seasons. Of course, the movie also works better the more you know about South Park. It's almost funny in and of itself to see these characters actually age; even funnier is the fact of what's happened to each of the kids.
Of course raging anti-semite Eric Cartman became one of the most deeply faithful Jews of his era (in what might still be a gag at the expense of Kyle, so elaborate that procreation with a Jewish woman was necessary). Of course little comedian Jimmy Vulmer became one of the ultra-safe "late night Jimmies". Of course Kenny is deceased (again) by the start of the movie and of course his mouth is covered by something when we finally see him speak in a flashback -- his role in the film's plot also bolsters something that his Mysterion persona hinted at: the fact that, beneath the accident-prone pervert whose deaths we all laughed at, existed one of the most truly good-hearted persons in the sh-tshow that is South Park, Colorado.
Some jokes seem to suggest that this was created mainly as an ad for Paramount+ (the special has several gags about conglomorates and streaming services; the media even gives a plus sign to the next COVID variant). Even if that's what this project was initially meant for, in true South Park fashion, it manages to be much more than that.
