4th Grade (South Park)

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"4th Grade" is the eleventh episode of the fourth season of the animated television series South Park, and the 59th episode of the series overall. In production order, it would be the 12th episode of Season 4. "4th Grade" originally aired in the United States on November 8, 2000, on Comedy Central. The episode focuses on the main characters' first day of fourth grade. The three previous seasons of the program featured the characters in the 3rd grade with Mr. Garrison as their teacher. The grade change plot device allowed for the introduction of a new teacher, Ms. Choksondik, and a new opening sequence in which the show referenced The Six Million Dollar Man. The episode is also the final resolution to a three-part mini-arc involving Mr. Garrison coming out of the closet.^[1]

Synopsis[]

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This episode marked the boys' move into the fourth grade. Not knowing their new teacher, the boys plan to exert dominance over the teacher, but are thrown off after meeting their new teacher Ms. Choksondik, who terrifies them when she explains that fourth grade will be different and the children are all very frightened. Cartman eventually makes the children realize that they took the ease of the 3rd grade for granted and do not want to go through a whole year in 4th grade. They seek help from two scientific Trekkies and ask them to create a time machine so they can return to the 3rd grade. The Star Trek fans then construct the device using Timmy's wheelchair.

Meanwhile, it is revealed that the teachers do not like Ms. Choksondik any more than the students do, especially as when she lifts her arms up, a small section of her breasts come into view, which even Chef finds freaky. Ms. Choksondik reports to Principal Victoria, Mr. Mackey and Chef that she is unable to teach the children in her class and attempts to speak to Mr. Garrison (who was fired after he was accused of trying to solicit sex from Cartman), but she is unable to get any information. The next day in class, the children begin their plan of traveling back to 3rd grade. However, the plan backfires and instead of creating a portal back in time, Timmy is driven through the classroom wall in his uncontrollable wheelchair. He is unable to stop the wheelchair as it would explode if he slows down or if he gets off (a reference to the film Speed), because of the materials used to convert it to a "time-travel" device. Kenny is dragged to death in an attempt to disarm the device, after which Stan replies "Well who didn't see that coming?" (This is one of the few episodes where Kenny's death gag is referenced by one of the characters). Eventually, a portal does open and Timmy is thrown into the pre-historic past.

Ms. Choksondik, after getting the other teachers to fill her in, goes on a journey to find Mr. Garrison, who has gone into a self-imposed exile in the mountains after his romance novel won the Gay Pulitzer Prize award, in order to learn how he dealt with the class. Mr. Garrison agrees to help her, and shows her how he does it. Eventually, he then comes to the realization that he needs to admit and confront his "gay side" (in a parody of Luke Skywalker confronting his dark-side in The Empire Strikes Back). The children try to convince the two Star Trek geeks to build another time machine but they refuse to work together because of a disagreement over how many original Star Trek episodes were made.

In the end, Ms. Choksondik uses Garrison's methods to gain the class' attention, explaining how pointless it is to go back in time to relive the good moments as there many new challenges to face with in life. Realizing that Ms. Choksondik is right, they also realize that 3rd-grade was never as great as they remembered it to be, and get mad at Cartman for making them think 3rd-grade was so great. They decided to accept the 4th grade as it should be, much to Ms. Choksondik's relief. Timmy comes back with "souvenirs" from the eras he had visited. Mr. Garrison openly admits his homosexuality to Principal Victoria, Chef, and Mr. Mackey, and asks for his job back, but Principal Victoria informs him that the school doesn't hire gay people.

See also[]

• Fourth grade
• Third grade

References[]

External links[]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: 4th Grade

• "4th Grade" Full episode at South Park Studios
• "4th Grade" Episode guide at South Park Studios
• "4th Grade" at IMDb