Stan Marsh (voice: Trey Parker), Kyle Broflovski (voice: Matt Stone), Kenny McCormick (voice: Matt Stone), and Eric Cartman (voice: Trey Parker) take a trip to Nebraska to visit Eric’s relatives at Christmastime. Eric’s jailed uncle chooses this time to escape along with Charles Manson. When none of the other adults will take the boys to see Mr. Hankey at the local mall, Manson volunteers for the job. 22 min.
The second season South Park Christmas episode, Merry Christmas Charlie Manson! does a better job than the first’s season’s Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo at being twisted. The idea of a Charles Manson Christmas special is inspired and leads to many excellent comedic bits.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much else except the Charles Manson gag. Stan’s anger with his parents (who refuse to let him join his friends on the trip) goes nowhere. The Cartmans just repeat many of Eric’s catchphrases, and the children being upset at a fake sitting in the big chair at the mall has been done over and over (OK, it’s usually Santa Claus, not Mr. Hankey in that chair, but that changes surprisingly little).
Again, there are nods to other Christmas specials and films, including It’s a Wonderful Life, The Grinch who Stole Christmas, A Christmas Story, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. It all ends in a predictable, but still marvelous gag connecting Manson and Charlie Brown.