South Park brutally eviscerates Kristi Noem, ICE in newest episode

South Park’s triumphant return to the airwaves last month aimed most of its firepower at Donald Trump’s penis. But after taking a two-week break, the animated series has returned and spread the love. The second episode of season 27 (“Got a Nut”) goes after two more members of Trump’s cabinet: Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Vice President J.D. Vance.

The episode is much more focused on Noem and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE), which is depicted as an untrained, masked, and violent occupying force. “Got a Nut” follows school counselor Mr. Mackey after he loses his job due to efficiency-related budget cuts (we’re still waiting for South Park to directly take on DOGE and Elon Musk) and realizes his only option is to join ICE. He’s quickly given the job and shuffled into a room where he and several dozen other recruits watch a training video in which Noem welcomes them to ICE and then shoots a puppy (a real thing that actually happened). During the video, Noem’s face also begins to melt away until a team of makeup artists and surgeons swarm in to fix her “Botox” just in time for the triumphant ending.

Mackey and his fellow ICE agents are then immediately dispatched to raid their first target… a Dora The Explorer Live performance in downtown Denver. Noem is there, as well, and she takes a minute to congratulate Mackey for his good work while also shooting a helpless service dog. Her face falls off again, too.

Trump eventually summons Mackey to Mar-a-Lago, where he plans to instate the former guidance counselor as his new head of ICE because Noem’s face is too freaky for him. The Palm Beach club is depicted as Fantasy Island (a reference to a 1970s and ’80s TV show that fans will definitely understand). However, this is all just a clever excuse to portray J.D. Vance as Tattoo, the energetic sidekick from Fantasy Island best known for announcing new guests by shouting “De plane! De plane!”

Vance doesn’t really do much here, except for briefly offering to lube up Satan’s butthole with baby oil for Trump, which is the moment where Mackey decides to bail out. Of course, Vance himself is totally in on the joke.

By the end of the episode, Noem’s melted-off face has taken on a mind of its own as it scurries around the Mar-a-Lago dining room like an Alien facehugger, terrifying the guests before latching onto some unnamed ICE agent. But with Mackey gone, Trump has no choice but to keep Kristi around as the face of ICE, and she gets one more triumphant, Botox-ed pose as the credits roll.

Overall, “Got a Nut” isn’t quite as jaw-droppingly shocking as the season premiere, but it still feels like a worthy follow-up that raises the stakes and pushes forward whatever semblance of a plot South Park has to offer. There’s also an amusing B-plot in which Eric Cartman transforms into a “Master Debater” in a parody of alt-right internet influencers like Charlie Kirk. It’s clever enough, but for a better depiction of modern toxic masculinity right now, check out episode 9 of the King of the Hill reboot, “The Boys Ain’t Right.”

South Park season 27 is expected to return for episode 3 on Aug. 14.