Matt, that is exactly it! I think it finally happened in the last episode. But that was way too long.

Agree, they just suddenly stop when they haven't really gone anywhere yet and have just reached the minimum of jokes to pass as a new episode. They feel shorter than normal, but not because they are so "good", but because one is really waiting and waiting for it to take off Aaand it's done.

South Park has definitely become more serialized in later seasons.
Perhaps it's because Matt & Trey like doing longer drawn out story arcs these days instead of self-contained episodes.

Agreed, the three parters were some of the best SP stories out there. As for the whole series taking on this format, if this was a 40 minute series, I could do waiting till next week, but for a mere 20 odd minutes a week? That just leaves me a little frustrated.

Some of the three parters were excellent.
But an entire season is too long.

if it makes you want to watch it again next week it has sort of fulfilled it's purpose as a TV series

The last season did that too. Every episode was a continuation of the last. Seems like that's what they're going to be doing for awhile now. Probably to get people to keep watching, as opposed to catching a few episodes here and there and then moving onto something else.
Yeah well, you know thats just like, your opinion man.

Exactly nobody has any patience. I don't want to wait to find out what happens is the most common complaint about TV shows these days. Netflix has spoiled people.

Seems to me people only ever complain about serialized TV series when they can't binge-watch them.

Me too.
Serialized TV shows have usually been the most successful and critically acclaimed, btw (Game of Thrones, Prison Break, Lost, Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, etc). So I don't get the hate?

I've been enjoying this season quite a lot because of its ongoing story. I enjoy having something to look forward to with the end of each episode.

YEa I like the serialized nature the show has taken but yea this season has really amped it up and made it more one long story. The last couple seasons were serialized but each episode still felt like it's own.

They did very so often, but not with this scale. For example, the BP, Cthulhu episode was divided in 3 parts; The "Black Friday is coming" Game of thrones episode was also 3 parts; and the imagination land one became a trilogy as well.
In the end, I really enjoy this new format, it gives a sense of "hype" for the next episode.

Yeah I already knew it's coming. Basically filler and massive surprise twist 'to-be-continued' at the end. It's frustrating, I might just wait till the season is over and watch at once.