I mean, Cartman was easily the most matured of the group. He completely changed everything about himself. So much so that — when given the chance to kill Kyle and stop the potential of losing the life he built — he risked everything because it was the right thing to do (arguably). He even said that he trusted God to give him his life back. He matured more than anyone — with his childhood friends maintaining their immaturity — and he risked more than anyone to engage in a totally selfless act. And in the end, he was the only one who suffered by losing absolutely everything. I didn’t see it as a “he deserved it” (he was a child - albeit a horrible one - who grew into a great person), and horrible writing? Man, that ending almost had me in tears. Absolutely tragic. It deserves a damned Emmy.
Cartman is a monster in human skin. That he grew up to have a decent life–a job and a loving family–is almost unconscionable from a boy who FED ANOTHER BOY HIS OWN PARENTS IN A BOWL OF CHILI.
But.
That that boy would grow up to be the kind of person that would sacrifice that life to save humanity and end up a broken homeless drunk goes perhaps just a bit too far. It’s clear that Cartman has changed. In a wide variety of ways. And he’s sufficiently changed to be willing to save the world like that is amazing. It’s absolute evil becoming what amounts to absolute good, and that’s disconcerting enough to make you wonder if the monster he was merits his fate, when the saint he became did what he did.