Hello all, and happy holidays. Christian suggested we write something about the Christmas episodes this year and I think that's a great idea. I just finished watching them all in one sitting, including Turnaround and Meets Home for the Holidays, and I thought I'd get the ball rolling with some general thoughts on each and a tentative, not at all final, personal ranking.
Santa's Little Helper (S1): The opening of this episode is a mess, it's almost like they switched writers after a few minutes. But once you make it past that switch, the humor improves and we end up with a strong look at Shawn's hatred of receiving charity. They manage to draw a clear line between giving gifts in the hope of being thanked, and doing it out of love, as well as Shawn's different reactions to the two. The fact that this part of Shawn's character stays consistent for the rest of the series makes me enjoy this one a lot more, right, it gains enormous value after seeing the whole series. The sincerity with which Amy is able to laugh at Morgan is equaled only by how sincerely Minkus doesn't understand why Shawn hasn't given him five dollars. I love that Minkus doesn't understand. As book smart as he is, he's still just a kid. It's incredible that they got this one so right in their first season.
Apologies if I go a little long on these, it's my first chance to review them! I'm doing my usual Episode Rating and MVP giving, but I'm also adding a Christmas Rating. This measures how much of a Christmas episode it is and I'll try to give that some consideration when trying to choose a best Christmas episode. The scale goes thusly:
5 Golden Rings - Super Christmas-y
4 Calling Birds - Mainly about Christmas, but there's at least some plotline where it doesn't really matter that it's Christmas.
3 French Hens - 50/50 split on Christmas and non-Christmas content.
2 Turtle Doves - Not really all that much about Christmas, but it does take place at Christmas and there's some Christmas stuff going on, at least a Christmas subplot or something.
1 Partridge - Might as well not even be Christmas for all the Christmas-y it is.
