Our take
A song-and-skate Christmas special staged by three children who are mostly worried about their presents, and one of the show's most tender endings. The ice show is gloriously ramshackle, the songs are catchy and the grumpy mall Santa is a good foil. The final scene, in which the family's fiercest child confesses she fears she is not good, lands harder than you expect.
What happens
It is late December at the mall, and the Belcher kids are fed up with waiting for the massage chair, so Louise gets her siblings to help turf out the white-bearded man hogging it. He turns out to be the mall Santa, and he warns them he will be reporting their behaviour up north. Terrified of the naughty list after a nightmare about Santa's annual report, Louise plans a musical spectacular on the mall's small ice rink on Christmas Eve, a show on ice retelling the good deeds the three of them did that year. Gene stretches the truth and Tina bends it a little too. With help from Mr Fischoeder, who sings about his favourite Christmas drinks, and Teddy's hockey team, the show goes ahead. At the end Louise admits she does not think she is a nice person, and her family tell her how loved she is; she also learns that a small starter shark under the tree is not so bad.
Can the kids watch it?
Rated TV-PG in the US for some crude jokes and language; one of the gentler Christmas episodes, fine for most children from about 8.
Cast and crew
Starring
- H. Jon Benjamin as Bob Belcher
- John Roberts as Linda Belcher
- Dan Mintz as Tina Belcher
- Eugene Mirman as Gene Belcher
- Kristen Schaal as Louise Belcher
Guest stars
- Henry Winkler as Mall Santa
- Kevin Kline as Mr. Fischoeder
- Zach Galifianakis as Felix Fischoeder
- Larry Murphy as Teddy
- Sam Seder as Harold