Our take
A by-the-numbers Christmas morality tale that mostly works because its grouch is the family's resident cynic rather than a villain. The anti-commercialism lecture turned hit-and-run is a solid engine, and the new cowboy mayor is a good addition. The talking-toy subplot is sharper than the main story, and Brian's change of heart is predictable, but it ends the year in decent form.
What happens
A Christmas advert for a new toy, the Happy Asking Panda, has Stewie desperate for one, and Brian lectures him about the commercialism of the season. At the town's tree-lighting ceremony, led by Mayor Wild West, Brian is in a foul mood about Christmas. Later he gets drunk with the guys at the bar, where they wind him up with Christmas music, then drives off drunk and smashes the nativity scene the mayor whittled by hand. Brian hides the wood in his car and leaves the car at the airport. The mayor takes on the investigation personally and even asks Brian to help sniff out the culprit, while Brian tries to throw him off the trail. With no suspect found, the mayor cancels Christmas, which so enrages Stewie that he turns Brian in. After some time in jail, the mayor lets Brian out so that he can learn the true meaning of Christmas, and Brian realises what he has been missing with the people he loves. Meanwhile, the panda toy turns out to be a way for a Chinese tech company to harvest Americans' passwords.
Can the kids watch it?
Not for children: Fox rated it TV-14, the plot turns on drink-driving, and no BBFC rating was found.
Cast and crew
Starring
- Seth MacFarlane as Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin, Quagmire and Tom Tucker
- Alex Borstein as Lois Griffin
- Seth Green as Chris Griffin
- Mila Kunis as Meg
- Patrick Warburton as Joe
- Arif Zahir as Cleveland
Guest stars
- Sam Elliott as Mayor Wild West
- Nolan North as Red M&M
- Rachael MacFarlane as Spirit Airlines Announcer
- John Viener as Announcer
- Carlos Alazraqui as Edgar Chavez
- Issac Ryan Brown as Kid in Commercial
- Matthew Yang King as Chinese Man
- Charlet Chung as Chinese Woman
- Danny Smith as Narrator
Writer
- Steve Callaghan
Director
- Mike Kim