We open with Mr. H., who has just finished bricking up his chimney. Santa won't stop tracking soot all over his carpets, you see, so he's set a deadly trap for the jolly red one.
So Harold Sears (call him Stretch) is a five-time loser, who's finally gotten out on parole, just in time for Christmas. He's pretty old, and as a parolee nearly unemployable. However, Miss Webster (played by Virginia Gregg, also known as the voice actress behind Norma Bates), the well-meaning woman who runs his new halfway house, has found him a temp job as a department store Santa. Sure, and as a thief, what better place could he hope to work?
But Stretch is getting older, and a week of childlike belief in his inherent goodness has softened him up some. So, when he meets a kid well on his way to a life of crime, Stretch gets the kid the only thing he wants, a toy rocket that costs a week's salary. Of course, the efficient Miss Webster arranged for Sears' pay to go to her, so she can set up a nice stable bank account, so Stretch has to steal the rocket.
In the end, Miss Webster is able to convince Stretch's parole officer to let this one slide, as Sears will pay for the rocket, and since it's Christmas. I don't want to do this with every Christmas show I see, but I can't help but think of forgiveness. Christmas, at its heart, is a story of a wise, older guy who sees young sinners and sacrifices himself to keep them on the right path. Stretch is no saint, but he might have the makings of a truly good person somewhere in there. This isn't like any of the other episodes of this show I've seen -- while it doesn't get too sentimental, it's sweet-natured and all the humor is warm.
As an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, I rate this a 3/10. There's nothing artistically wrong with it, but it doesn't capture the tone and style of what I know about the show.
As a Christmas show, I rate this 8/10. While the story is simple, it's a nice crime-inspired take on redemption and forward-looking forgiveness.
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