Everybody has Christmas plans, and they all go wrong: Liz's family cancels on the 22nd, and Jack's attempt to ditch his mother for nude-tanning and monkey-wrestling goes awry when he backs into her with his car. She's holed up in his apartment, and he can't take the closeness, so he orders the TGS staff to write and produce a big Christmas special in 48 hours. In an attempt to feel some familial love, Liz donates much too much to a Christmas charity, only to suspect she's been scammed (or, as Tracy would have it, "scrumped"). Her attempts to shut down the entire charity program don't go well.
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| "Dr. Williams said 'boundaries.'" |
Jenna, after expressing regret over not seeing the New Kids on the Block with her entourage, really gets into the spirit of singing her Christmas solo, along with her accompanist, Alonzo (seen here, played by Jeff Richmond, the show's composer and Tina Fey's husband, who's in three of the four 30 Rock Christmas episodes).
Jack continues to complain about Colleen's unreasonable behavior at Christmas, always inviting over her gentleman friend, Mr. Schwartz, and putting the moves on him with Jack in the room. Liz helps Jack to realize that the Donaghy family was very poor, and Mr. Schwartz's initials were FAO, and Colleen was just ensuring the kids had toys for Christmas.
So Jack's anger at his mother evaporates, and Jenna's solo turns into a fantasy singalong between Jack and Colleen, bringing the two of them together once again at Christmas.
As an episode of 30 Rock, I rate this 8.5/10 -- the one-liners are fast and thick here, and the twisty emotions of the characters are fun to follow. Bonus: they work on producing a show in this episode!
As a Christmas show, I rate this 9/10 -- charity, faith, love, family, and a heartwarming singalong are all I ask.
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