In its eight seasons, The Office has had some incredible Christmas episodes. As Stanley mentioned in his cold-open rant, we’ve seen The Office put a spin on Christmas every year ranging from a Yankee Swap Christmas to a Benihanna Christmas. Stanley might be sick and tired of it, but I still look forward to seeing how The Office holiday party will go wrong every year.
Erin and Kelly stole the show this time in “Christmas Wishes.” As she coped with the anxiety of meeting Andy’s super serious girlfriend, Erin went from awkward to crazy while Kelly, waited patiently for her moment to back a girlfriend up. In terms of girl drama, Kelly is some kind of tactical genius. Who knew that a simple “did you fart?” could kill a conversation so perfectly?
Wallowing in his own misery, Robert California had been encouraging Erin to drink her issues away. While it was subtle at first, the shots and martinis got Erin’s darker side to come out and play. When Andy suggested that she stop drinking, she reacted with an irate instruction to mind his own business only to follow it up with a playful, “just kidding” and happy pat on the cheek.
As the drinks kept flowing, Erin’s mood swings got more dramatic and she went from huddling with Andy and Jessica to encourage them in a kiss, to demanding that Andy put his girlfriend in a grave to fulfill her Christmas wish. I’ve always known that Erin had her demons, but I don’t think I ever suspected that she was quite that diabolical. Even though she wasn’t being serious, it was great to see that crazy darkness come out of such a normally sugary sweet character.
When Michael Scott had been around, Erin trusted his advice and sought his approval as a father figure. Although I don’t think Robert California is stepping into that fathering role, I was happy that her issues tonight didn’t lead her to any sort of drunken diversions with him that would further complicate things in The Office.
Meanwhile, Jim and Dwight had been spending the entire office party trying to entrap one another so that they could collect the other’s bonus. Normally I love the Jim vs. Dwight stuff, but this story line seemed slow to me. Their attempts to prank themselves weren’t as creative as I would have expected. Nevertheless, Jim finishing the night in a Santa outfit, sitting back, and sipping on bourbon while Dwight made an idiot of himself made this whole bit worthwhile. Dwight’s carrot-eating porcupine was a pretty adorable cameo too.
Darryl had a mini plot going with Val after he invited the warehouse staff to come to the office party. Although she looked absolutely stunning in her gown and flattering up-do, she was embarrassed to be overdressed for the party. I’m not sure if Gabe is still interested in Val, but he wouldn’t have been able to resist her in that get up. Eventually Darryl tried to make her feel more comfortable by showing up in a tux. It was a cute storyline between the two of them and Nate had some great lines at the beginning of the episode, but overall this storyline felt somewhat arbitrarily thrown into the episode and it didn’t really contribute to the bigger party picture.
Although it’s difficult to top the most classic Christmas episodes of The Office, “Christmas Wishes” was absolutely delightful. Despite some minor pacing issues, this episode delivered laugh out loud lines and hilariously awkward moments that made Andy’s first time as the Dunder-Mifflin-Sabre Santa a memorable one – even if his wish fulfillment success rate was dismally low.
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