Have Yourself a Sardiney Little Christmas
Tropes:
- Actually Pretty Funny: The lame jokes from Flint’s “G.I. Joke” doll get a chuckle out of both Santa Claus and Lobster Claus and make them stop fighting with each other.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In the whispering group huddle Lobster Claus has with Flint and Sam, the only phrases he allows to be heard by the audience are “create a distraction”, “slip away”, “grab some lunch just something light”, “and save Christmas!”.
- Ash Face: Flint gets one after playing with his “kaboom-ixcube” and Steve uses his Finger Extinguisher to put out the flame on his nose.
- Beyond Redemption: Both of the Clauses put Mayor Shellbourne on the permanent naughty list.
- Call-Back: Santa and Lobster Claus have a conversation in which they reference the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Christmas Special “Lobster Claus Is Coming to Town”.Lobster Claus: You’re just a guy who showed up once, acted kinda crazy, and destroyed the town.Santa: You started that fight.
- Camera Abuse: In order to transition between scenes, Mayor Shellbourne throws Gil at the camera and he smacks against the glass.
- Christmas Carolers: Flint, Sam, and Brent pose as carolers to distract Mayor Shellbourne and Gil.
- Christmas Episode: Flint and Sam are getting ready to celebrate Christmas, when they realize they may have ruined the holiday for everybody else and reflect on an incident that happened over the summer.
- Comically Small Bribe: Santa tries to get out of jail by offering the Mayor sugar plums and twinkly eyes, among other unimpressive bribes.
- Drop-In Character: Brent becomes one in this episode. He even Lampshades it by saying “What? I’m not doing much this episode anyway so I just popped in!”
- Electric Joybuzzer: Flint gets tricked by one of these from the “G.I. Joke” doll Lobster Claus sent him, giving him X-Ray Sparks.
- Evil Laugh: Sam lets out a big one and gets crazed Fish Eyes when she realizes her and Flint are the only ones who know that Santa has visited their town in July.Flint: Sam, Sam! Dial it back with the creepy laugh!Sam: Sorry, that was a...bit too much?Flint: That was a bit too much!
- Flashback Within a Flashback: During what’s already a Whole Episode Flashback, Santa has a flashback to when he got advice from Lobster Claus on where to go for vacation.
- Gossip Evolution: When Brent passes on the message that Santa “fulfills all our dreams”, it morphs into “he refries all our beans”, “he refills all our creams”, “he referees all our teams”, and finally ends up as “he’ll stitch and hem all our seams”. However, when Mayor Shellbourne hears this he brings it back to its original meaning by saying “A man with a skill set like that could probably also fulfill all my dreams!”
- Grappling-Hook Pistol: Santa uses a candy cane grappling hook to latch onto his flying sleigh and escape Swallow Falls while telling Flint and Sam to “talk to the mitten”.
- Great Escape: Flint, Sam, and Lobster Claus break Santa out of the cell he’s being held in at the Swallow Falls Cannery in order to save Christmas.
- Heat Wave: Swallow Falls experiences a summer heat wave so bad that an egg can literally be fried on the sidewalk.
- How We Got Here: At the beginning of the episode, Flint and Sam talk vaguely about a “situation” that they’re worried people are still mad at them for. Then Flint calls in one of his TV robots and they sit and watch a Whole Episode Flashback to the previous July.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Sam tries to convince Santa to stay in Swallow Falls and finish his vacation because no one else knows he’s there, right before a crowd of citizens appear demanding Santa to make their dreams come true.
- Jail Bake: Santa thinks Flint and Sam brought him a cake to hide a tool in to help him break out of jail. However, the cake was actually just intended as an apology gift.Santa: You could’ve said something before I stuck my hands in the cake.
- Just Whistle: Lobster Claus can be summoned to Swallow Falls by blowing on a conch shell.
- The Man in the Mirror Talks Back: Brent’s reflection starts talking back to him when he tries to fire himself before the Mayor can do it.
- Medium-Shift Gag: While trying to convince Santa to stuff his gifts with expired sardines, Mayor Shellbourne has Gil transition them into a new scene which is of a realistic storybook with a puppet-like Santa hand turning the pages and being narrated by the Mayor in Dr. Seuss-style rhymes.
- Musicalis Interruptus: Sam interrupts Flint’s song about Lobster Claus.Sam: Flint, there’s no time for random musical numbers! Santa’s in the slammer!
- Pin-Pulling Teeth: Flint uses his teeth to activate the pull string on his “G.I Joke” toy and throws it at the fighting Clauses to try to stop the tussle.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: The title is a play on the song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".
- Santa Claus: Santa visits Swallow Falls in July for his vacation and ends up meeting up with Lobster Claus, the city’s version of Santa Claus.
- Saving Christmas: When Flint and Sam let it slip that Santa is in Swallow Falls in the off season and he winds up in jail, it’s up to them to break him out so Christmas isn’t ruined for the rest of the world.
- Skewed Priorities:Sam: Flint, we are in trouble!Flint: Because Santa is mad at us?Sam: No, we’re out of Christmas cookies
- Spotting the Thread: Sam is able to tell the man in the diner is Santa because his sandwich is made out of gingerbread cookies, he stirs his coffee with a candy cane, and he’s singing Christmas carols.
- Squee: Sam’s reaction when she sees Santa Claus in Swallow Falls. Flint has a similar reaction upon meeting Lobster Claus.
- Sue Donym: When Flint asks if he’s the real Santa Claus, Santa stutters out that he’s actually “Sandra Dee Diclausio”.Santa: My mother...wanted a girl.
- Toilet Teleportation: Whenever Lobster Claus is summoned, he appears in the nearest toilet. This is also how he plans to help Santa escape his prison cell.
- The Twelve Spoofs of Christmas: The Lockwoods sing a sardine-themed version of the song: “Twelve sardines a-spawning, eleven sardines a-sizzling, ten sardines a-sleeping, nine sardines a-roasting, eight sardines a-frying, seven sardines a-swimming, six sardines a-laying, five grilled sardines, four sardines with onions, three sardine filets, two sardines on crackers, and a sardine in a tin can!”
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: When Tim’s in the house and hears Flint’s “kaboom-ixcube” about to go off, he just closes the back door without looking behind him. Flint’s treehouse then explodes in a giant mushroom cloud and the roof blows off, and he just continues reading his newspaper unfazed.
- Very False Advertising: Mayor Shelbourne markets rotten sardine sludge as slushies to try to get rid of the stock the heat wave ruined.
- Voiceover Letter: Lobster Claus pops up in a little bubble to narrate the letter he sent to Flint at the end of the episode.
- Wingding Eyes: The Mayor’s pupils turn into dollar signs when he realizes he’s trapped two Christmas icons and can exploit them for marketing and merchandise.
