Zim disguises himself as Santa in order to woo Christmas-adoring humans to their doom at the North Pole.
Tropes
- Absurdly Ineffective Barricade: Zim imprisoned Dib in a jail cell meant to look like candy-canes. Actually, it is made of candy-cane, Dib managing to break out by complete accident. Because it is candy cane. When Zim's robot elves catch him after this, Zim orders him to put him in the actual impenetrable cage.
- Aside Glance: Zim gives this when he talks about how Minimoose has been with him the whole time.
- Becoming the Mask: Having programmed his Santa costume with extensive knowledge of Christmas and Santa Claws, Zim is briefly overcome with a personality more appropriate to this image whenever something compels him to act as such, like when he is crowded by children.
- Both Sides Have a Point: The contrarian child and the snowman after the commercial break both have legitimate grievances with one another. The child points out that the snowman never bothered to flesh out why Zim wants to take over the world while the answer to the child's concerns about the consequences of the malfunctioning Santa costume would be answered later in his story which he was getting to until the child interrupted him.
- Christmas Episode: It is all about Zim using Santa Claus and the spirit of the season in his latest plot.
- Distant Finale: The entire episode is told as a story by a robotic snowman to a group of children, who live two million years in the future.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The people of Earth talk about celebrating Santa's "return" to "his people" and follow his every command like gospel, like that other guy associated with Christmas.If you don't get it...
- Eldritch Abomination: After Dib and Zim manage to launch the malfunctioning Santa-suit into space, it continues to grow and mutate during its time there. Earth, in the far future, encases its cities in domes for protection from it and prepares giant plates of cookies and milk to satiate it every year.
- Follow the Bouncing Ball: Done with Minimoose during the "Bow Down" song.
- Last Episode, New Character: The final episode produced before the show's cancellation introduces Minimoose, Zim's other robotic sidekick.
- Mall Santa: Zim captures one to learn as much as he can about Santa and Christmas.
- Not Hyperbole: One woman being interviewed about "Santa's" return exclaims "My heart explodes with joy!" A nasty popping noise is heard and she falls face-down in the snow, dead.
- Putting on the Reich: Zim hold a rally for "Santa"'s followers, which ends with him unfurling a red, white and black flag with the Irken symbol wearing a Santa hat and two candy canes forming an x behind it, which resemble a swastika. It's basically a Christmasy version of a Hitler rally.
- Remember the New Guy?: Minimoose. Yes, he has been with Zim the whole time.
- Rule of Cute: The Santa suit manages to regain control from Zim, expelling the drill he used to keep it under control, when an absurdly-cute child asked for a hug.
- Truth in Television: The Mall Santa who Zim interrogates claims that he's just one of Santa's "helpers," which actual mall Santas are trained to say when children realize that they're not really Santa.
