Throw open your arms to a friend and see / How easy to find / The Spirit, the Spirit / The Spirit of Christmas will be
- Air date: December 11, 2017Written by: Joe Purdy and Craig Bartlett
While celebrating his very first Christmas, Jet is hired by Mr. Peterson to direct this year's Christmas pageant. Sydney tells Jet about this elusive thing called 'the spirit of Christmas', and hires Mitchell the rude, loner detective kid to find it for him. Unbeknownst to Team Propulsion, behind Mitchell's cold facade hides many sorrows.
- Acting for Two: Mindy plays both the Head Elf and the Head Scientist in the Christmas pageant.
- An Aesop:
- Christmas is about togetherness.
- You should welcome other people into your friendship circle.
- The episode has an extremely subtle anti-consumerism aesop that can only be found during "The Spirit of Christmas". One of the lyrics is Everyone's dreaming, of finding some meaning, in a present, a card, or a song. Over time, Christmas has been watered down to just being about meaningless material possessions, but the real meaning of Christmas is spending time with your family and friends, and extending kindness to those who are in desperate need of it.
- Award-Bait Song: "The Spirit of Christmas" has all the makings of one, including a piano instrumental, soft vocals, a message about friendship, and an overall warm tone. Jet even notes that the song is a crowd-pleaser. Despite this, it never won any awards in real life.
- Bad "Bad Acting": During the rehearsal of the pageant in "Holidays in Boxwood Terrace", Mindy performs her lines extremely woodenly.
- Blush Sticker: Red blush is painted onto Mindy's cheeks when she plays the Head Elf.
- Breather Episode: At least in terms of the science curriculum. The episode has a brief lesson on radars and that's pretty much it as far as science goes.
- Call-Back: Jet seems confused by Christmas at first, and Sean brings up how Halloween was confusing for him and his parents in the Halloween Episode, "Jet's First Halloween".
- The Cameo: Dr. Rafferty, Dr. Bergs, and Celery make cameos in the episode.
- Christmas Elves: Mindy portrays the Head Elf in the play.
- Christmas Episode: The show's first, and only, Christmas episode. Jet learns about the holiday and loves everything about it. When he learns about the yearly holiday pageant, he becomes the director of the show and casts his friends as characters. Meanwhile, Jet tries to find the spirit of Christmas and hires Mitchell to do so.
- Defrosting Ice King: Mitchell is completely defrosted in the episode, where it is revealed that he is a Shrinking Violet that hides behind the cold appearance and jerk behavior. He defrosts completely when he joins the other kids' pageant and they assure him that he is always welcome in their group.
- Don't Sneak Up on Me Like That!: Mitchell berates Jet for unintentionally sneaking up on him in part 2.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Mitchell's predicament was that he wanted to be a part of the group, but can't quite figure out how to fit in. He had to sing an Award-Bait Song with them in the pageant in order to be welcomed into the group.
- Friendship Song: "The Spirit of Christmas" is a Christmas song about friendship.
- Full Moon Silhouette: At the end of the episode, Jet flies across the moon in his saucer-sleigh while wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, similar to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
- Hey, Let's Put on a Show: Basically the plot of the episode, but without monetary gain in mind.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: Mitchell hides behind a jerk facade as revealed in the episode. Mitchell acts mean to Jet and his friends, and Mitchell claims that he "doesn't do friends", but Mitchell isn't really mean, he's really just a lonely kid who wants to join the group, but doesn't know how to fit in. Fortunately, he gets his happy ending.
- His Own Worst Enemy: Mitchell's loneliness and lack of social skills cause him to build up a snobby jerk persona that is keen on exposing Jet's alien identity. However, these traits prove to be self-destructive; despite Jet, Sean, Sydney, and Mindy not having any animosity towards him, they often leave him out, forget about him, or are even cautious of him because of his stalker behavior and mean attitude, as the episode shows. Mitchell shuts all his potential friends out by telling them to go away or leave him alone, since he does his detective work by himself.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Mitchell, good gravy! The episode reveals that all he wants is to have friends, but he is very shy due to his lack of self-esteem, and has poor social skills as a result. He also developed a mean streak and shuts himself out from everyone else. At the end of the episode, he gets his wish of having friends when Jet, Sean, Sydney, Mindy, and Sunspot assure him that they're his friends.
- I'm Not Here to Make Friends: Sean asks Mitchell if he wants to join them, saying that "you are our friend", but Mitchell claims "he doesn't do friends". Of course, he's lying.
- In Touch with His Feminine Side: Mitchell wears the lilac nightshirt in the play without a complaint, and was rather happy about it.
- It's Always Spring: Averted in this episode, where it's winter.
- I Work Alone: Once again, Mitchell rejects help with his detective case. He even claims that he doesn't do "friend". He's lying, of course.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Powerfully and tear-jerkingly deconstructed in this episode. It's revealed that the reason that Mitchell acts like a total asshole is to hide his loneliness deep inside, where there's genuinely a good person. Because of Mitchell's rude behavior, he rejects being in the pageant at first to hide his kind side, and the other kids don't ask him to join the pageant again, saddening him because he did actually want to join the show. Luckily, he gets to join the show at the end.
- Literal-Minded: Sunspot thinks that being a reindeer entails standing under a raincloud.
- Mobile Shrubbery: Mitchell hides in a present prop while spying on the gang.
- Mood Whiplash: Mitchell tearfully watches as the kids rehearse their play and wishes he could join them, but then Sunspot eats his popcorn comically in front of Mitchell, contrasting sadness with comedy.
- Mrs. Claus: Sydney portrays Santa's wife in the play.
- Multi-Part Episode: The episode is split into two parts to allow more time for storytelling.
- Musical Episode: The episode contains four songs. Justified, as it is about a pageant.
- No Social Skills: Taken to insane levels in the episode, where despite Mitchell acting mean to the gang like he usually is, he's really just acting that way because he doesn't know how to fit in.
- Orbital Shot: The camera spins around Mitchell when he sings the Spirit of Christmas.
- Overly Narrow Superlative: Jet calls Mitchell "the best detective he knows". Mitchell is the only detective Jet knows, and Jet even lampshades it.
- Performance Anxiety: Sean gets this in the second half of the episode when he's about to sing his song about the Spirit of Christmas, and he realizes that everyone is looking at him.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: The episode introduces Sydney and Sean's winter jackets. Sydney's is pink and Sean's is blue.
- The Power of Friendship: Friendship was the answer to Jet's question all along. Mitchell wants to belong to Jet's circle of friends, but doesn't know how to do it. When Sean gets stage fright, Mitchell proves that he cares for the others by swooping in and performing the song that Sean was supposed to sing, having memorized the whole thing. Mitchell is invited into the group and gets to bond with the others in real time. At the end of the episode, Jet gets a very positive feeling about being surrounded by his allies, and realizes that friendship and love was the Spirit of Christmas all along.
- Pushed in Front of the Audience: Sean gets Performance Anxiety, and Mitchell just happens to be singing Sean's song backstage. So, Jet pushes Mitchell in front of the audience, and pulls Sean offstage.
- Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud: During Jet's performance of "Dear Santa, from Little Billy", he sings "hold for applause", a stage direction.
- Running Gag: Jet messing up Santa's "ho, ho, ho" catchphrase.
- Santa Claus: Jet portrays Saint Nick in the episode, but messes up some stuff along the way, such as his catchphrase.
- Ship Tease: Jet casts Sydney as Mrs. Claus in the pageant, and she seems delighted at that. Jet also spends most of the episode gushing over Sean's wonderful singing voice.
- Shout-Out: In the play, Sunspot portrays a red-tailed flying animal.
- Shrinking Violet: Mitchell's personality is examined, and it is shown that he is really shy deep down inside and doesn't know how to make friends.
- The Show Must Go On: Sean gets Performance Anxiety right before he sings his big finale song, but Mitchell takes over for him and the pageant continues.
- Singing in the Shower: Sean reveals that he sings a lot....in the shower.
- Singing Voice Dissonance: Mitchell's singing voice is very high-pitched compared to his regular voice. The reason being is that Mitchell had a separate VA for his singing voice.
- Snowball Fight: Sean, Sydney, and Jet have one in the beginning of the episode.
- Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Mitchell hides behind this as revealed in the episode Mitchell acts mean to Jet and his friends, and Mitchell claims that he "doesn't do friends", but Mitchell isn't really mean, he's really just a lonely kid who wants to join Jet's gang, but doesn't know how to fit in. Fortunately, he gets his happy ending.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: When the saucer falls down from the ropes and Carrot catches it, Mitchell, still in his box, says "That was a close one. Uh, you didn't hear that, it's-it's not me, Mitchell!"
- Sympathetic P.O.V.: The episode shows Mitchell in a far more sympathetic light than any other episode in season 1. It's shown that his meanness is all just an act, and he only behaves like that because he wants to have friends, but does not know how to do so because of his lack of social skills. The others feel sorry for him and invite him to join the pageant when Sean gets stage fright.
- True Meaning of Christmas: Everyone learns that the Spirit of Christmas isn't something you find in a present, card, or song — it comes from spending the holidays with your family and friends.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: The A-plot is Jet, Sean, Sydney, and Mindy putting on a Christmas pageant, and the B-plot gets set in motion when Jet hires Mitchell to find the Spirit of Christmas. Mitchell's plot involves the revelation that he acts like a jerk to hide his loneliness, and him wanting to be friends with the main characters. These two plots collide when Mitchell takes over Sean's role in the play after the latter gets Performance Anxiety.
- Wham Episode: It seems like an ordinary Christmas episode at first, but it reveals that Mitchell is really a lonely kid who has trouble making friends and hides behind a mask of a jerk due to his insecurities, officially confirming the fan theories. The other kids realize this and assure Mitchell that they're his friends at the end of the episode.
- Wham Line: "That looks like fun. I can only imagine." and "Thanks for including me. I really wanted to be a part of the show, but I didn't know how to ask.", both uttered by Mitchell.
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: Sean says this after Mindy asks him if the pressure for him to sing the pageant finale song will be too much. When it's time to sing it, Sean gets Performance Anxiety and freezes up in front of everyone. Mitchell takes over for him.
