It's CHRISTMAS TIME but Mario does something naughty and has to make up for it.
During a Christmas dinner at the castle, Mario accidentally kicks off a chain of events that injures Axol Jr., Melony's pet axolotl, leaving her furious at him. Mario goes to apologize to her, but when it becomes apparent that Melony doesn't want to see him, the crew must pitch in to help him show Melony that he is truly repentant.
- Amusing Injuries: Zig-Zagged. Whenever anyone else in the group gets injured, they're perfectly fine as soon as they leave the camera. When Mario accidentally burns and flings around Axol Junior, he lives, but gets seriously injured and gets put on life support.
- Artistic License – Animal Care: Melony holds Axol Junior with her during the episode and plays with it. Real axolotls are fully aquatic salamanders, should not be taken out of water, and should never be handled with bare hands, forget playfully shaking them.
- Beware the Nice Ones: This episode reminds you that as sweet as Melony is, she's still a person with feelings... and godlike powers. After Mario hurts her deeply by endangering Axol Jr., she isolates herself from him, using her powers to create not only a fortress of solitude, but also a Snowlem for the purpose of keeping others out. Even after Meggy convinces her to give Mario a chance to properly apologize, she's still quite reluctant to hear him out, and it takes a while for her to ultimately forgive him.
- Breaking Old Trends: The title is a refreshing change from two years of just titling the Christmas Episode after its year.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Tari is seen at the table after being mostly Out of Focus since the conclusion of Meta Runner.
- After months of being relegated to cameo appearances, Kaizo finally has an important part in an SMG4 video since the "Meme Games".
- SMG1 and 2 make their first major appearance since the "Revelations" movie.
- Depresso makes his first physical appearance since "Mario Screws In A Lightbulb".
- Axol Junior makes his first appearance since the previous Christmas special.
- Call-Back: SMG4 summarizes the events of the Lawsuit arc as an excuse to have not been training.
- Chekhov's Gun: SMG1 and 2 teaching SMG4 and 3 about the cringe-curing salt becomes essential to calming Melony down.
- Christmas Episode: The one for 2022.
- A Day in the Limelight: This video serves as Axol Junior's first major appearance, over a year after his debut.
- Dreadful Musician: Boopkins tries to sing a Christmas song to cheer everyone up, resulting in Kaizo and Bob covering their ears and SMG4's head exploding.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Karen beats up an actual Karen and gives her to the SMGs to be harvested into salt.
- Easily Forgiven: Played with. Melony is initially in no mood to speak with Mario for most of the episode, but once he finally has a chance to properly apologize, she's remarkably quick to accept it.
- Everyone Has Standards: Even Bob and SMG3 are disgusted with Mario when he gets accidentally gets Axol Junior injured simply because he wanted to get some food sooner.Bob: Dude, that was low. Even for you.SMG3: Great going, idiot! You've ruined Christmas!
- Given Name Reveal: After over a year of cameos and minor appearances, Melony's pet axolotl's name is finally revealed to be Axol Junior.
- Hypocritical Heartwarming: Mario's apology to Melony comes right after he kicks Boopkins.
- Hypocritical Humour: The group calls Mario out for abusing Axol Junior, completely ignoring that Melony was keeping him out of water, shaking him, and touching him with her bare hands.
- It's All About Me: Mario initially. The only reason Axol Junior got hurt in the first place is because Mario didn’t want to wait for Christmas dinner and threw him at Bob’s face in hopes of distracting everyone so he could get some food earlier, resulting in a chain of events that got the axolotl severely burned and requiring life support. And when everyone calls him out for it, he tries to claim that he didn’t do anything and calls Axol Junior "a stupid frog". Meggy sets him straight, however, and he spends the rest of the episode trying to make things right.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In his effort to teach Kaizo and Bob about Christmas spirit, Mario changes the castle interior background to a live action Christmas video, shocking and confusing both of them and leaving them to wonder how the background changed. The camera then pulls back to show Mario somehow surrounded them on three sides with a green-screen (how they were able to see what was on the screen is a different question).Kaizo: Whoa!! WHAT THE HELL?
Bob: How is the background changing? - Lethal Chef:
- The "good soup" is so bad (or spicy) that Axol Junior bursts into flame upon entering it.
- Meggy gives the snow guardian some Christmas cookies. She tells it that she baked them herself, causing it to instantly glitch out and die.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Mario initially doesn't understand why Melony is so upset over Axol Jr getting hurt because of him, but once Meggy explains how much Axol Jr means to her, he immediately changes his tune and becomes determined to make it up to her.
- Must Make Amends: Mario, after he realizes just how much he hurt Melony.
- Never My Fault: Mario tries to claim this when everyone else calls him out for getting Axol Junior hurt and claims that Axol Junior was just a "stupid frog". Meggy sets him straight, however.
- Objectshifting: Cringe salt is harvested by Guardians turning cringy people into shakers of it.
- Puff of Logic: The snow guardian doesn't die from eating Meggy's Christmas cookies until after she tells it that she baked them. Usually, someone only need make contact with or smell her cooking before dying.
- Rewrite: Axol Junior debuted in "If Mario Was In... Nickelodeon" as a pet Mario wished up for Melony. This episode instead shows a flashback of Melony buying Axol Junior at a pet store and adopting him.
- Shout-Out: Melony protecting her fortress of solitude with a giant snow monster? Hmmm...
- Tears of Remorse: Mario sheds these of the Ocular Gushers variety when it sinks in just how much he screwed up.
- Terrestrial River Life: Axol Junior is an axolotl, a 100% aquatic salamander. Despite this, he's able to breathe and even move around in the air without issue.
- This Is Unforgivable!: Melony is understandably furious when Mario's recklessness results in Axol Jr. getting severely injured and initially refuses to talk to him.
- What the Hell, Hero?: No one is happy with Mario for hurting Melony's feelings. Not even Bob and SMG3.
- Your Head A-Splode: SMG4's head explodes in response to Boopkins singing.
