Carol of the Bells
It's Christmas in Richmond, and the team has a half-day off work to celebrate. As the players do their Secret Santa exchange, the coaching and front office staffs discuss their plans, which include Ted continuing his traditions with Michelle and Henry virtually and Rebecca attending Elton John's Christmas party.
Roy and Keeley's plans for a grown-up "Sexy Christmas" are derailed when Roy's sister gets called into work, forcing the two of them to look after Phoebe for the day. Phoebe is in a bad mood because a boy at school made fun of her for having bad breath. Keeley and Roy try to reassure her that her breath isn't that bad, but they quickly discover that it really, really is. Realizing that such terrible breath must be a medical issue, the three of them go to Roy's rich neighborhood to knock on doors until they find a dentist.
Ted opens presents with Michelle and Henry on FaceTime, but when the call ends, he's left alone in his flat drinking whiskey and watching It's a Wonderful Life. His lonely holiday is interrupted by Rebecca, who brings him along on her annual charity work delivering Christmas presents to underprivileged children. Meanwhile, Higgins and his family host an open house for any Richmond players who don't have family nearby. While attendance in past years has been low, this year every one of the team's international players shows up with food, drink, and, in Richard's case, a date. The players make themselves at home, playing games with Higgins' sons and drinking with him and his wife Julie.
Roy, Keeley, and Phoebe finally find a dentist, who identifies the source of Phoebe's bad breath as the antihistamines she takes for her cat allergy. The dentist writes Phoebe a prescription to help her breath. The trio go to the house of Bernard, the boy who bullied Phoebe, and tell him via a series of handwritten signs that Phoebe has fixed her breath problem, but he needs to be a better person. Bernard apologizes and Phoebe forgives him.
With their charity work done, Ted thanks Rebecca for spending the day with him. Rebecca says that she was happy to do it, as she knows how hard the first Christmas after a divorce can be. Even though she can still make Elton John's Christmas party, she decides not to attend and tells Ted that she has a different idea for how to spend the evening. The Higgins family and their guests have just sat down to their massive multinational Christmas dinner when they hear music coming from the street. They go outside and find Rebecca, Ted, and a trio of buskers singing "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)". Everyone celebrates together, dancing, singing, and playing instruments.
Tropes featured in "Carol of the Bells" include:
- Black Comedy Burst: When Sam asks Richard why he brought his date along to the Higgins family's Christmas party, Richard answers that the French believe having a beautiful woman around is always a good thing. Jan Maas remarks how that wasn't true with the Helter Skelter murders, which causes Richard and Sam to give him a very baffled look.
- Callback: Rebecca lays out the words 'HI TED' in tinsel outside his window, much like how Ted laid out 'HI BOSS' with the players outside her window in Season 1.
- Chekhov's Gun: Early in the episode, Dana Higgins receives a surfboard as one of his Christmas presents. Towards the end, the surfboard is used as a table to accommodate all of the extra Richmond players who have come for Christmas dinner.
- Christmas Episode: The episode focuses on Ted and Rebecca spending Christmas together, Roy and Keeley having to host Phoebe after her mother needs to work an emergency surgery, and Higgins and his family throwing their annual Christmas party for all of Richmond's international players.
- Creative Opening Credits: For the first time, the opening credits have changed. They are animated and instead of Ted sitting down on the stands by himself, he is joined by the other characters while snow is falling to fit the Christmas theme of the episode.
- Dance Party Ending: The episode ends with the Higgins Christmas party dancing in the street accompanied by Rebecca, Ted, and the Richmond buskers.
- Erotic Eating: One of Leslie's sons is absolutely mesmerized by Richard's date sucking on a cinnamon stick.
- Family of Choice: Every single foreign team member shows up to the Higgins family Christmas, for the first time, despite it having been an open invitation for years. Ted has really done a number on Richmond.
- Filler: This is one of two episodes that were added to the season's order after it had been mapped out. Instead of furthering the story arc, the episode focuses on telling a feel-good story set during Christmas (while being released in the middle of August).
- Funny Background Event: While Leslie and Julie discuss how many more players showed up than expected, Dani and Zoreaux can be seen getting taken prisoner in the Nerf battle, complete with blindfolds and handcuffs.
- Hidden Depths: It's revealed Bumbercatch knits in his spare time, and is quite good at it, when he gives Colin a homemade scarf for his Secret Santa present.
- History with Celebrity: Rebecca, it seems, is friendly enough with Elton John to get invited to his Christmas party. Elton, of course, famously owned a football club — Watford — for many years.
- How Can Santa Deliver All Those Toys?: Higgins' youngest son reveals to Sam that he knows Santa isn't real, since there's no way anyone could deliver all those presents in one night. Sam convinces him to still believe in Santa by telling him that Santa's secret isn't in his speed, but his endurance, and that he's able to get through 24 different time zones.
- Kids Are Cruel: Phoebe's Secret Santa gave her toothpaste and mouthwash with a card telling she desperately needed it to fix her bad breath. It's Subverted later on when Phoebe confronts him and reveals her bad breath was because of a medical issue, and the kid genuinely apologizes.
- Innocently Insensitive: Henry is so excited to play with the drone Ted got him that he runs off to do so instead of staying on their video call, which upsets Ted.
- Precocious Crush: One of Higgins' sons is visibly entranced by the beautiful young woman that Richard brought as a plus-one.
- Secret Santa: The team has engaged in this tradition. Most of them have just gotten each other booze.
- Serious Business: Dani, Zoreaux, and several of Higgins' sons get into a Nerf battle that they treat with all the solemnity of a war movie.Dani: Tell my insanely beautiful wife I love her.
Zorreaux: No, you'll tell her yourself, and then hook me up with her identical twin sister. - Shout-Out:
- One of Keeley's decorations for "Sexy Christmas" is the leg lamp from A Christmas Story.
- When Roy and Keeley try to find out why Phoebe is upset, Roy asks her if one of the PAW Patrol dogs died.
- Phoebe showing up at her Secret Santa's house with a series of notes on poster board while pretending to be a caroler is an homage to a similar scene in Love Actually.
- Special Edition Title: Since it's a Christmas Episode, the opening credits feature stop motion animated versions of Ted and the rest of the main cast, and the patterns of the stadium seats are red and green instead of red and blue.
- Stink Snub: Roy's elementary-aged niece Phoebe is upset because a boy gave her oral hygiene products for Christmas and has been telling everyone her breath stinks. Phoebe and Roy assume this is just schoolyard bullying until they smell her breath and realize Phoebe genuinely has halitosis.
- Talking with Signs: Phoebe shows up at Bernard’s house with Roy and Keeley and, holding cue cards like in Love Actually, tells him that his behavior hurt her but she is willing to forgive him if he behaves better in the future.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: After being on the receiving end of some poor treatment from Nate in the previous episodes, Will is gifted a shoebox full of cash from the Richmond players as thanks for his hard work during the season.
- The Worf Effect: Roy insists that all the time he spent in men's locker rooms has hardened him up to awful odors, so Phoebe's bad breath won't affect him. When he's retching on the floor after actually smelling it, it becomes clear that her problem is medical.
- You Need a Breath Mint: Phoebe's Secret Santa gives her toothpaste and mouthwash with the message that she needs it to fix her bad breath, which greatly upsets her. It turns out that Phoebe's bad breath is caused by the medicine she's been taking for her cat allergy.
- Would Hurt a Child: Roy will kill anyone who upsets his baby niece Phoebe.Roy: WHO THE FUCK IS BERNARD.
