YMMV / The Soulmates in The Gift of Light

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Ella calls Truman, a dog, her best friend. Does she have any human friends or is Truman her only friend?
  • Is Santa really that blind without his glasses or did he just say that to help Truman with his self-esteem? Did he really lose his glasses? Did he already know the letter was from Ella?
• Aluminum Christmas Trees: In one scene Ella, who is blind, can be seen typing a letter to Santa. Braille typewriters for the blind actually do exist.
• Awesome Music:
  • "Everybody needs a Soulmate, someone to communicate..."
  • "Wherever you are in your dreams tonight, I wanna be there too..."
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Orillia's voice actor Sheila McCarthy played Samantha Coleman in Die Hard 2, which came out the year before, so in a way she helped save Christmas twice in two years.
• Ho Yay: In his review of the special Phelous noted that Angris McBragg seemed overly obsessed with his partner Doubting Thomas, to the point that he modeled his evil dolls after him.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Many people only know of the special because of a family photo taken in 1992 which showed a mysterious bearded elf on a TV in the background, which turned out to be Pops.
• Narm:
  • The driver who almost runs Ella over just drives off like nothing happened, not even asking if she's okay.
  • Orillia's over-the-top scream when she and Orion run into Comet sounds like something from a horror movie.
  • Orion's Dull Surprise response to Orillia getting kidnapped right in front of him, followed by him immediately moving on when Comet spots Santa's sled.
• Realism-Induced Horror: Ella, a blind child, wanders into a road and is almost run over by a car she doesn't see coming.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Al Waxman played Bruce Cutler in Gotti (1996).
  • Sheila McCarthy played Agnes Rofa in The Umbrella Academy (2019).
  • Wayne Robson played Maynard Odets in the first two Wrong Turn movies.
  • Gema Zamprogna played Arlene in Pirates of Silicon Valley.
• Sweetness Aversion: The Soulmates get their powers from positive thinking, Truman's owner Ella is a Sickeningly Sweet child, and the Big Bad is Obviously Evil.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Evil!Orillia gets barely a minute of screentime before she's changed back to her normal self, with Orion never interacting with her or even being aware she was turned evil.