Basic Trope: Something bad happens on Christmas.
- Straight: It's Christmas, but Alice and Bob's house has burned down.
- Exaggerated:
- Everyone but Alice dies on Christmas and she has such bad grief she needs a psychologist.
- Everyone ceases to exist on Christmas.
- Downplayed:
- It's a happy Christmas for most of the characters, but Alice is a bit disappointed because she has a sinus infection.
- Crappy Holidays - nothing dangerous happens, but Alice and Bob still aren't having a great time.
- Justified: The fire started when Bob knocked over one of the candles that was decorating his and Alice's house.
- Inverted:
- Alice is lucky enough to win the lottery on Christmas.
- Alice and Bob are both very unlucky, but on Christmas nothing bad happens to them.
- Subverted: Alice and Bob's house burns down on Christmas, but Bob's brother Charlie takes pity on them and buys them a new house, complete with new stuff.
- Double Subverted: ...But then it turns out that Diane, Alice's mother, died.
- Parodied:
- It's treated like a Christmas tragedy, but all that happened was that Bob's mug broke.
- Alice gets locked out naked on Christmas. Her attempts to hide away lead her further from home and she is caught in a mall. Threatening to call police, the mall manager forces her to serve as the Mall Santa, only giving her a Santa hat to wear. After hours of children sitting on her lap and people taking photos and videos of her to upload online, Alice is dragged out and forced to join a band of carolers going door-to-door, then a Navity play, snowball fight and a music video. At the end of the day, she still gets arrested for public indecency.
- Zigzagged: On Christmas, Alice and Bob's house burns down, but Charlie buys them a new one. However, Diane appears to die, but then it turns out she faked her death. Then, their neighbour Edwin appears to die, but there's evidence he might actually be alive.
- Averted:
- Nobody celebrates Christmas.
- Christmas happens, but nothing bad happens on it.
- Enforced:
- One of the writers hates Christmas and rebels when asked to do a Christmas episode.
- The writers wanted to add pathos to the house-burning-down plot by having it happen on Christmas.
- The show is always dramatic, so why change just because the episode is set on Christmas?
- "This is what happens if you don't check your Christmas lights for fraying."
- Lampshaded: "It just doesn't feel like Christmas!"
- Invoked: Freda the villain deliberately sets Alice and Bob's house on fire on Christmas.
- Exploited: Two adults record Alice and Bob's house being burned down at Christmas and shows it to punish their children for being naughty.
- Defied:
- Alice goes to extra lengths to flame-proof the house in time for Christmas.
- "I'm sorry — I don't see why Christmas must be the day Alice and Bob suffer the biggest shit-fest they've had to endure so far. I'm not saying making it a comedy episode or something, but surely we can have the Wham Episode taking place some other day?"
- Discussed: "I feel sorry for my cousin Bob and his wife— their house burnt down on Christmas!"
- Conversed: "I'm glad my Christmases are better than the ones in that show!"
- Implied:
- Alice and Bob are seen looking unhappy in a Christmas photo.
- Alice and Bob visit her parents and siblings' graves every Christmas. note
- Deconstructed:
- Alice and Bob hit the Despair Event Horizon after the universe doesn't cuts them a single day's worth of break, in the one day of the year where people would expect it to come, and decide there's no worth in living this miserable life anymore.
- The audience is the one who hits the Despair Event Horizon.
- Reconstructed:
- Played for Laughs: The unfortunate things that happen on Christmas are just sitcom-style high-jinks.
- Played for Drama: Alice and Bob find it especially sad that their house burned down on Christmas of all days.
- Played for Horror: Alice and Bob's Christmastime tragedy is a Serial Killer breaking into their home in the middle of the standard Eve party and exterminating their entire family.
Back to Twisted Christmas.
