Original Air Date: December 20, 2018, 0:00 UTC (Worldwide)
Retsuko has become addicted to Instagram, and is looking for the perfect food shot for Christmas. So intently, that she doesn’t really have plans. Who will be her white knight this year?
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Bad Date: Happens specifically to Washimi and Tsunoda. In the English dub, Washimi adds she should’ve checked if her date had a pulse before bailing on him.
- Extra-Long Episode: Rather than a quarter-hour like the rest of the show, this episode is a full 22 minutes.
- Girl's Night Out Episode: One of Retsuko's ideas for Christmas Eve is this, but Gori and Washimi both have dates planned. Then Gori got stood up, and Washimi's date was super boring. So they grab Retsuko and head to a Soba bar to drown their sorrows in comfort food.
- Growling Gut: Retsuko is initially resistant to the idea of spending Christmas doing nothing more special than eating ramen. However, her growling stomach reminds her that she still never ate dinner, and she complies.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Speaking of Drowning My Sorrows, after initially seeing Retsuko's Christmas Eve photo, and initially believing she found a date, Haida gets a bottle of alcohol (which vaguely looks like a bottle of Jack Daniel's whiskey) and chugs from it.
- Inelegant Blubbering: Haida, when he initially thinks Retsuko found a date, before Fenneko's Sherlock Scan of the Instagram photo.Haida: [sobbing] This is... the worst Christmas Eve ever...
- Ironic Echo: Fenneko notices, tracks, and panics at a familiar "selfie, dessert, latte art" pattern Retsuko does with her recent Instagram posts; similar to how Tsunoda was shown doing in the first episode of the series.Fenneko: This is my worst nightmare! Lookit, Haida! Except for the face mask and the "thighless" thigh pic, it's like she's turned into Tsunoda!
- Just Friends: The special begins after Haida's talk with Retsuko in the hospital in the Season 1 finale, and Retsuko told him she’s not ready to be more than friends with him.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: After Fenneko rants about Retsuko using Instagram a lot, Haida peaks in with a smirk and says "They're not gonna like this episode, huh?".
- Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone: The moment Retsuko, Gori, and Washimi happen upon Haida outside the Soba bar, Gori and Washimi ditch Retsuko.Washimi: Come on, Gori. It's getting late.
Gori: What!? The night is young! Aren't we gonna go karaoke?
Washini: Rain check. [dragging Gori off with her] Sorry, Retsuko. I forgot that we have... somewhere to be. - Maybe Ever After: The credits include stills of Haida walking Retsuko from the Soba bar to the train station. After her train pulls out, he gives a victorious fist-pump, suggesting they may be back on the rails.
- Metal Scream: We finally get it when Retsuko gets a last-second assignment Ton dropped on her Christmas Eve.
- Present Peeking: Kabae describes the lengths—or, rather, depths—she'll go to in order to hide presents from her children. They always find them on Christmas Eve anyway.
- To a lesser extent, Tsunoda's obsession with getting the perfect Instagram photo... led to her getting a bad date due to caring more about internet popularity than who she was actually with.
- Seasonal Baggage: Though snow is not seen, frosty breath is expressed during outdoor scenes, and the characters dress warmly outside.note
- Sherlock Scan: Fenneko does this again with Retsuko's Christmas Eve food picture. Haida despairs when thinks she found a date, due to there being two wine glasses. But Fenneko saw through the cheap wine glasses and fish that is clearly of the convenience store variety (a common feature in Japan), and brightens the photo to see Retsuko's sullen reflection and her work uniform. She then puts her deerstalker cap back on and (correctly) deduces she got extra work from Ton, causing Haida to rush out of his party to go to her.Fenneko: [shouting out after Haida] YEAH, YOU'RE WELCOME!!!
- Shipper on Deck: Fenneko still has bits of this. Maybe Washimi in the end as well?
- Special Guest: Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong sings the opening and closing themes.
- Super Window Jump: Part of the Metal Scream, Retsuko imagines herself heroically jumping out the office window and landing on the street below.
- Take That!: The episode (playfully anyway) makes jabs at Instagram, in particular with how people post photos of everything and go out of their way to go to fancy locations just to get likes.
- Time-Passes Montage: Once Retsuko finally settles in for Soba with Gori and Washimi, we see what some of the others are doing: Ton is Christmas shopping (after earlier saying he's not into Christmas), Kabae's children find their Christmas presents early again, Tsubone is calling one of her younger relatives, Resasuke arrives at home, and Tsunoda is on a (very bad) date.
- Time Skip: After the Just Friends scene, it skips several months forward to Christmastime.
- What the Hell, Hero?: A brief throwaway line from Fenneko and Haida at the latter's Christmas Eve party suggests why Retsuko may have turned him down.Fenneko: This kind of place really isn't my scene, Haida.
Haida: Ehh, quit your complaining. [leans drunkenly toward her, though innocently] I need you here to keep me company.
Fenneko: [pushes Haida's snout away] Don't be so clingy. Maybe that's why Retsuko shot you down, dude. - You Are Too Late: Haida tried to get back to work to help Retsuko with her extra work, but she was already gone (with Gori and Washimi) by the time he got there.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: The moment Retsuko is almost finished with her work Christmas Eve, in trots Santa Ton and his Komiya reindeer to drop a giant stack of new work that's due that night.
