Seasons of Belief
It's Christmas Eve, and a family tries to spend the holidays in a time-honored way, with no radio or television. Soon growing bored, the rowdy children, Stefa and Jimbo (Jenna von Oÿ and Sky Berdahl) demand a story. The parents (E. G. Marshall and Margaret Klenck), feeling mischievous and/or mean-spirited, decide to tell their kids a different kind of Christmas story. Specifically, they tell their children about the "Grither", a vicious monster that lives in a cave at the North Pole, which hunts down and kills anyone who says its name regardless of how far away they are. The kids soon hear loud noises outside the house, along with what may be the Grither itself singing about how it kills those who say its name, leaving them terrified as to whether the monster is real, or if it's a prank played by their parents.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parent: Though they don't physically abuse Jimbo and Stefa, the kids' parents are perfectly willing to terrify them by making them think Santa's going to break their presents, and later on that there's a monster coming around to kill them for saying its name.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: The kids don't believe in Santa, yet they eagerly buy into the Grither's story just fine.
- Asshole Victim: The parents could qualify, as they're killed by the very monster they made up (in the way they claim it kills people, no less) to horrify their bratty children.
- Bad Santa: The Grither is painted as a wicked Krampus-like figure that leaves its North Pole cave every Christmas Eve to kill those who say its name.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The parents' story about the Grither turns out to be real, as the beast breaks into their home to crush their heads for invoking its wrath.
- Bottle Episode: The episode is set largely around the family's living room.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Stefa and Jimbo, who clearly don't want to engage in their parents' idea of an old-fashioned Christmas and don't believe in Santa Claus.
- Chekhov's Gun: Stefa and Jimbo's Christmas Eve presents are a sketchpad with crayons and an atlas, respectively, and their father uses both of them to sell them on the tale of the Grither.
- Christmas Episode: The episode takes place on Christmas Eve, and that doesn't stop the Grither from visiting families who blaspheme about it.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Like the short story the episode's based on, it's possible that Stefa and Jimbo's belief in the Grither made it real in the first place.
- Consummate Liar: The parents spin ludicrous yarns about their family history and Santa Claus to their kids to entertain them and make them behave, and they fabricate the story of the Grither both to scare them straight and to play a joke on them.
- Deadpan Snarker: Both parents, as a means of establishing them to be jokers and liars.
- Ear Wings: The Grither's ears grow whenever it hears its name being said, and the parents claim that the beast can use them as wings if and when they're big enough.
- Eldritch Abomination: The Grither. All we see of it are a pair of giant hands attached to abnormally long arms, so the implications of its true form are rather horrific.
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: Christmas Eve or not, the Grither will stop at nothing to kill those who say its name.
- Ironic Echo: The parents grow annoyed at their kids begging them for a story during their "time-honored" Christmas Eve and insist that they put the TV and radio back on. The kids throw their former words back at them when they deem modern conveniences "not traditional".
- It's All About Me: The Grither is said to kill because he's the only one of his kind, and thus has an immense ego, even singing a grandstanding song about itself as it hunts victims.
- Laser-Guided Karma: The Grither, initially a creation of the parents to traumatize their kids, turns out to be real and kills them for invoking its name.
- Moving the Goalposts: The parents make up new traits of the Grither and new rules to its story to terrify their children even further.
- Neck Snap: The Grither kills the parents by crushing their heads and twisting their necks at the same time.
- Nothing Is Scarier: We never see the full appearance of the Grither, so we can only imagine what the giant hands and long jaundiced arms are attached to.
- Pinocchio Nose: The Grither is said to have such good hearing that its ears grow bigger whenever it hears its name spoken aloud.
- Properly Paranoid: Even though the father admits that the Grither was made up, the kids were still right to be suspicious when he didn't finish the story, as the creature's arms burst into the house to kill the parents in front of them.
- Race Against the Clock: The parents claim that once the Grither's name is said, the rest of the monster's story has to be told before it reaches its victim's house to make it go away.
- Real After All: The ending reveals that the Grither's story is true, and the parents learn this the hard way when it crushes their skulls.
- The Scottish Trope: The Grither's name is supposedly meant to never be said aloud, as the beast will hear it and stop at nothing to kill those responsible.
- Stylistic Suck: The parents make up a song that the Grither sings when it's hunting down people who say its name. It's basically a reworded version of "O Come All Ye Faithful" which, as Stefa points out, doesn't even rhyme, to which the parents counter that "monster songs never rhyme".
- Sudden Downer Ending: The Grither turns out to be a real monster after all, and it crushes the parents' skulls for saying its name, leaving their children traumatized and (aside from their uncle) all alone on Christmas Eve.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The episode opens with the parents declaring that they and the children are going to turn off the TV and radio so they can share some quality time, spending Christmas Eve in the time-honored way. Not even a minute later, the kids get bored without their modern conveniences and start pestering their parents to tell them a story. They suggest that the children turn the television and radio back on in order to stop bothering them, but the kids remind them how they said it's not traditional.
- Twisted Christmas: Zigzagged. Initially, the parents scare their children into thinking that the Grither is a real creature that will hunt them down and kill them for saying its name. As it turns out, the whole thing was made up, and they even got Uncle Michael in on the joke. But not long after, the Grither does turn out to be real, crushing the parents' heads before their children's eyes and leaving them orphaned and traumatized on Christmas Eve.
- Under the Mistletoe: The parents share a kiss when they walk under the mistletoe in the front hallway.
- Unnamed Parent: The parents don't have their names spoken aloud.
- Unseen Evil: The Grither never appears in full. We only see a pair of gigantic, monstrous hands attached to abnormally long and jaundiced arms as it smashes into the house to kill the parents.
- Whole-Plot Reference: To the short story Nackles, as a pair of abusive family members make up a story about a murderous monster that kills anyone who says its name on Christmas Eve, which turns out to be a real creature after they come clean about the joke.
- Would Harm a Child: Stefa and Jimbo's parents are willing to lie to them as "harmless" jokes, and they terrify them with the Grither's story and traumatize them into behaving properly.
