Recap / The Cuphead Show S 3 E 6 A Very Devil Christmas

He probably wishes he was The Krampus instead.

The Devil takes a break from his yuletide day of wreaking havoc when he spots a toy train that he gleefully wants. He visits Santa Claus so he can grant him one, but there is a problem: because the Devil is the most evil creature who has ever lived, he is on the very top of the Naughty list.

However, Old Saint Nick gives Old Scratch a chance to experience what it's like to be nice in order to move to the Nice List, in more ways than one.

Tropes

• Angry Guard Dog: The Devil meets two vicious guard dogs during his Christmas delivery.
• The Anti-Grinch: Contrary to most expectations, the Devil loves Christmas. And he loves it because it gives him so many joyous holiday moments... to ruin and cause mischief. And he loves the idea of being given Christmas gifts. The only thing he hates about Christmas is actually being nice and jolly, which he is forced to do as Santa, in order for him to be on the Nice List to be given a toy train.
• Bargain with Heaven: Santa is as good as good can be and decides to have the Devil bargain his way into being on the nice list. The Devil doesn't know what the bargain is until he transforms into Santa himself and returns to the North Pole for answers: he must perform Santa's job and help deliver all of the presents before midnight.
• Brick Joke:
  • Early in the episode, the Devil talks to Sammy Sandwich who wants a rocket for Christmas. His mother also mentions that he glued his sister to the floor. When the Devil later gets to their house, he gives the bread boy the rocket, and his sister glue remover.
  • During the staff meeting, Stickler complains that someone has been taking his lunch from the fridge, even though it's clearly labeled. At the end, after having to play Santa, the Devil goes to the fridge and takes a sandwich from Stickler's bag.
• Call-Back:
  • During the Devil Claus montage, the Devil offers Telephone back his soul wrapped in a present, which is the very same soul he had taken as part of a Celestial Deadline back in "Roadkill".
  • When the Devil is delivering presents to the Kettle house, Mugman gets two high seas romance novels, while Elder Kettle gets a new radio.
• The Cameo: Bowlboy and Sally Stageplay appear in the beginning of the episode as part of the group of ice skaters that the Devil breaks the ice under, causing them to fall into the lake and come out frozen solid.
• Chair Reveal: The Devil does one in Santa's office.
• Chimney Entry: When the Devil-as-Santa gets to the first house along with Henchman, the former drops the presents through the chimney, then makes an attempt to climb down there, but ends up getting stuck because he's too fat. He ends up having to use his pitchfork to teleport himself inside.
• Christmas Special: The second Christmas episode of the series, following "Holiday Treedition", and a double-length one.
• Continuity Nod: The Christmas tree in the cups' house is still burned down after the end of the previous episode.
• Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, and Nixon: The Devil wasn't paying attention when instructed on the reindeer's names, so when the time came, he announced "On Sleazy, on Stinky, on Larry and Fatso!" before asking Henchman if he got any of them right.
• Epic Fail: The Devil was tasked to perform good deeds so he could get the chance to get into the nice list, but...
  Devil: [confidently] Okay. I can do this. Nice. Gotta be nice. Gotta get on the nice list.
  Old Woman: Spare some change for the less fortunate?
  Devil: Ew! [incinerates old woman]
  [Gilligan Cut to Santa at the North Pole]
  Santa: What happened?!
  Devil: Well, I was off to a good start.
  Santa: Yeah, for, like, ten seconds! Ugh. Santa needs a drink.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • The Devil is unnerved about the ritual that Santa and his elves perform on him, even calling Saint Nick a psycho.
  • The Devil as Santa is dismayed when seeing the burnt tree from the previous episode after he enters Cuphead's house.
  Devil: [genuinely horrified] What happened here?
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
  • The Devil learns about the Naughty and Nice lists, but Henchman and the other minions don't really expect him to be on the Nice list because he's evil incarnate. He hopes to fix that in order to get a toy train.
  • During the episode, it's made pretty clear that the only reason that the Devil believes people are nice is so they can get something out of it. The idea that people are nice for the sake of it goes completely over his head.
• Extra-Long Episode: This episode is around 33 minutes long.
• Foil: Santa is pretty much the polar opposite of the Devil. He's a fat, jolly man who lives in the snowy outdoors with a loyal workforce of happy elves, and brings joy to everyone on the Inkwell Isles. The Devil, on the other hand, is a skinny, angry demon who lives in the fiery underworld with a legion of abused demons, and he brings misery to everyone on the Inkwell Isles just to amuse himself.
• Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Santa honestly thought he could change the Devil into a good person by showing him the joy of being nice. But the Devil hates the feeling of being nice and feels betrayed that Santa changed his end of the bargain (and does kinda have a point), still thinking that being nice is all about the physical reward at the end.
• Geometric Magic: The ritual to turn the Devil into Santa involves assembling a circle of candy canes around him while chanting ominously.
• Good Counterpart: Santa ironically shares a lot of similarities with the Devil despite being on the other side of the morality spectrum. He has a workforce of elves that he only refers by their number rather than names, including an elf that looks and acts like Stickler. The key difference is that Santa actually cares and respects his elves, unlike the Devil who abuses his demon minions (sans Henchman).
• Happiness Is Mandatory: One of the rules the Devil as Santa must follow is to remain jolly at all times and not ever lose his temper, causing Old Scratch to decimate Stickler Elf in a fit of rage, though Henchman calls him out on it, causing his boss to revive him like nothing happened.
  Henchman: Ugh. See, no. That right there, that's exactly the kind of thing you can't do, boss.
• Identical Stranger: Devil and Henchman are shocked that Santa has an elf that acts and speaks just like Stickler.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Dismayed over the Devil failing to be nice until midnight, Santa declares "Santa needs a drink" and pulls out a cup of milk with cookies.
• Irony:
  • The Devil is subjected to a creepy Hollywood-esque Satanic ritual in order to become Santa, and it leaves Old Scratch unsettled.
  • Sammy Sandwich, the kid whose balloon was popped by the Devil during his Villain Song in the first episode turns out to be a greedy little kid who's trying to get on the Nice List despite being Naughty.
• Leaving Food for Santa: The Devil has to eat ALL the cookies and milk children have left for him. While the Devil initially enjoys it, he eventually grows tired of eating and drinking cookies and milk, ending up terribly sick and so round that he fills most of the sleigh by the time he reaches the last house on the list, which turns out to be Cuphead's house.
• Long List: When Elf Stickler tells The Devil to deliver gifts to all children on the nice list, The Devil replies, "How many nice kids could there be anyway?"; the nice list then unrolls around the workshop and continues unrolling through the snow covered hills in the background.
• Painful Transformation: The way the Devil becomes the new Santa Claus is extremely unpleasant, with his bones cracking, cheeks swelling, and clothes growing out of his body. His body itself bloats up to further resemble the jolly old man.
• Pet the Dog: After Cuphead catches the Devil-as-Santa sneaking into the cottage and has a heart-to-heart with him, admitting how hard it is to be nice all year, the Devil relents and gives him the toy train both of them had been wanting for Christmas.
• Public Domain Soundtrack: A montage of Devil Claus offering presents to children and having milk and cookies all night has an extended version of "Trepak" from The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky played in the background. Also, a snippet of "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from the same suite plays in the background earlier when the Devil sees a toy train at the toy store.
  • The Devil's transformation into Devil Claus has the background music of a Ukrainian folk chant called "Shchedryk" (whose music was later used in a copyrighted song called "Carol of the Bells"). Ironically doubles as a Bilingual Bonus when the title means "bountiful evening", which is what the Devil will be forced into as Santa Claus.
• Ritual Magic: Ritual circle, candles, and a group of hooded figures chanting ominous pseudo-Latin words are all present for the Devil's transformation into Santa.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: All of Santa's reindeer flee from the Devil when he yells at them in frustration of not remembering their names.
• Shout-Out:
  • The design of Santa, his workshop and his elves are reminiscent of Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies Santa's Workshop and The Night Before Christmas.
  • The Devil becoming the new Santa Claus is similar to The Santa Clause, except he doesn't kill Santa in order to do so.
  • The elves all wear candles on their heads during the ritual to turn the Devil into Santa, much like the cult members do in Bimbo's Initiation.
  • During the gift-giving montage, the Devil offers a group of many kids asleep in one bed one present in each stocking over their heads (before having to have milk and cookies on all of their tables). This is similar to the way the Grinch stealthily took the candy canes from the hands of all of the kids asleep in one bed (one of them being Cindy-Lou Who) in the 1966 Animated Adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
• Spell My Name with a "The": When Santa asks for the Devil's name to look up in the nice list, the Devil gives his last name as "Devil", and his first name as "The".
• Stating the Simple Solution: When Henchman learns that the Devil is trying to get on the nice list to get a free cool toy train, he asks why the Devil just can't simply make one appear with his pitchfork. The Devil replies stating that getting a present doesn't feel the same as just obtaining it by himself.
• Too Dumb to Live: In spite of being told several times that the only way to avoid being stuck as Santa forever is to deliver all the toys to everyone, the Devil very nearly lets his vendetta against Cuphead get the better of him and attempts to keep his gift (the same train he wanted) for himself.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: The Devil accomplishes his goal of being on the nice list, but believes he won't get his toy train after Santa changes his reward to the joy of being nice. In the end, Henchman secretly builds a large toy train for his boss to play with.
• True Meaning of Christmas: Santa reveals to the Devil that his reward isn't the toy train he desired, but the joy of being nice. However, the Devil isn't amused by this revelation, and angrily leaves Santa's workshop but not before calling Santa and his elves losers.
• Villain Episode: The special is focused on the Devil trying to enter Santa's nice list and helping him deliver toys to everyone on the list in order to get a toy train.
• Villain Has a Point:
  • The Devil is blown away that Cuphead of all people is on the Nice list, pointing out how much of a brat he is and how he doesn't deserve the present he got. While saying he doesn't deserve a present is a bit of a stretch (considering that Cuphead, for all his faults, is a nice kid), he isn't wrong that Cuphead doesn't always act all that nice.
  • The Devil did have the right to be angry at Santa for changing his gift from getting a toy train to the joy of being nice, considering that the deal was for the train and Santa had no real right to change it behind his back just so he could learn a lesson.
• Villain Song: The Devil has another song in this series, called "Brings Out the Devil in Me", which is about the holiday itself bringing out, well, his naughty side.
• The Vitruvian Pose: Elf Stickler opens a book with Santa Claus in this pose.
• When the Clock Strikes Twelve: The Devil has until midnight to deliver all the toys to everyone on the nice list, Cuphead included, or else he will be stuck as Santa forever.
• Why Are You Looking at Me Like That?: After The Devil scares away Santa's reindeer, Henchman asks "Who's gonna pull the sleigh now?" to which the Devil stares at him for a few seconds warranting a "What?" from him; jump-cut to Henchman pulling Santa's sleigh.
• You Are Number 6: Both Santa and the Devil refer to their employees by their numbers instead of individual names, likely due to the sheer number of them.