NOTE: This review is an adaptation of an old review I made back in the day on my old DeviantArt account. I wasn't very good at reviewing stuff back then so some of the writing here is incredibly cringey. I've mostly left the review intact (with a few minor modifications) as my opinion on the Christmas special has remained largely the same, but if I were reviewing this episode today, I would do things much differently. I feel as if I overemphasised some criticisms that were incredibly minor, spent most of the review simply recapping the episode and just generally said a lot of downright stupid stuff, but I leave the review here for your reading pleasure nonetheless. I've also included a section from a comment I made below the original post that elaborates on my thoughts slightly.
'Now, I love The Amazing World of Gumball. I also really liked their Hallowe'en special, so their Christmas special has got to be good...right? Unfortunately, I found it to be very mediocre.
We start with the Elmore residents celebrating Christmas, and we even get an amusing joke with Carrie and Miss Simian. The episode itself is quite slow-paced, in my opinion, so I could definitely have used with more of this. The scene only lasts for about five seconds, though.
All seems well until the Wattersons run over a tramp. Richard is convinced that he's run over Santa Claus, so he tries to get back on the nice list by doing as many good deeds as possible. Richard's "good deeds" are also really funny, but we only see about two or three of them throughout the episode, so I could have used with more of them as well.
Nicole is initially reluctant to keep the tramp in her house, but her kids are also convinced that he is Santa, so she eventually allows him to stay. Richard, of course, humorously tries to suck up to the tramp, but Nicole goes out of her way to ensure that the tramp doesn't touch anything...and I mean anything.
Let's talk about Nicole. To an extent, she is justified in being cautious about letting an unwashed vagrant in her house and especially near her kids. It's called giving a darn about your children's safety. However, the tramp never does anything which justifies her suspicion, yet she spends most of the episode yelling at her children for believing that the man is Santa Claus. The episode attempts to explain this behaviour, but it falls flat in my eyes.
It's fair to say that Season Two was in many ways a transitional season for The Amazing World of Gumball, but one aspect of the show which wasn't very prevalent at this point in time was the satirical aspect, which didn't feature prominently until Season Three at the earliest. I'm willing to bet that if this show did a Christmas special nowadays, there would be far more satire based around the rampant commercialism present at this time of year. I say this because they do actually mock the whole 'sitting in Santa's lap' thing, and I do believe that this is the funniest scene in the episode, but if only there were a more recent Christmas episode which went further...
Oh, wait. It already exists. It's called The Lie.
Anyway, Nicole has had enough of the kids believing that the tramp is Santa (why she's such a Grinch about it, I have no idea), so she decides to tell them a story about her experiences with Santa. That's right, ladies and gentlemen: A wild Nicole flashback has appeared! I'm so tempted right now to bring up The Fury and The Choices, but I'm not going to. It would be an unnecessarily harsh comparison and the flashback is bad enough on its own merits (or rather its lack thereof).
Basically, Nicole sent a letter to Santa every year asking for the same thing, but she never got a reply, so she eventually gave up hope. Remember The Hero? Remember how everyone went on and on about how the episode was too melodramatic and how Nicole's character was the worst aspect? This is far worse, in my honest opinion. The flashback is trying to get me to feel sorry for Nicole, but it's hardly...the two episodes I said that I wouldn't mention. Also, the "big twist" (that Nicole sent her letters to the South Pole) is outright revealed to the audience. This makes M. Night Shyamalan's films look like Planet of the Apes.
Do you want more melodrama? No? Too bad! Santa not existing means that Christmas has to be cancelled!
...Seriously? Why not just go ahead and kill off all the characters while you're at it? This makes no sense. If Santa never existed then what makes this Christmas different from all the others?
Richard ends up finding Santa's sleigh and, being an idiot, decides to try and ride it so that he can save Christmas and be on the nice list. Meanwhile, we get quite a poignant scene between the tramp and the kids...which is instantly ruined when a present lands on the tramp's head and it turns out that he really is Santa Claus. Surprise, surprise. I didn't see that coming at all.
You know who plays Santa in this episode? BRIAN BLESSED. How many times does Santa raise his voice? None. That's like asking John Kricfalusi to produce a cartoon where the characters are always on-model. I get that they want him to be more reserved when he's playing the tramp, but he doesn't sound any different when he is revealed to be Santa. They wasted a great talent. *sighs*
Obviously, Richard is terrible at controlling the sleigh and he ends up taking Gumball with him. Hilarity ensues. OK, only a couple of mildly amusing jokes ensue, but since when did jokes matter in The Amazing World of Gumball? It's not like this show is a comedy or something. Also, Santa somehow knows when Richard and Gumball can see him even though they're above the clouds. Not only that, but they can hear Nicole from all the way up there. It must be one of those so-called "Christmas miracles".
It's honestly a miracle that the sleigh makes it in one piece, but it does. Nicole sees Santa in person and it's revealed that, here's the twist, you won't believe this, it will blow your mind: Nicole sent all her letters to the South Pole! Dunh-dun-DUNH! Oh, I'm almost disappointed that they revealed it earlier...almost. This leaves quite a huge plot hole, though: how on Elmore did Santa get a hold of Nicole's letters if they were sent to the other side of the world? Who actually received them, if not Santa? Heck, who delivered them? The episode doesn't even try to explain all this.
Oh, and we finally see what Nicole kept on asking Santa for. It turns out to be...dolls which resemble her family. Wait, what? OK, so I can give Richard a pass, but how exactly did she ask for dolls resembling her children when she was a young girl? Even if we assume that she asked for one which resembled her (i.e. Gumball) and one which resembled Richard (i.e. Anais), how did she ask for a Darwin doll? That's two plot holes for the price of one in a show which normally doesn't have plot holes because it tends to put comedy over the story and usually puts in a lot of effort when it does try to tell a heartfelt story.
Overall, this episode was just not that good, at least from my point of view. It had a few good jokes and some good ideas (mainly Richard trying to get on the nice list, the other residents of Elmore celebrating Christmas in their own unique way and the satire involving the consumerist aspect) but it fell flat on multiple levels.'
'Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I realise that this episode makes no sense. One thing I only brought up briefly in this review which I could have expanded on was the pacing. I've praised this show's Hallowe'en special for its quick pacing and for the fact that it shows the other residents of Elmore celebrating Hallowe'en while still making time for the main story. It helps that the plot of the Hallowe'en episode is very simple and that the episode itself doesn't take itself too seriously.
This episode, on the other hand, gets too bogged down in its plot and seems to think of itself as a masterclass in storytelling. If other people like the story then that's good for them, but I just find the whole thing trying too hard to pull at my heartstrings. It doesn't help that the episode neglects the comedy (for the most part) and the worldbuilding, which just slows it down far too much.
All in all, I stand by my statement that The Lie is the better of the two Christmas specials. Yeah, it's not as dramatic and it is rather silly, but I was far more invested in the story, the characters were all great and the comedy was top-notch.'