Review: Bless the Harts “Miracle on Culpepper Slims Boulevard”

On the third holiday special of the season, Fox Animation gave to me…

OVERVIEW

As Greenpoint is assaulted by a slight frost messing with traffic, The Harts are invited to Jenny’s boss’s Christmas party, though the family all has their own anxieties about the holiday. Betty with finding enough money for proper gifts, Jenny with trying to pretend to enjoy the mandatory party (and later helping her boss stick up to her distant husband), Violet with playing a giant model of the town, and Wayne with meeting his thespian idol, Ian David Cole.

OUR TAKE

Bless the Harts returns from a two week break…and right before another three week break, with their own very first Christmas special. Right after the thanksgiving one! Now they’ve tackled all the Fall holidays. But as far as Fox animated christmas specials go, I have to say this is not exactly up to snuff. Like I’ve probably noted before, this show banks on its groundedness in telling its stories, unlike shows like Simpsons and Family Guy who are known for going absolutely balls to the wall crazy in their humor (as seen tonight in their own Christmas episodes). Bob’s Burgers has also been known to keep things grounded, but still keep a zanyness to things, which I don’t think Bless the Harts has really found its footing on yet.

It also doesn’t quite help that this episode doesn’t really feel like much of a Christmas special, just a regular episode about Jenny’s boss that’s kind of given holiday wrapping. Even as a out and proud Jewish guy, I’ve been able to appreciate how well a good yule episode can go, and this very clearly falls short, though as much regarding the characters’ scattered motivations as how weirdly utilized the holiday theme is. We’d seen inklings about Louise’s husbands emotional distance through out the season, which probably could have been resolved in any way, but instead are only addressed here and not developed much beyond Louise being able to be fooled by a brief act of affection to avoid Daniel paying a gambling debt. And much like the Halloween and Thanksgiving episodes, these aren’t really situations that required this holiday in order to work, they’re just there because these episodes are placed to air on those weeks of a calendar.

But that does it for this show’s episodes for the year. Next time we check in with the Harts will be at the top of 2020 with what apparently will be the first season finale, as the final three episodes of Season 1 will be folded into next Fall’s second season. Not exactly how I expected the inaugural season to conclude, but perhaps this just means we’re in for what could be an excellent way to show this series has earned the chance to carry on for at least one more year. The season has been pretty inconsistent in quality, as the first seasons of their peers have been known to be, but there’s plenty of chances for them to show they’ve grown.