Spoilers Below

Ever see the movie Elf? It’s the same premise only 180 degrees in reverse.  Instead of having Will Ferrell find out that he’s not a direct descendant of a being that builds presents for kids, we find out that the Nerd is actually the son of Santa. And like one of the most popular holiday films of all time, the Nerd heads to the North Pole and is trying is best not to screw shit up for his old man.

Eventually, Nerd does meet his dad, but not before contaminating everything in Santa’s workshop turning the elves into zombies. Fortunately, Santa’s packing and everyone gets destroyed including Fred Claus. Just as Santa and his son are taking their victory lap, Santa sends a nuke to DC and the two have to catch the bomb before it reaches its target. Santa and Santa Jr. reach the sleigh, but a random elf zombie shows up and drops the bomb. As luck would have it, the Nerd is able to turn the bomb off before it hits and saves Christmas. However, much to our surprise, we find out that the Nerd is NOT Santa’s kid and is actually the offspring of the fabled Krampus.

Our Take

Is the premise entirely original? No. Do we miss Seth MacFarlane’s take on Santa Claus? Absolutely. But, when watching this special one cannot marvel at the growth of the writing team. Littered throughout the Robot Chicken special are awesome cameos and gags to Christmas specials of yesteryear, and other pop culture references (including an obligatory Star Wars reference a week before the new movie drops) that make this a true Robot Chicken special.

A real joy regarding this week’s episode for me was the massive gun battle complete with Santa Claus using a saw to decapitate zombies like they were nobody’s business. And how about the Fred Claus bit?? HAAAAAAAA. Good stuff.