Holiday Picks! Best Christmas Episodes from Arrow, Bones, New Girl, and More

Christmas is often referred to as the most wonderful time of the year. It’s also the time when most of our favorite shows go into hibernation for a couple of months.

Before they leave us for the winter hiatus, though, many shows often add a little holiday cheer to their final episodes of the year, from comedies like Modern Family to TGIT favorites like Scandal. Here are some of our Christmas favorites from this year and years past!

 

Best Christmas episode this year?

Samantha: “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” — Scandal. From the title, to the music, to the set dressing, all the way down to the time-frame of the episode, “Baby It’s Cold Outside” was Christmas themed in an almost effortless way. The holiday trappings solidify the Christmas theme, without taking over the plot of the episode at all. Through presidential dinners and Olivia Pope’s tough decision, Mellie’s ill-timed, yet miraculous Christmas Eve filibuster, and images of each character’s holiday plans Scandal delivers one of it’s best episodes yet.

Lizzie: “Dark Waters”  — Arrow: It was sort of a Christmas episode. There was a party and everything! (A holiday party, mind you, not a Christmas party). And there was my favorite couple being cute, and in pain, and together, and a proposal, and then tears at the end. It had everything. It made me happy. It broke my heart. It was perfect.

Christine: “Cold As Ice” — The Vampire Diaries. Between Damon’s Santa Pub Crawl, Bonnie and Nora collecting Toys for Tots, and Caroline’s blood and fluff sandwiches, this episode SCREAMED Christmas. The holidays were also an excellent backdrop for all of the surprises involving the Phoenix Stone and for Damon’s decision to have a beauty sleep of his own. The “Silent Night” ending was reminiscent of Klaus killing Tyler’s mom while “O Come All Ye Faithful” played, but didn’t hit quite as hard. Still a great holiday episode.

Jessica: “Chapter Thirty” — Jane the Virgin: This was the Christmas episode I’ve been waiting for. Jane realizing Rogelio has been paying her tuition, Petra confiding in Rafael, and Alba getting her Green Card! I was laughing and crying, that by the end I wanted more time with these characters at Christmas.

Brittany: “Nice-Capades” -= Bob’s Burgers: In a slight change of tone from last year’s “stuck in the car” theme, Bob’s Burgers chose to focus on the ever-suspicious (but ever-believing) Louise and her desperate need to please a mall Santa she wronged before he could send word back to the Big Guy that all three Belcher children belong on the naughty list. Seeing the kids escalate their good deed to include a privately rented ice rink with a rousing music number from their landlord and a few soul-searching truths from all three Belcher kids was a Christmas delight.

Ashley: “White Christmas” — Modern Family. Holiday episodes are always a lot of fun on Modern Family, but this one was especially great. The whole family took a trip in hopes of getting a traditional white Christmas like Gloria wanted, but instead they found themselves in a warm climate having Christmas with a stranger. There was a special father/daughter moment for Jay and Gloria, Christmas music by the piano, a reference to The Shining (of all things) and most importantly, Haley and Andy finally made their relationship official!

Favorite Christmas themed episode(s) of all time?

Samantha: “The Ho Ho Ho Job” — Leverage. There are so many options for this that I struggled to pick one, Christmas themed episodes are like catnip to me. I chose this episode from Leverage because some of the best things about Christmas are the feelings of kindness, joy, and love and the time spent with family. Leverage encompasses all of those things. Grouchy Eliot as Santa, Parker’s childlike Christmas spirit, and the whole gang saving Christmas for not only a local mall Santa, but also the children and families that would’ve been hurt by Chaos and his thugs, never fails to bring a smile to my face. Parker even gets her wish for a white Christmas.

Lizzie: “In Excelis Deo” — The West Wing: Sometimes shows can go overboard during the holidays. Aaron Sorkin is especially guilty of this. Not this time, though. This time the episode manages to avoid undue sentimentality and have you bawling at the end, when, after Toby discovers a homeless veteran died wearing a coat he gave to charity, he makes it his mission to give the man a proper funeral. And, boy, does he do that. If you didn’t cry when the young boy’s choir was singing Little Drummer Boy, then you have no heart.

Christine: Lizzie totally stole my answer! Haha! I’ll go with “Christmas Party”– The Office. Aside from the hilarious Yankee Swap gone awry, it’s also the episode with the teapot. THE teapot. The tiny kitchen tool that was overflowing with Jim & Pam’s love for one another, though they weren’t “there” just yet. Plus, who doesn’t want an iPod to “totally change the way [they] work out”? Also laugh out loud in this one: Michael’s hatred of Phyllis’ hand knit oven mitt. Poor Phyllis.

Jessica: “Boom Crunch” — Desperate Housewives: The traditional disaster episode happens during a block party meant to bring the lane together. Lynette and Gabby ruin Silent Night with their fighting, Orson and Karl duke it out in Santa’s Hut over Bree and on top of that a plane crashes right onto the lane. Leaving the fates of several characters unknown. This episode manages to bring back the dark comedic humor DH was known for in its earlier seasons, and breaks your heart at the same time. It’s my go to Christmas episode when I’m looking for a reminder of how darkly funny life can be.

Sim: “The Best Chrismukkuh Ever” — The O.C. Even with so much drama happening– Marissa almost getting arrested twice, and of course, Seth playing both Summer and Anna, this episode bottles up the festive season and preserves it in a jar. And of course, this is the episode that gives us Rachel Bilson in a Wonder Woman costume- how can this not go down in history?

Brittany: “How the Ghosts Stole Christmas” — The X-Files. Warm feelings of Christmas cheer should not come from an episode whose aim is to force Mulder and Scully to enact a murder-suicide via a few bored ghosts (and their own weapons), but I’ll be damned if it isn’t my favorite Christmas tale of all time. Mulder’s infectious curiosity at the tale of the star-crossed lovers, Scully’s reluctant indulgence in his obvious need to spend Christmas Eve hunting ghosts with her, and Lily Tomlin and Ed Asner’s turn as a pair of extremely mischievous ghosts all come together to make an unforgettable haunted Christmas story that I can’t help but watch every Christmas Eve. Plus, what X-Phile hasn’t had a lengthy discussion about the continual mystery of what presents Mulder and Scully got each other?

Ashley: “The Santa in the Slush” — Bones. This episode from Bones Season 3 stands out to me as a Christmas favorite. The case of the week literally involves a bunch of Santas, and it ends with Brennan spending Christmas with her family as Booth arrives with the perfect gift to make their Christmas extra special. Oh, and it’s also Booth and Brennan’s first kiss, which happens thanks to Caroline and some mistletoe. What’s not to love?

 

Christmas is often referred to as the most wonderful time of the year. It’s also the time when most of our favorite shows go into hibernation for a couple of months.

Before they leave us for the winter hiatus, though, many shows often add a little holiday cheer to their final episodes of the year, from comedies like Modern Family to TGIT favorites like Scandal. Here are some of our Christmas favorites from this year and years past!

Best use of Christmas music?

Samantha: “Fog of War” — The 100. It’s not really possible to do a heavily Christmas themed episode on a high-octane, post-apocalyptic show like The 100. Yet during “Fog of War” a Season 2 episode that aired in December of last year, the scene where Bellamy and Octavia find Lincoln in the underground parking garage is accompanied by a haunting version of “Carol of the Bells.” The music ties the episode into the holiday season in a way that feels completely organic to the show, and I loved it.

Lizzie: “How the Ghost Stole Christmas” — The X-Files: This is the X-Files, so it’s Christmas with a spooky twist, just the way we like it. The music is at the center of it all when, at the end, after Mulder and Scully have been tricked to think they’re trying to kill each other, they finally realized they’re being played and escape to exchange gifts they said they didn’t get for each other.

Christine: “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” by She & Him from New Girl’s first season Christmas episode, “The 23rd.” Not only was it a nice way for Zooey Deschanel to cross promote herself, but it fit perfectly with the ending. After they all struggle to get Nick to the airport on time to make his flight home for Christmas, he changes directions to get an entire neighborhood to turn on their lights for Jess, who’s just broken up with her boyfriend. It’s a lovely moment of television.

Jessica: “Unholy Night”– American Horror Story: Asylum. The use of “Carol of the Bells” throughout the episode was particularly creepy, and set the tone that nothing was merry about this Christmas.

Brittany: “A Christmas Carol” — Doctor Who. While the episode didn’t choose to use a traditional Christmas ballad, the beautiful song written for the episode and sung by the ethereal Abigail while the fish of her home planet finally swam free (including a very large shark pulling a rather festive sleigh) never fails to bring a happy tear to my eye.

 

Have a holiday favorite that we missed? Let us know which episodes you love the most in the comments below!

Happy Holidays from all of us at Tell-Tale TV!