Saw this on DVD last night--first time since it first aired.
A truly hilarious episode, particularly the antics of Mandy and Ed. Mandy has a line where she's busy and the doorbell rings. She calls out, "Can someone other than me please get that." Ed had a line a couple of minutes later that made me pause the show for over 45 seconds until I stopped laughing. I cannot reveal it because it needs too much context.
The main plot deals with the entrance to the series of Ryan, Boyd's father, who is back in the area and now wants to be a part of his son's life, but is not interested in being involved with Kristin at all. Kristin is happy for this, but Mike is rather hostile to Ryan. Ryan has been performing in fairs and such, and Mike tells him, "The role of Boyd's father should have been cast 2½ years ago."
Eve seems to get to her father a bit, and with Kristin's recalling a World War I story Mike has often told, and on getting him to re-tell it by playing dumb (getting all the facts wrong as she starts the story) Mike agrees to a "Christmas truce" with Ryan.
This all came after Kyle was quite disturbed that his serious girlfriend might get back with Ryan, and the actions he took were also important in the plot, but won't be revealed here--too much of a spoiler.
Meanwhile, Mandy gets a Christmas time job at the store, playing an elf-helper to Santa Claus (Ed) who tells her one of her big duties is making sure all the little kids have gone to the bathroom before they sit on his lap.
Mandy causes a stir by getting all the other Christmas help to go on strike, demanding better working conditions. When she talks about certain benefits "after six months" Ed reminds her, "you do realize your job ends in three days, don't you?"
I thought this episode was brilliant, utilizing all the cast well, and providing a nice Christmas message of forgiveness as well. It even had a cute finish involving Ryan showing a weird side by singing on his own at church with the family, distracting everyone else from the hymn they were singing. This was interesting because in this episode, Ryan was played by singer Nick Jonas.
When the episode is great from start to finish, it has to get a 10 score from me, something I rarely give out for any series episode.
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