30 Rock – The mother who stole Christmas

by Bob Degon

(Season 3, Episode 6 – “Christmas Special”)

Another great episode free of disappointing big-name guest stars. I don’t count Elaine Stritch; with three episodes under her belt, she’s practically a full-time cast member. After all, I think she’s been in more episodes this season than Josh. What happened to that dude?

30 Rock has done a good job with holiday episodes, which can be dangerous territory for a lot of sitcoms. With “Ludachristmas” last year and this episode, 30 Rock has shown that they can deftly navigate the rocky terrain of the holiday season. If only it was that easy for the rest of us …

In typical 30 Rock fashion, this episode featured Liz trying to do good and falling flat on her face. Tonight, she was determined to help those less fortunate have a great holiday after she was left in the dust by her parents. She’s not the only one with parent issues, however, as Jack is forced to host his mother for the holiday after he accidentally hits her with his car. How great was Jack’s story of his Christmas when growing up? His mother invited over a creepy guy named Mr. Schwartz who would feel her up while Jack played “White Christmas” on the piano.

I love Elaine Stritch as Jack’s mom. She hits just the right note of crazy, overbearing, and needy all at the same time. That being said, Jack is at his best when he is the uber-confident network-running businessman. I like him when he is stressed out, but I like him better when he is looking down on Liz and mentoring her. Hopefully, we’ll get to see him confident and patronizing more as the season progresses.

Like all true Christmas episodes, this one had a happy ending. Jack realized that he really did love his mother when he discovered that the creepy Mr. Schwartz she had over every year was FAO Schwartz. Turns out she was sleeping with the toy magnate to get Christmas presents for her kids. So sweet.

Other great moments from the episode:

Jenna getting drunk on The Spirit of Christmas Brandy.
Liz assuming that the African American Santa dolls were rapping Santas.
Liz misreading Irene’s name tag as Trene (that’s pronounced Tra-nay).
Liz checking with Toofer on whether Fubu is obscene.

Some choice holiday quotes for you:

“I’m off to have a real Christmas: fly to Rio, tan in the nude, bet on some monkey wrestling.” – Jack
“Sounds more like Joan RIvers.” – Liz, on her Nicolas Cage impression
“Those are going to be the happiest poor kids since my brother and I went to Neverland ranch.” – Kenneth
“What’s the past tense of scam? Is it Scrumped? Liz Lemon, I think you just got scrumped.” – Tracy
“We had a falling out over the Jerry Garcia stamp. I mean, if I wanted to lick a hippy, I would just return Joan Baez’s phone calls.” – Jack, on his relationship with the Postmaster General
“And you’re acting like a real C-word right now. That’s right, a cranky-sue.” – Kenneth
“The letter said Dear Santa, not Dear Lonely White Lady.” – Angry parent to Liz after she tells his children that she bought all of Santa’s presents

What did you guys think of this episode?

Photo Credit: NBC

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Clacked by Bob Degon
on Dec 12, 2008 @ 08:03 EST5EDT

One Response to “30 Rock – The mother who stole Christmas”

Sebastian

December 12, 2008 at 7:29 PM

This ep. wasn’t great. Not at all.

Especially the one-liners, though all inherently funny, seemed displaced and forced. The whole idea of a Christmas Special was wrong and didn’t fit at all.

Even the Jerry Seinfeld episode was better than this.