Just a regular Christmas in Eureka
Carter: Taggart's Santa.
Jo: You just ruined Christmas with two words.
Jo: You just ruined Christmas with two words.
Some kids are upset at being stranded in Eureka by a snowstorm, so Carter tells them the story of a time when he was stuck in town due to something much stranger.
The town shrinks as Taggart goes Santa-hunting, while Vincent seeks the perfect fruitcake.
Tropes
- Actor Allusion: This isn't the first time Matt Frewer has been in something where chaos ensues from a shrink ray.
- Christmas Episode
- Credits Gag: The opening titles have been changed to include Christmas-themed imagery, and the theme music is played on bells. Creative Closing Credits also applies as the usual closing theme is sung in "fa la la"s.
- Doing In Santa: Taggart is preoccupied with founding "Santology," a science devoted to investigating and disproving Santa. He causes havoc in the teaser when he almost crashes his sleigh.
- Framing Device: The main story is being told by Carter to some kids stranded in town by bad weather.
- Full Moon Silhouette: Santa's sleigh is silhouetted against the full moon.
- Gilligan Cut: Jack is telling a story to a group of kids of a Christmas he was stranded in Eureka, an unexpected bogey buzzes the town. . . which turns out to be Santa's sleigh (sort of).Jack: [To the kids] Now, it's not every day you get to track down a runaway Santa, so Jo and I, we jumped at the chance.
Jo: I want nothing to do with this.
Jack: Oh, like I do? - The Grinch: Subverted. Jo seems to hate Christmas, but it is revealed that she secretly likes it. She is even the Secret Santa.Carter: You're not feeling the merry, huh?
Jo: Ugh, all the boozing and schmoozing, lights and glitter; It's Vegas, not Christmas. - Lampshade Hanging:Boy: Sheriff Carter, please tell me you're not actually suggesting this Drummer dude is Santa?
Carter: I'm just sharing the story. You guys can believe what you want. - Santa Ambiguity: Drummer is implied but not confirmed to be Santa Claus, see Lampshade Hanging above.
- Shout-Out:
- Fargo's Secret Santa gift is a vintage The Six Million Dollar Man lunchbox.
- Jo mentions that the AC is cranked to 11.
- As the town shrinks.
Fargo: Maybe someone outside of Eureka will see how small we are and try to help us?
Jo: Like who? Oh, like a big-hearted elephant?- Carter is chased down the street by a bauble, very like the boulder in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- At one point, the kids Carter is telling the story to express disbelief and he tells them to go back to their games if they're not interested. They don't and one boy, feigning indifference, says he may as well finish his story as in The Princess Bride.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Carter has to be flown by Taggart in his sleigh so he can ignite the hydrogen crystal at the top of the town's EM barrier and unshrink the town. Taggart Drives Like Crazy and the sleigh has no seatbelts.Taggart: I am going to need a little helper.
Carter: I am not wearing a pointy hat. - Title Drop: At one point, a rewritten version of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" can be heard.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Taggart makes a shrink ray to prove that Santa can be explained by advanced science (all those toys fitting in one sack). Vincent uses Taggart's shrink ray to make fruit cake taste good, causing an overload that shrinks the town.
