TV Review: The Santa Clauses Episode 5
The showrunners are obviously trying hard to win over the audience in this episode, finally bringing in Bernard and giving us some Santa lore. I really enjoyed having Bernard back as sassy as ever, so a big thank you to David Krumholtz for returning, but the lore didn’t really win me over. The showrunners have a lot of work ahead of them to finish out this season in a way that satisfies both old and new fans of The Santa Clause.
Bernard knows how to make an entrance, using some magic to comically freeze Carol, Cal, and Sandra while he talks to Scott. He is noticeably older, which the show brilliantly explains by saying that Bernard gave up his immortality as an elf to become a mortal human because he fell in love with a human woman. Giving up your immortality for love is a fairly common trope, so I had no issue believing this reasoning. My one complaint is that Bernard has apparently fallen in love with an 85 year old woman, which isn’t necessarily a problem but it is certainly very odd. Scott obviously teases him for it and Bernard basically replies that love has no age, which is true, but I’m not sure that this was the best joke to go with since it is more jarring than funny. Otherwise, everything about Krumholtz’s performance was fine with me.
The Santa lore that is introduced in this episode is admittedly pretty cool. The Santa coat was made from St. Nicolas’ coat, who was the original Santa Clause. St. Nicolas was a real person whose pure intentions for gift giving created magic, along with the North Pole and the elves, etc. Scott finds out that, other than St. Nicolas, he is the first human Santa. Apparently, Santa had always been born of magic just like the elves, spawning a new Santa when a previous one was ready to retire, but all of the previous Santas felt that only a human Santa could address the newly waning Christmas spirit. It was nice to see Scott get a chance to talk with the Santa that came before him, who explained that Scott specifically was chosen for the job. But then that’s all we really get. The time spent with the 2-3 dozen previous Santas felt very rushed and like there was a lot more left to say. I don’t understand why Scott wasn’t allowed to spend more time with them.
Another big reason that the previous Santas wanted a human Santa was so that human children would be born in the North Pole and hopefully have magic ingrained in their DNA so that they would be better equipped to deal with waning Christmas spirit. This reasoning makes sense on the surface but they are essentially breeding a better Santa without the knowledge of the people involved, so there is a lack of respect for the children’s personhood. The clauses attached to Scott’s contract, which were invented for him, specifically included the Mrs. clause so that Scott would have children there, which is so incredibly manipulative. I think Carol would flip if she had heard that specific bit of information since she has been asking the most intelligent questions in this series. Carol was rightfully annoyed that Scott didn’t ask whether there were any previous Mrs. Clauses when he was with all of the Santas. Yet another instance of Carol’s individuality being acknowledged and then completely ignored.
Bringing in the element of the new clauses attached to Scott’s contract introduces a level of sinister to Bernard that I don’t care for, as it’s implied that Bernard added a new clause each time that Scott was struggling with something. Scott needed to produce children in the North Pole and he wasn’t looking for a wife on his own, so the Mrs. clause was invented. Scott was getting burned out with all of his responsibilities, so the Escape clause was invented to remind him how much he loved being Santa. And now in this series with Scott feeling burned out again, the Retirement clause is invented so that he’ll pass down the mantle of Santa to his children.
All of these clauses are incredibly manipulative. It’s all in the spirit of saving Christmas, but does that justify forcing a man into a job that he never asked for, marrying someone he barely knew, having children for a specific purpose, and generally being put through varying types of torment in order to get him to stay in the job? The clauses don’t only affect Scott- they are now going to be used against Scott’s entire future bloodline, locking in generations of people forced to play the role of Santa rather than having the chance at a normal life. Cal and Sandra are perfect examples of how cruel this is because they are truly thriving in their new life in Chicago; they are making friends for the first time, having normal experiences, and going through normal problems. But now one or both of them will be forced to become Santa and continue the cycle of getting married and having children in the North Pole so that yet another Santa will be born. The show has a lot of work to do in the finale indeed…
