The 25 Days of Christmas Episodes – Day 21 – 30 Rock “Ludachristmas”
Tracy Jordan is facing a bleak Christmas – after an arrest, he has to wear an electronic monitor that prevents him from drinking alcohol. (You know, just like what happened to Tracy Morgan in real life. I’m not entirely convinced that Tracy knows he’s on a TV show most of the time.) Kenneth the page decides he’s going to help Tracy enjoy a booze-free Ludachristmas. (They never really explain this in the episode – apparently Ludacris has a Christmas song by that name. It may surprise you that my hip-hop knowledge is severely lacking.)
The Lemons embrace Jack and invite him out with the family. Jack puts his cynicism aside and actually goes out ice skating, until his mother Colleen tracks him down. She’s determined to prove that every family is deeply screwed up at its core. It takes some effort, and they stymie her for quite some time, but she eventually pushes them over the edge, including jarring Mitch into realizing that he’s lost 23 years of his life.Over at the studio, Kenneth forces the whole TSG crew into a non-alcoholic Ludachristmas. This includes herding them into a room with Reverend Gary, who presents a religious puppet show, and then shows a video about impoverished Guatemalan children. Somehow, this reaches them. But being who they are, it turns into a riot as they decide to cut down the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. (Watch where Tracy gets the ax from – it’s a great visual gag.)
By the way, this episode includes an absolutely filthy joke that I didn’t get until somebody explained it to me. Dick Lemon has the line, “It’s not a Lemon party until Old Dick shows up!”. Hee.
Best Line – Jack to Liz: “What did your mother mean when she said you were a beautiful genius? Was she taunting you?”
Christmas Tropes:
Gifts – GE (a division of the Sheinhardt Wig Company) gives all of its employees their new Photo Scanner / Paper Shredder. (“It’s very simple. When you want it to Photo Scan, switch it to “PS”. When you want to Paper Shred, switch it to… uh oh.”) In Reverend Gary’s video, he gives poor Guatemalan children blocks of wood. (“Just like I prayed for!”)
Reindeer Sweaters – No reindeer, but the entire Lemon family, plus Jack, wear identical red snowflake sweaters.
Celebrity guests – Emmy-winner Elaine Strich reprises her role as Colleen Donaghy. Liz’ parents are played by Buck Henry and Anita Gillette, and Andy Richter plays Liz’ brother, Mitch.
Musical number – Jenna sings some Christmas carols (and brings her own piano player to the party). Tracy Morgan performs the hysterical “Jordan Christmas” over the end credits.
Learning a lesson – When you have a court date, don’t show up drunk.
Cheer-o-meter Score: This episode teaches all the wrong lessons. Sure, it’s really, really funny, but it’s really cynical. You should totally watch it, but in terms of cheer, I can only give it a 4.
