Mary loves Christmas. But with Mary’s big fancy job, there comes sacrificies. Such as Christmas. And it’s really, really depressing.
While The Mary Tyler Moore Show is a sitcom, this episode is just sad. Not a tear-jerker. Just sad. Mary gets used by everyone around her while she gives up little bit of Christmas after little bit of Christmas.
Here’s almost every scene in the special:
MARY: I love Christmas!
CO-WORKER: We had to burn Santa Claus alive so there would be news. Go cover it.
MARY: I… I understand.
CO-WORKER: By the way, you’re going to die alone.
MARY: I know.
The episode does end happily, though, which somewhat makes up for it. And the scene in which Mary’s boss fills out an accidentally blank check creates a good bit around the guilt / gift-giving tandem.
Not every special needs to be special, per se.
But the first 15 minutes of “Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid†creates an odd scenario in which you don’t just feel bad for Mary, you wonder why she would throw her hat in the air if that hat is going to be stolen by an uncaring universe which doesn’t value’s a girl’s hopes and dreams.
Still. Love that blank check bit.
Mike Drucker is a lovely man with many positive characteristics. He has written for Saturday Night Live, The Onion, McSweeney’s, and Nintendo. He’s also a stand-up or something, I guess.