When I saw that the two part The Simpsons Christmas special Oh C’mon All Ye Faithful had been added to Disney Plus (as an exclusive for the platform, no less), I found myself dreading watching it. This is not the sort of response you want from a longtime fan. Without exception, the Disney Plus exclusive shorts are all entirely terrible, and I worried this would simply be a 45 minute long extension of a five minute car wreck. Instead, it turned out to be one of the best things The Simpsons has done in years.
My fears started to alleviate during the opening credits, when it was revealed that Carolyn Omine had penned the episode. One of the strongest writers in the current crop, Omine is responsible for gems like Gal of Constant Sorrow, My Octopus and a Teacher, and most importantly, Halloween of Horror (the only Halloween episode to break from the Treehouse tradition). With one holiday season wrapped up, she turned her attention to Christmas, and I’m very glad she did.
The Simpsons Does Not Have A Good Track Record On Disney Plus
The episode starts as I feared it would for a Disney Plus exclusive – built around a celebrity. Derren Brown is in Springfield for his latest special, which includes hypnotising the town into embracing the Christmas spirit. With Brown both self-deprecating and offering a platform for characters to shine rather than talking over them, it just about works. It sees him hypnotise Homer into being a more confident gift getter for Marge, but it goes wrong, and Homer believes himself to be Santa Claus.
It’s a solid Christmas special premise, and full of holiday cheer. There are some good laughs (a requirement unfortunately overlooked by modern Simpsons episodes), but it’s pretty light-hearted with a fairly loose story. Then we arrive at the second part. Though watched as one continuous experience, and with both parts written by Omine, it is billed as a two parter on the streaming service and the opening credits present it this way.
The second half sees Brown take a backseat and deals with two central issues: Bart is growing older and struggling to feel the Christmas spirit, and Ned Flanders, having seen two of his wives pass away, begins to doubt the existence of God.
Oh C’mon All Ye Faithful Understands Why The Simpsons Works
This is what The Simpsons does best. These aren’t of the moment issues that are outdated by the time they reach our screens. These aren’t just an excuse to jam in the latest cameo – Brown barely features in either of these plots. He doesn’t impact Bart’s at all. These are relatable, timeless interpersonal issues that are full of heart. That has always been what The Simpsons is.
Though better known for the aforementioned Treehouse of Horror episodes, The Simpsons has always had an affinity for Christmas. Its very first episode was a Christmas special, Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire. Though it has missed with its Christmas episodes previously (Kill Gil, The Nightmare After Krustmas), they’ve also been some of the best in the show’s history, like Marge Be Not Proud, Miracle on Evergreen Terrace, and more modern delights like Holidays of Future Past.
Oh C’Mon All Ye Faithful can stand with the best of them because it fundamentally understands what the show is. We care about Bart and Flanders, and thus care about their problems. We don’t care about Billie Eilish’s latest recording session or the real-world fact that Disney owns The Simpsons, which is what all the other Simpsons Disney Plus offerings tend to be about. It’s moving because the characters move us.
When I first saw the special on Disney, I was concerned. Not just that I wouldn’t like it, but I felt like it shouldn’t exist. Though it began life as shorts on Tracey Ullman, The Simpsons is the longest running series on television, and it’s still going. I felt it should be folding any Christmas specials into its run, as it always had done. My lack of charity for the Disney Plus endeavours was probably a factor too.
I try not to care too much about little things. Anyone who reads what I post on TheGamer regularly may feel that isn’t true, but I do try. Trying is not the same as succeeding. The Simpsons tends to get me especially het up about minor annoyances, and when I saw Oh C’mon All Ye Faithful pop up, I already had one in the chamber about devaluing an animation institution by slicing away parts of its legacy for an empty Christmas doodad designed for audience retention metrics.
Now I think it deserves to be included not only in the main canon, but amongst the very best of the last decade. It’s a Christmas miracle.
The Simpsons: Hit & Run
- Released
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September 16, 2003
- Developer(s)
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Radical Entertainment