B-E-T-T-Y
She’s back. Head Elf Betty returns to give Santa Claus the real story of the fall of Magnus Antus to the Mad Santa and her role in him being overthrown. Meanwhile, Sandra reconciles with La Befana, and viewers learn more about her role in helping the elves overthrow Magnus Antus, as well as her prior history as one of the legendary figures. And Cal ends up face to face with Mad Santa and Olga as he tries to recover his lost vest that has granted Santa Magic back to Mad Santa.
Betty's Tale
Betty tells the story of Magnus Antus’ descent into hysteria as well as the introduction of coal for children on the naughty list. Viewers learn how critical she was to winning the war between elves and gnomes, as well as how Gary lost his eye. It’s one of the best flashbacks on the show as Betty has been the best character introduced for the series.
Betty, knowing the rules and the clauses, is ready to hand in her resignation since she led a mutiny against one of the Santas. However, Scott Calvin recognizing her actions were heroic rather than treasonous tears up her resignation and keeps her in her position.
There’s some key references that help explain this story as both the flashback and present-day reference to Bernard. Of course, fans of the original film recognize that Bernard was the Head Elf when Scott became Santa. It makes sense that Bernard worked well with Betty, keeping her on Santa’s staff and promoting her to Head Elf when he left. It’s a nice tie in while still advancing this story.
La Befana’s Role
The most surprising part of the tale, at least to Santa Claus, is the fact that La Befana was once a legendary figure who gave up her role to help the elves when the other legendary figures decided not to intervene. La Befana has been presented as an absent-minded witch with limited magical powers. Betty’s tale reveals there is a lot more to her than meets the eye.
La Befana’s use of magic against Santa Claus led to her current situation as she was once revered and respected rather than viewed as the less than stellar neighbor she was presented as in season one. It also ties in with her reference to Sandra when she talked about having more adversarial relationships with previous Santas and wanting to stay on good terms with the current Santa. La Befana finally gets her due.
Cal Meets Mad Santa
Cal wants to fix his mistake, but he’s in over his head as soon as he runs into Mad Santa and Olga. However, Cal’s presence leads to Mad Santa finally revealing he was using Kris to his advantage due to his weakened state when he was brought back to life after being a nutcracker. It also creates a problem since Cal leaves as Santa learns about Magnus Antus and orders all the portals out of the North Pole closed, trapping Cal in the human world.
From there, Santa and Mrs. Claus have to find a way to the human world to save their son while they put Sandra and La Befana in charge of the North Pole’s defenses. The episode ends with the Clauses headed to the human world through the mail return chute setting up a finale that looks incredibly interesting.
Looking Ahead
Following the underwhelming episode four, this episode came on a lot stronger, making me more excited for the finale. I credit a lot of that increase in enjoyment to the Betty character. Sandra isn’t fleshed out enough and Cal is just too goofy to get behind. Noel is a funny side character, but he only thrives feeding off either Santa or Betty. Outside of Santa and Mrs. Claus, Betty is the most enjoyable presence on the show.
I’m eager to see what happens when Santa meets Mad Santa, especially with Eric Stonestreet’s comedic chops. I’m interested to see how Kris works into the finale. Can you imagine Stonestreet, Tim Allen and Gabriel Igelsias all feeding off each other comedically? I like where this is heading.
Check out The Santa Clauses on Disney+.
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