Minstrel Krampus
Season: 9
Air Date: December 15, 2013
Best Quote: “Who cares about your son? I can’t go back to sharing Christmas with that soul-singin’ goat! Always nibbling on my list….” – Santa Claus, on receiving the news that Krampus kidnapped Steve.
Serving as a sequel to “For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls,” I admit that “Minstrel Krampus” had me kind of bored until Santa Claus re-entered the picture. But once he does, this episode picks up tremendously. Basically, Stan’s dad has had Krampus locked in a pot in the basement for 50 years and Stan lets him loose to scare Steve into not acting so spoiled. Mayhem ensues. I like the twist that Krampus is actually the good guy who is trying to repent for not punishing Stan’s dad as a child; Santa is revealed to be the bad guy who spoils children to make money. Again, the episode climaxes with a hilarious battle to the death between Santa Claus and Krampus, only it’s a lot of anthropomorphic household appliances that get caught in the crossfire instead of elves (there’s a great joke where a wall gets killed with a butcher knife). To top it all off, the episode ends with an homage to Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. It’s a weird, amusing episode.