Nice-Capades

In this Christmas episode, the siblings Tina, Gene and Louise Belcher try to prove that they are good kids by performing an ice capades show in front of a mall Santa.

In return, Mr. Fischoeder wants to sing a song while his brother Felix does a figure skating performance, which Louise accepts.

Gene writes the song the children want to sing, Linda makes costumes, and Teddy asks the other players of the Jewish ice hockey team which he is on for help during the show.

Last, Louise begins singing about the many nice things she did, such as regrowing the rainforest or giving shoes to shoeless people.

After she sees her reflection in the ice, she stops and tells Santa that all of her lyrics are a lie and that he should bring just her siblings presents, because they are good kids and she is not.

When she is the star, as she is tonight, she’s still a force, but we get the added fun of seeing her understanding of reality scrape against how things really are, as when her repeated attempts to get back in Santa’s good graces backfire because of the elf calling a Code Blitzen."

The climactic moment when she catches sight of herself in the ice and recognizes there’s no point in lying about all the nice things she hasn’t done is a wonderfully affecting bit, because that vulnerability instantly turns her into a real little kid.