The Librarians... and Santa's Midnight Ride

One of these men is not what he appears to be.

At Christmas, a gunman attacks a soup kitchen in London and is talked down by a jolly man in a distinctive hat (guest star Bruce Campbell.) But it's a trap, and soon the Serpent Brotherhood have drugged and kidnapped Santa, a living battery of the magical energy of human goodwill, and plan to sacrifice him as Christmas Eve becomes Christmas Day. The Librarians have a matter of hours in which to rescue Santa and save Christmas!

Jenkins: "That’s why everyone’s always cranky around the holidays- because we’re running out of good will."

The Librarians' Christmas special is a romp, with Campbell hamming it up as the mercurial and timeless spirit in his many guises (drugged and bereft of his anchoring totem, he cycles through his past 'aspects', from the impish Nicholas the Toymaker to freaking Odin.) Throughout, he refers to himself in the third person, and impressively this stops short of being completely annoying.

"Somebody jacked Santa's ride."

In terms of the regulars, Lindy Booth plays Cassandra's delight in learning that Santa (whom her parents 'outed' to her as fictional at age three) is real with infectious enthusiasm, while Rebecca Romijn gets some big character moments as Santa presses Baird to deal with her hatred of the holiday season. Christian Kane's Stone gets some nice byplay with Matt Frewer's Dulaque as he and Baird threaten the Serpent Brotherhood's art collection to keep their enemies at bay, but it's John Kim's Ezekiel Jones who gets to shine, wearing Santa's hat as a decoy and, as a result, becoming the embodiment of goodwill and generosity against his thieving tendencies.

The Librarians and Santa's Midnight Ride is a joy; not for all tastes, perhaps, but for me it manages the delicate balance of sweetness and savour that makes a Christmas episode more than just a disposable treat.

Also, it has Bruce Campbell in it.