About a Boy - About a Christmas Carol - Review

As we all know from the most classic Christmas movie of all time, “Tis the season to be jolly and joyous.” But Will is not really feeling the holiday cheer when all he can hear is a song with which he has a fairly complicated relationship -- “Runaway Sleigh.” It’s his meal ticket, a betrayal of his musical integrity, his broken relationship with his father, and a legal pain in the bum. So…complicated relationship.

Will tries to solve some of his legal problem/avoid Christmas, so he runs around town looking for evidence, aka old handwritten lyrics of “Runaway Sleigh.” Marcus, his “sanity elf,” accompanies his and tries to break down Will’s dislike for Christmas/”Runaway Sleigh” throughout the episode, and comes up with several different ideas: “You’ve gotten so sick of hearing the same old version” / “It just reminds you of how much time has passed […] you’re just kind of stuck in neutral” / “It ruined your relationship with your father.” Will’s trip down memory lane shows that while his personal (financial) success has improved since he wrote “Runaway Sleigh,” other parts of his life, such as his relationships with his family, and his actual music career, have fallen apart. Luckily Marcus reminds Will of the awesome people in his life now (aka, Marcus himself), and how you can choose your friends. Though in this case, they feel more like family. I mean, Will even decided to celebrate Christmas with Fiona, Marcus, and Andy & Co. -- which is apparently a Christmas miracle.

Meanwhile, Fiona tries to recover from Will’s Santa gaffe (Santa IS real, kids), and runs around town trying to make a magical Christmas for Marcus. Actually, she pretty much just looks for a snow machine and then buys a broken one. Handy Andy tinkers with it for a while, fashions it into something that Fiona thinks looks suspiciously like a bomb, and then sets it up to either “quadruple the output” or “blow up the neighborhood.” Naturally when that fails, Fiona jumps to an improvised plan B -- candles in bags all around the garden. Where I normally celebrate Christmas, people line the streets with candles in jars or bags on Christmas Eve at night, so when I saw Fiona’s magical set-up, it’s possible that I almost cried. It’s fine, I’m fine, don’t worry about it.

As Fiona mentions to Will, with all their moving around throughout Marcus’ childhood, Christmas has been the one constant, and therefore she wants to make it special for Marcus. It’s clear that she succeeds, not only in beautifully decorating the yard, but by being Marcus’ Christmas, in and of herself.

This episode has a really nice intersection of the ongoing lawsuit story and Christmas, since the song’s Christmas popularity is the reason that Will can live the life the way he does. It does a really nice job illustrating the relationship between the song, his career, and his life, and why the song’s both important to him, and why he resents it. While he achieved some success with Sriracha, writing “Runaway Sleigh” is what he considers his big musical success, as well the reason he’s no longer a musician anymore. Will got his “life” and his money from this monster hit, but he lost his musical integrity and his drive. As his father mentions, he gave up after he didn’t NEED to perform or write anymore -- but maybe he still needs to, you know, in here (imagine I’m pointing to my heart, 91% earnestly). Perhaps some of the lawsuit drama and partial reconciliation with his father will finally get him back into the music scene. Also, I’d love to see a bit of Will’s classical training on the show -- it’s clearly something that was a big part of his life when he was younger (due to his father), and it’d be interesting to see that come up again. Maybe helping Marcus with music lessons? Who knows.

Apropos of music, can we just give some props to the About a Boy theme song?  Every time I watch an episode, I remember how totally sweet and fun that song is.  Just had to get that out there since I've forgotten to mention it in about 3 consecutive reviews.

What did you think of the episode? Do you think Will will get his musical act together in the new year? Will he lose his house to Stalker Stacy? Is it inevitably that one day Handy Andy will accidentally blow himself up if he keeps tinkering with things? What do you think is in store for the AaB crew next year? Let us know below!

“Won’t you ride in my runaway sleigh? The reindeer might be biting but they seem to know the way. And we can fly these presents to the good girls and the boys, and we’ll all have a merry Christmas.”

God bless you, every freakin’ one!

About the Author - Kimberly

Kimberly is a big TV nerd - willing to talk any show, any time. Her tastes are various and sundry, but she’s got a soft spot for comedy. She currently writes the SpoilerTV reviews for Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and About a Boy.

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