We’re counting down the days until Christmas by looking back at Christmas episodes from a variety of TV shows. Tonight we’re talking about “Best Christmas Ever” from How to Get Away with Murder. What Christmas episode tropes did this episode use? Let’s take a look.
Basic Info
Directed by: Michael Katleman
Written by: Tracy Bellomo and Warren Hsu Leonard
Episode Number: Season 1, Episode 11
Where to Watch It: Netflix
Depressing Christmases
In “Best Christmas Ever” we see each character’s Christmas day through flashbacks. Annalise spends her Christmas in a hotel room, drinking alone and crying.
Michaela gets dumped by her fiance after she sees him talking to another guy at a Christmas party and asks him, “Are you two screwing?”
During Wes’s Christmas flashback, we found out that he’s been having nightmares.
Orphans Christmas
Wes’s girlfriend Rebecca is excited about having an orphans Christmas: “Don’t have to eat dry turkey or pretend that uncle Ray isn’t looking at us inappropriately.” She suggests they embrace being away from family with things like having ice cream for breakfast.
Christmas Dinner
Laurel’s family has a picturesque dinner. They live in a mansion and have a maid serving a beautiful dinner.
But, Laurel is not into the actual family part of the family Christmas dinner. Laurel decides to be openly hostile during her family’s Christmas dinner. She complains that her mom only called her once over the semester and it was to see if she’s dating anyone. She gleefully tells them that she is, in fact, dating two guys at the same time.
When her dad makes her leave the table, she gives him a very sarcastic, “Feliz navidad.” She walks away feeling pretty satisfied about not gritting her teeth through another family gathering.
Re-Gifting
Connor gives Oliver a hand-knitted hat that his grandma made. When Oliver points out that it’s a re-gift, Connor tells him, “I couldn’t pull it off, but you totally can.”