photo: nbc
30 Rock
Secret Santa
Original Air Date: Dec 10, 2009
Laura Kelley – Associate Staff Writer
laurakelley@thetwocentscorp.com
It’s the holidays at TGS, and Liz decides to get Jenna the perfect gift: a jigsaw puzzle of her nipple slip. Jack and Liz decide to exchange gifts, but Liz hasn’t considered Jack’s need to constantly best everyone, and Jonathan warns her that she will never be able to top him. Especially not with a coffee mug full of bath salts.
Jenna once again refuses to contribute to Pete’s fund for the cleaning ladies, but Danny gives, proving once again that he’s freaking adorable. The network sets up YouFace, a social networking site, where Jack is contacted by Nancy, his first crush. While the writers make up their own religion in order to avoid Kenneth’s overly complex secret santa program, Jack’s crush comes to meet him, and she’s played by Julianne Moore with a really brash Boston accent. Meanwhile, Pete hears Danny sing and offers him the chance to perform a Christmas duet with Jenna, mostly as revenge at Jenna for not contributing to the cleaning lady fund. Jenna has a “rage stroke,” and I thought Jane Krakowski played the moment beautifully. The fury in her eyes was amazing while the blood was running down her face, and it was hilarious.
Kenneth has a crisis when Tracy tells him that the writers made up a religion, assuming that all religions are made up. Tracy wisely refuses to continue the conversation, telling Kenneth they have “fallen into the intellectual deep end, and if you grab onto me we’ll both drown.” Liz gets Jack a $500 tie he already has, so Jack suggests they exchange free gifts instead. Danny finally figures out that Jenna is evil when she hires someone to punch him in the throat. Kenneth, meanwhile, pulls the clothes off a Santa doll and says “you’re just a Kenny Rogers doll now” in the funniest line of the night. The writers feel bad about Kenneth’s existential crisis and agree to do secret Santa.
Jack goes to dinner with Nancy and is then sad after she leaves for Boston. Liz tries to cheer him up with a song, but it fails pretty badly. Jack gives Liz her gift: a framed “gender-blind Crucible,” the high school play she starred in, and she comes up with a pretty ingenious gift too and calls in a bomb threat to prevent Nancy from leaving town. Nancy returns and kisses Jack. Danny pretends to suck so Jenna won’t feel bad, and the cops falsely accuse Frank, Lutz, and Twofer of calling in the bomb threat. What did you guys think of this episode? I loved Kenneth’s crisis of faith, but then again, is Kenneth ever not hilarious? Does Liz’s haircut make anyone else want to gouge their eyes out? Will I ever get the opportunity to give Danny a hug? Leave your two cents in the comments below.
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