"Chapter Three: Into the Wobbly Wood" is the third episode of the Disney+ series The Santa Clauses and aired on November 23, 2022. It was written by Kevin Hench and directed by Charles Randolph-Wright.
Synopsis[]
Scott interviews potential Santa candidates while the family gets ready to leave. Simon Choksi, one of the candidates, brings his daughter, Grace, with him to the North Pole. During Simon's interview, Sandra and Grace go missing. In finding their daughters together, Scott realizes Simon is the best choice to take the coat.
Plot[]
Santa and his family prepare themselves to move to Chicago to start their lives as regular people. All the elves, especially Noel, are resigned to this news and do everything to make their transition normal. Simon and Grace awaken and discover that they are at the North Pole and are taken in by the sights and sounds. They run into Mrs. Claus who has Cal show them around. He later turns out to be rather ignorant and Sandra takes over showing Grace around the North Pole. Elsewhere, Santa has started interviewing new candidates, starting with NFL star Peyton Manning. Noel wishes to throw a going away party, but Santa is uninterested.
While interviewing Simon for the part of Santa, Cal comes in and admits that he lost Grace and Sandra and both adults race off to find them. Sandra had actually taken Grace to the reindeer pen where the former discovers that she can hear the reindeers speaking and takes Grace into the woods to talk to someone. Santa and Simon meet with the eye-patch wearing Gary, the sole member of E.L.F.S., to help look for the girls and discovers that they are in the Wobbly Wood, a forest that is known for changing and is the home of La Befana, the Christmas Witch. The two of them are caught in one of her traps and she agrees to take the two of them to the girls.
The girls are fine, and Santa deduces that Sandra is upset over leaving the North Pole. He admits that he is scared too about leaving and that they will help each other try to move on. After speaking with Grace, Simon decides to accept the position of Santa. When Santa tries to hand the coat to Simon, it becomes heavy and wiry, and they put it aside. Noel sets up a whole dance number as a goodbye present before Edie spreads magic dust that sends the Clauses away. Santa and Mrs. Claus are now back to being Scott and Carol and awaken to their new life with Cal and Sandra surprised by their father's new appearance. They embrace their new home. Back at the North Pole, the lights begin to flicker, and the dark center of the Christmas orb begins to slightly increase.
Cast[]
- Tim Allen as Scott Calvin/Santa Claus
- Elizabeth Mitchell as Carol Newman-Calvin/Mrs. Claus
- Austin Kane as Buddy Calvin-Claus
- Elizabeth Allen-Dick as Sandra Calvin-Claus
- Matilda Lawler as Betty
- Devin Bright as Noel
- Rupali Redd as Grace Choksi
- Kal Penn as Simon Choksi
Guest starring[]
- Peyton Manning as Himself
- Laura San Giacomo as Befana
- Isabella Bennett as Edie
- Sasha Knight as Crouton
- Liam Kyle as Gary
Song[]
- Last Christmas by Santa's Elves (Wham!)
Trivia[]
- Edie explains that the reindeer believing themselves could fly is based on the theory that bees should not fly and do so because they believe they can. This misconception was started by French aeronautical engineer August Mangan who ignorantly did not realize that bees and airplanes do not function the same way.
- A bit of an innuendo is shown during the performance of "Last Christmas" when each elf held a letter that spelled out "WE LOVE YOU SANTA". However, for a brief moment, the word "SANTA" was misspelled as "SATAN", causing the elves to scream upon realizing their mistake.
Gallery[]
