It is the secret origins episode tonight complete with festive title cards indicating when we are going into a flashback. It’s also disturbing imagery time as we get scenes with a microwaved baby and Very Bad Santa manipulating and drugging Hailey to get to Sax.

In between these scenes we get a fantastic car chase, a strip joint catering to professional Santas, and Happy pole dancing in a fireman helmet.

This episode really belongs to Meredith and Amanda though. The two of them form a tense and uneasy partnership to investigate the string of kidnappings in town including Hailey’s. I really enjoy the dynamic between the two characters and you get the sense that once upon a time they might’ve been on friendlier terms had Meredith and Nick not started sleeping together. Their investigation hits an early snag though when they discover that the latest kidnapped girl in fact isn’t kidnapped at all but being held hostage in her attic so her parents can  get their 15 minutes of fame. (What the parents were planning to do with their daughter if Very Bad Santa gets caught betrays a lack of planning on their part though)

This episode was delightful and managed to strike the perfect balance between dark and jokey in my opinion better then the previous two episodes did. I don’t know if it overtakes the second episode as my favorite of this season yet but it comes close. All in all I give episode 3 a B+

Passing Thoughts:

• You Belong to Me was a great music choice for the fruitcake scene. It managed to make Santa even creepier.

• It is great to see the various reactions people have when they see Nick talking to Happy
• The dirty lawyer got off easy in my opinion. Nick Sax as he is now probably would’ve beat him to death in an even more painful way
• Among other crimes Nick is wanted for not tipping 20% to the waitress