It’s the holiday season, which means that Santa Claus is preparing for the holidays. Or so we’d like to think.
In the reality presented on season 2 of The Santa Clauses, Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus have joined forces to solve a new mystery at the North Pole surrounding Magnus Antas.
The second season hit Disney+ on Nov. 8 with two back-to-back episodes that dumped a lot of plot development onto us, alongside the rise of the Mad Santa in Chicago, Illinois, Scott Calvin’s old stomping ground.
A little backstory, that was gifted to audiences via the “cagey” elves that are trying to prevent Santa Scott from learning the truth about Mad Santa, Magnus Antas was turned into a nutcracker by the elves after he essentially went on an angry tirade against the world, earning him the nickname. After he was turned, Gary sold him off in an online auction to pay off his gambling debts, and thus, Mad Santa the nutcracker ended up in a failing Christmas shop in the Windy City.
It’s in the elves’ best interest for present-day Santa not to find out about what they did, and it seems to be the North Pole’s biggest kept secret, though not the best as the moment Scott begins to ask questions about the specific Santa, the elves begin to scramble in fear. It doesn’t help that Betty, the Head Elf who always knows what to do, had to complete a mandatory Kribble Krabble aka a leave of absence from the North Pole to the real world for “rejuvenating purposes,” so no one knows exactly how to keep the Mad Santa situation under wraps.
But it’s likely a good thing she’s out there visiting the top destinations of the world because it means she’ll be able to see first-hand the wrath of Mad Santa, who has come back to life after being a nutcracker for 700 years, along with his chilling gnome sidekick, Olga. And yes, she bites.
Magnus Antas was sold to Kris, a Christmas museum manager who loves all-things Christmas and really believes in Santa Scott’s plan to restore the holiday magic. Kris’ shop is struggling, however, as the holiday season isn’t what it used to be, and after a fight with his pops, who wants to sell the store, a snowglobe breaks with the North Pole magic leaking next to the nutcracker and giving him life.
Kris thinks he’s found the real Santa, but little does he know, he has the evil version that for a brief moment gets soft and wants to accept that people have changed only to realize that Olga was right—humanity is even worse now. All the kids scoff at his figs and walnuts as they hurl requests for Roblox at him. And thus, he declares his reign of terror with a plan to get rid of “weak” Santa and make the whole world pay. Is it dramatic? Yes. Is Eric Stonestreet the perfect villain, sprinkled with a dash of Donald Trump’s personality? It seems so…. which honestly, amplifies the whole storyline.
And if you think that’s a lot, just strap on in because there’s so much more!
Credit: The Santa Clauses/ Disney+
Scott is determined to keep his family together by turning the North Pole into a family business. He gives Sandra the task of managing the reindeer, but her powers have amplified and she can now hear all the animals, which is driving her a bit mad.
As for Cal, Scott’s decided that he’s going to be the next Santa Claus, waving away any doubts, objections, and criticism from the elves and the “legendaries” like Cupid, the Tooth Fairy, and more, which doesn’t seem to be wise since all of those people actually see Cal for the immature 18-year-old he really is.
Cal seems interested in the North Pole business, but right now, he’s also more invested in his girlfriend, Riley. As Cupid pointed out, first love is much more powerful than any magic, so while I agree with Scott that she’s a nuisance, we have to let the floofy’s relationship just run its course.
Scott should also be reminded that when the Santa suit fell into his lap (and the previous Santa fell off his roof) in the original film, he wasn’t all too thrilled to give up the life he had/envisioned for himself either, so it would be wise to at least let Cal figure out who he is before forcing all this responsibility on him. He’s grown up in the North Pole, sheltered for most of his life, so he doesn’t even have the grasp of life to understand how important the role is or what’s needed of him.
I’d like to think that the Santa suit finds its next successor when ready—sorry, Cal.
Additionally, Scott seems to be pushing this narrative because he’s always wanted someone in the family to take over when it was his time to retire, and his first son, Charlie, wasn’t interested either. I hope they acknowledge that this is the motivation at some point this season to not completely shrug off the fact that Scott has another child.
Looping back to Sandra, while Mrs. Claus insisted that she was just going through “biological” developments, it turns out that she’s harnessing powers of her own. Witchy powers, that is. The idea of being a witch seems very frowned upon at the North Pole, but Sandra, don’t worry, in the real world, witches are the absolute coolest! La Befana offered to help Sandra get control over her magic, and not only is it a nice reprieve from the North Poleness of it all, but La Befana is an actual hoot! If I’m being quite honest, I’m more interested to see how Sandra’s storyline will play out than I am to see Cal’s training take place.
As you can see, there’s no shortage of material for the second season of The Santa Clauses. I’d argue that this season might even be better than the first one since we’re already acquainted with all the elves and know exactly what to expect from everyone. The Mad Santa storyline also allows us to dig deeper into the elves’ backstories, and somehow, seeing them as elves decades ago makes the whole thing less childish. The North Pole may be super tacky now, but back in the day, it was nothing but caves and iron thrones—they’ve come a long way!
What did you think of The Santa Clauses Season 2 Episodes 1 and 2? Are you looking forward to a face-off between Santa Scott and Mad Santa?