"A Christmas Peril" is the Christmas episode of the Disney animated television series Milo Murphy's Law. It originally aired in France on November 5, 2017, before making its US premiere (alongside the Star vs. the Forces of Evil episode "Stump Day" / "Holiday Spellcial" and the Pickle & Peanut episode "Tree Lighting" / "A Merry Mocap Musical") on December 2nd of the same year, making it the 21st and last episode of the show's first season in airing order (though it is actually the series' sixteenth episode in production order).
Summary
Like most Milo Murphy's Law episodes, "A Christmas Peril" has two subplots, with the A-plot centering on protagonist Milo Murphy, and the B-plot focusing on time travelers Balthazar Cavendish and Vinnie Dakota. Since the two subplots do not directly intersect in this episode (except very briefly at the end), they are summarized separately here for the sake of simplicity.
Milo's subplot
The episode opens on Christmas Eve in present-era Danville, where Milo Murphy and his older sister Sara are driving through town in their parents' car, accompanied by Melissa and Zack. Milo explains to his friends that, as his Christmas gift for his parents, he has invited the extended Murphy family over to spend Christmas together, which they haven't done in years due to how catastrophic their mishaps can get. Just then, they hear a weather report saying that a snowstorm is expected to hit later tonight, and Sara remarks that it's a shame their car cannot simply fly over the snow (segueing into the first scene in Cavendish and Dakota's story).
The group's first stop is the airport to pick up Milo and Sara's older cousin, Nate, who insists that he is not affected by Murphy's Law, claiming it skipped a generation for him. Despite his claims, however, he is shown to have lost his luggage, which is mistakenly being loaded onto another plane. Milo and Nate chase after the suitcase, but end up accidentally boarding the plane in question; and to add insult to injury, Nate's suitcase ends up on the plane's wing, only to fall into the ocean and get eaten by a shark. Eventually, Milo and Nate catch back up with Sara and the others by parachute. Next, the group goes to the train station to pick up Grandma and Grandpa Murphy, who have a habit of talking over each other. When Milo and Nate step into the train to help their grandparents carry their luggage, the doors shut behind them, and the train takes off for Canada. Luckily for the Murphys, the train suddenly breaks off the tracks near the harbor, where Nate's parents, Joey and Laura are arriving by boat. Before Joey and Laura can get off the boat, though, it is hit by an iceberg and starts sinking, so Milo takes control of a nearby rowboat to go save his uncle and aunt.
With all the relatives gathered together, they get into the car, but they soon see that the blizzard mentioned on the radio is starting to come down hard, and it quickly overtakes the whole car. Milo starts to think he may have had the wrong idea in getting his entire jinxed family together, but after hearing his relatives reminisce about their past Christmas gatherings, and Sara saying they can surely find a way out, he gets back in the spirit. The car's engine is frozen, though, but luckily, Milo's dog, Diogee, points out a nearby horse-drawn carriage. The man operating the carriage is happy to give them a lift, but then the carriage slips onto a frozen lake, gets detached from the horse, and flies into a tree with everyone still in it. Melissa points out a building nearby, so everyone climbs down from the tree and make their way towards it. Fortunately, the building in question turns out to be the mall, where Milo and Sara's parents, Martin and Brigette, have been doing their Christmas shopping. Martin and Brigette are pleasantly surprised that Milo brought the whole family together, but since they cannot leave the mall due to the snowstorm, they instead decide to have their Christmas Eve dinner at the mall's Chinese restaurant (during which Melissa's dad, Zack's parents, and Milo's classmates Amanda and Mort join in).
Cavendish and Dakota's subplot
In the far-off year of 2195, Time Bureau agent Balthazar Cavendish is at the mall, seeing an advertisement for the autobiography of his former partner, Vinnie Dakota, who has now become a famous pop singer and is signing copies of his autobiography nearby. Cavendish reflects on how, 20 years earlier, at the Bureau of Time Travel's Christmas party, he and Dakota got into a very bitter argument because Dakota ate the last egg roll at the buffet table and ended their partnership as a result. Cavendish deeply regrets having driven away his best friend and, upon remembering he's a time traveler, decides to go back to the year 2175 to prevent the argument from ever happening (and he ends up bringing along several other elderly gentlemen who wanted to come with him), even though he knows he'd be breaking a lot of rules in doing so. Unbeknownst to Cavendish, though, Dakota also regrets the argument that ended their friendship and also decides to travel back to 2175.
Upon arriving in 2175, the older Cavendish sneaks in to the Time Bureau's Christmas party and tries to prevent his and Dakota's younger selves from reaching the buffet table by changing the sign pointing to it. Unfortunately, after he has done this, the older Dakota, disguised in a Santa Claus suit, does the same thing, thus accidentally undoing Cavendish's switch and causing the argument to happen anyway. Older Cavendish spots Older Dakota and the two argue over who should stay out of the other's way as their younger selves break up. Older Cavendish makes another attempt to fix his mistake, this time deciding to snatch the last egg roll before his and Dakota's younger selves reach the buffet table. Older Dakota has the same idea, however, but in his case, he brings in a Velociraptor to eat the egg roll. This unfortunately fails, and again, Younger Dakota eats the egg roll and breaks up with his partner. Older Cavendish travels back once again, this time dressing as a giant egg roll and claiming he was turned into one because the egg rolls are tainted. But in doing so, he is attacked by the Velociraptor that Older Dakota brought along in his previous attempt. Meanwhile, Older Dakota tries destroying the roof with Hamosaur, but this somehow fails to distract the younger Cavendish and Dakota from their partnership-ending argument.
Outside, Older Cavendish and Older Dakota ask each other what they're doing here and then realize that they're both trying to save their friendship. They decide that they might have a better chance of stopping the original argument from happening if they work together. However, they try to do this by wrecking the party, and their multiple attempts to do so (using battle suits, a pack of Velociraptors, plant monsters in Santa suits, and driving a pirate ship through the wall) all fail to prevent the argument from happening. After many of these failed attempts, Older Cavendish and Older Dakota simply approach their younger selves, telling them to stop their arguing. (Cavendish and Dakota's boss, Mr. Block, briefly interjects to point out how many rules their older selves have just violated, but he is stopped by his older self.) Upon learning what their older selves went through trying to save their friendship, the younger Cavendish and Dakota reconcile, and as a result, all of their older selves vanish due to the timeline having changed.
In the closing scene, Cavendish and Dakota are shown having dinner at the same Chinese restaurant that Milo and his family and friends are having Christmas dinner at, and they each insist on giving each other the last egg roll. The episode then ends by revealing that, in the newly-changed timeline, Cavendish and Dakota remain together and become a pop-singing duo.
Songs
The instrumentals to "S'Winter" and "Candace Party", two songs from sister series Phineas and Ferb, are also heard at certain points in the episode.
Cast
Voice actor | Character(s) |
---|---|
Weird Al Yankovic | Milo Murphy |
Sabrina Carpenter | Melissa Chase |
Mekai Curtis | Zack Underwood |
Kate Micucci | Sara Murphy |
Dee Bradley Baker | Diogee |
Diedrich Bader | Martin Murphy |
Pamela Adlon | Brigette Murphy |
Shelley Long | Grandma Murphy |
Fred Willard | Grandpa Murphy |
Jeff "Swampy" Marsh | Balthazar Cavendish |
Dan Povenmire | Vinnie Dakota |
Mark Hamill | Mr. Block |
Diedrich Bader | Nate Murphy |
Grey Griffin | Laura Murphy |
unknown | Joey Murphy |
Jeff Stewart Greg Cipes John DiMaggio |
Additional voices |
Note: Mort Schaeffer, Amanda Lopez, Agents Brick and Savannah, Marcus and Eileen Underwood, and Richard Chase appear, but do not have speaking parts.
Gallery
See also
- Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation! and "A Phineas and Ferb Family Christmas", the Christmas episodes of sister show Phineas and Ferb
External links
- Milo Murphy's Law Wiki: A Christmas Peril
- Disney Wiki: A Christmas Peril
- "A Christmas Peril" at the Internet Movie Database
- "A Christmas Peril" recap at TV Tropes