The True Meaning of Christmas (Teen Titans Go!)

The True Meaning of Christmas is the nineteenth episode of the third season of Teen Titans Go!, and the one-hundred-twenty-third overall episode of the series.

Summary
Fed up with not getting Christmas presents and being on the Naughty List every year, the Titans head to the North Pole to get presents, by any means necessary.

Why It's Not the True Meaning of Christmas

 * 1) Much like the Dexter's Laboratory episode, "Dexter vs. Santa's Claws", this episode states that Christmas is not about being kind to others and being there for your friends and family, but it's about getting presents. However, this episode is far worse, especially since a lot of kids watch this show and the fact that the show is for kids, and rather than the idea of Christmas being only about presents just being a one-off joke at the end as in Dexter vs. Santa Claws, this same idea, however, is a major plot element of this episode. This could cause kids to think that Christmas is just only about presents and nothing else.
 * 2) The Titans act so immorally terrible and beyond naughty at the North Pole;
 * 3) * First, they beat up some elves and steal their costumes.
 * 4) *Cyborg acts annoying and disruptive and frames an innocent elf for it.
 * 5) * Beast Boy makes fun of Rudolph's red nose, causing him to quit his job.
 * 6) *Starfire and Raven eat a living gingerbread man, his cat, and his entire house.
 * 7) * Lastly, Robin blows up Santa's workshop (and all of the elves were still in there).
 * 8) **Likewise, the scene which Starfire and Raven eat a living gingerbread man and his house is supposed to be humorous, as suggested by the cheerful Christmas-themed music playing in the back, but instead comes off as disturbing.
 * 9) Various plot holes that don't add up or don't make much sense due to bad writing:
 * 10) *Simple solution: Just because the Titans only want presents for Christmas but don't get any presents from Santa just because they're on Santa's Naughty List, why couldn't the Titans just go to the store in Jump City to buy each other Christmas presents instead? That would have been a perfect way to get their own Christmas presents, rather than going over to the North Pole to force themselves out of Santa's Naughty List and get presents at the cost of torturing everyone at the North Pole, and besides, that way, the Titans would potentially earn their place back on Santa's Nice List when they gift each other Christmas presents because they're doing something nice, and therefore as a bonus, they receive extra Christmas presents from Santa just like they wanted as a reward for their good deeds.
 * 11) *For no explained reason, Santa doesn't punish or imprison the Titans for all the horrible things that the Titans did in the North Pole (as mentioned earlier in WINTTMOC #3).
 * 12) *Although Raven revived the elves and puts back Santa's workshop near the ending, there's no indication about the gingerbread man and his cat being brought back to life, hence giving this dark implication that both the gingerbread man and his cat are still deceased from getting eaten by both Starfire and Raven earlier in the episode.
 * 13) Santa Claus in this episode is probably one of the worst representations of Santa Claus. He states that the Titans are right about Christmas being about nothing but presents and thanks actually them for that, despite having his workshop already being destroyed and his elves probably being killed in the explosion and for all the mess they caused and called Santa crazy for saying that Christmas is not about presents and that's a forgivable thing to do to someone.
 * 14) To make matters worse, the Titans get rewarded with presents at the end, despite Robin, Starfire, and Raven committing murder.
 * 15) To make matters even worse, Santa is now portrayed as a villain for the rest of the series.
 * 16) They haven't learned anything from this episode as their next Christmas special, Teen Titans Save Christmas, is just as terrible as this.
 * 17) The overall plot and the reason it is instigated shows that the writers are completely aware of the terrible behavior the Titans have been displaying and how they look completely butchered in comparison to their counterparts from the original series. However, the plot reveals that the Titans have been on the Naughty List every year and try to change it and become more naughty in the process showing that writers do not care about how the Titans behave. This holiday special is overall seemingly made to mock fans who criticize the series for the jarring way the Titans are portrayed in the series.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) At least Raven revived the elves and puts back Santa's workshop.
 * 2) Santa explaining what the true meaning of Christmas really is satisfying and right at first.
 * 3) *The Titans do seem to learn a lesson about family at first. Unfortunately, the Titans bungle that lesson later, after growing tired of it.
 * 4) The "All Hail The Jolly Fat Man" song is pretty decent and catchy.