It was yet another one of those that didn't seem like much with that plot description but yet it turned out to be a well-written and well-directed one with a good plot (centered around the family dog Santa's Little Helper and the discovery that he has some sort of hidden trauma spurned from a Santa hat that causes him to range from between nervous, unruly to almost apathetic which inspires Lisa to make the family go to get help from famed dog therapist Dr. Elaine Wolfe who maybe can get to the bottom of Santa's Little Helper's (SLH's) issues and find out a way to make him better before he gets any worse, exemplified by him biting Marge on the hand). It surprisingly worked, not just the mystery plot but the more dramatic moments, the good emotional stuff that felt very humanly written and genuine (with many great family interactions), a lot of jokes & an good guest star performance that felt well integrated into the story, so it came together really well, something that I had not expected as SLH episodes usually don't turn out so this well, but my worry for this proved wrong and I ended up enjoying this one. It really grabbed my interest.
The beginning of the story, with the family preparing for Christmas, by setting up all the decorations was a decent one, though when Marge decided to forcibly put the Santa hat on Santa's Little Helper so that Lisa could take a picture of it on the phone I felt uneasy as I felt Marge was going too far and obviously blind to the dog's discomfort and dislike of the hat, but it was intentional, a good setup for the story & it wasn't the first time Marge has acted oddly forceful around Christmas time (seems to be a recurring theme). Going from that to them taking the obviously troubled dog to the therapist Wolff had some good stuff too, such as them coming home from Christmas shopping and finding SLH destroyed the couch and sits staring at an odd grease stain in the kitchen, Homer complaining about missing the UFC match he had paid 70 bucks for if he goes to the dog therapy lecture with the family & especially the scene of Lisa convincing Homer to take them there by telegraphing her "Let's help SLH" speech via Bart (while she mimes it) as Homer listens to him more easily & ending with her getting praised by her father and getting an "Homer hug" (which was a sweet moment).
The introduction of Wolff, who holds a lecture to the dog owners of Springfield, was certainly a good one, perfectly getting the character across and setting up what to come. I really liked how she was portrayed as this misanthrophe who loves dogs but hates humans and doesn't seem to give a lot of great advice (and has trouble with this English man Clayton who keeps bothering her by calling and wanting to get together with her and marry her as they knew eachother from childhood and he had a crush on her since then), yet as we see when the Simpsons confronts her afterwards & lets her meet SLH, she is not so bad, has a heart and is at least a decent person (albeit she feels she cannot help SLH despite seeing that he really needs it & him taking a liking to her, as she doesn't want to get attached). This was a really good scene, it got the main points about SLH's dilemma across (and I liked Lisa being so defensive of the dog; I think this episode had the most we've had of Lisa standing up for the dog) & Wolff giving some advice and explaining about how a dog sees a lamp post with everyone who's ever been to it was nicely executed (and the last bit with her driving away and seeing the dog running after the car in the mirror was properly sad, yet promising her return).
Then SLH biting Marge at home out of protective stress due to the Santa hat & Homer chains the dog outside (though Bart gets to sleep outside with his pet & friend): I definitely liked the choice of this not being the whole catalyst of the plot (which the plot description made it sound like for some reason) but instead making this be what kicks the episode into full gear prompts the latter part of the conflict, with them taking the dog to whatever veterinarian they can find and it's this insensitive Dr. Callas who wants to put him down due to being a "biter" (that overreaction definitely feels like something that happens in real life), so they protect SLH and Chief Wiggum comes to tell them the vet reported the dog and the animal control are coming for him, not long before Wolff shows up to save the day by taking care of SLH. The scene had good part for Wiggum, the family protecting SLH was great & the family saying goodbye to their dog was a touching scene (especially Homer lovingly kissing him goodbye; funny and sweet). I also really liked the family all gathering in Bart's room at night to pray for their dog, which was a great scene with them all gathering together for a common goal (speaking of the family and their portrayal here as a unit and their attitudes toward the dog was quite strong).
The stuff with SLH at the dog therapy institute was also good, with Wolff taking care of him, studying him and trying to understand why he is troubled. The dream & flashback scenes of SLH were great and they ranged from touching to emotional (even the one where Wolff finds out that Marge means comfort to SLH, not something negative that the episode led us to believe, though my favorite was probably the one with SLH as a puppy in the litter nursed by their mother and helping one of his siblings find a teat, looking lovingly at his mother before taken away; that one choked me up a little & I liked the hint to it earlier with the grease stain). While it progressed well, the Clayton guy showing up before Wolff to ask her to marry him (with a creepy story about having dug up his mother's corpse to get the ring) was completely unnecessary and took me out of it; his first scene was long enough but then they had him come back and have Wolff choose between him and helping SLH (thankfully going with the latter and letting Clay walk out of her life); it added nothing to the story and was just padding, but it wasn't terrible or anything.
Wolff finding the Santa hat in SLH's pillowcase in his sleeping basket, going to the family and finding out that it was the same Santa hat that Bart wore when they first got him at the greyhound racing track took the episode into its last part with some nice mystery unraveling, with Wolff's newfound knowledge of SLH having been an racing dog and suffering from PTSD sending them to confront SLH's former owner . They leave home (in the middle of a Christmas brunch that even Marge puts on hold) and goes with Wolff to the kennel run by SLH's former owner, the mean Les Moore (I think this was the first time we heard his name on the show), and makes him tell the story of SLH and the dog's mother Shebiscuit whom he loved but was taken away at a young age. This was a very good climax with an an very touching reunion of SLH and Shebiscuit, whom ends up in the Simpsons' care in the end now that SLH's issue has been solved (the thing between Snowball II & the fish was silly but a good stinger). Also, I'm glad they didn't go the route I was thinking they were setting up (that what SLH saw at the kennel was his mother's grave) and had her be alive and well.
The jokes and the gags in this one were maybe not in abundance, but it still had a lot of good ones in there: A few that comes to mind are the mishap with the vaccum cleaner that "eats" Bart's shorts ("It ate my shorts!"), Lisa telegraphing her speech via Bart, Homer eating the crushed candy by sucking it up with his nose because he had already brushed his teeth (Lisa's "Oh..." reaction sold it), Lisa challenging Wolff to fisticuffs ("Hold my pearls"), the first aid kit, Bart having paid Mr. Burns to order Homer to let Bart sleep outside with SLH & the family members slapping Les Moore in succession. The animation was good with a lot of neat shots & the characterizations were on point, with the family coming as very well portrayed (I was at first skeptical to Marge with her obsessive intent on putting the Santa hat on SLH and not really caring about his depression, but the more I thought of it it worked worked, felt like how she would act and she got better; plus it being a red herring for SLH's issues I liked, even if it was predictable it was something else). Cate Blanchett as Wolff did a good job and made her a threedimensional character & even though I disliked the plot thread and found the character pointless, Michael York did fairly well as Clayton.
So yeah, a really good episode where almost everything came together in a good fashion and worked out to me. It had a very good and focused plot centered around the dog (no subplots aside from the Clayton stuff), good drama and emotional content (that emotional content gave it an effective, touching core with the family and their relationship with SLH, whom they are very protective of) & a lot of good humor. Both the story and the animation were staged and directed well and most of the elements clicked into place all well and naturally, together with some solid pacing, having enough screentime for both the family and Wolff. I really only felt that it was the scenes with Michael York's Clayton feeling like a waste and very ill-fitting that was an proper issue (those minutes should have been put to better use when it came to developing Wolff) and the other negatives were just minor nitpicks. I really didn't think they would pull off an modern era "SLH behaves badly" episode this well.
I'll give this last entry in the season a well-deserved 5/5. It started off just decently good but quickly became very enjoyable and substantial, having a really solid and strong plot with a good conflict heart, solid humor, emotional content without getting manipulative. I liked it a lot, one of the best of the season and maybe the best season finale in a while. Carolyn Omine has had a bit of an uneven output but she has delivered some quality episodes and this was on par with 'Halloween Of Horror' (it was obvious she cared a lot for this one) & the direction by Matthew Faughnan was quite good. A great last note for the season.