Murder Her For Christmas: Carmilla

Is this… sort of, vaguely, on time? Well, damn, it’s a Christmas Miracle.

Look, I am visiting family for the holidays which means over the last week I have watched numerous cheesy Christmas films. Including but not limited to the likes of A Christmas Prince, That Christmas, The Holiday and Falling for Christmas.

However, at the end of this week I don’t find myself leaning towards writing about any of those.

Instead, as I thought about this post, which definitely has to have a festive focus, I found myself thinking about Carmilla. Now, yes, maybe this thought has something to do with the fact that I have watched Carmilla this month, and therefore it’s Season 1 accompanying Christmas Special – A Special that I really rarely have watched during the month of December. Nevertheless, it was on my mind.

So, given that this year marked 10 Years since this wonderful little webseries that could, one of my dearest loves, dropped on the internet, perhaps there is no better a festive season than this one to take a look at that lovely, short and sweet as it is, Christmas Special.

Speaking of the 10 Years, you can find my anniversary post here.

The Christmas Special was uploaded on December 24th, 2014 – which, yes, means I am two days away from publishing this exactly 10 years since the episode went up but alas – you can find it here.

Let’s dive into this.

SPOILERS
(But you knew that)

Special

Look, I’m not going to sit here and pretend this brief video is nothing special, because to me, it is. It’s Carmilla, and in spite of any and everything it will always mean everything to me.

Sure, this episode, in the grand scheme of the show, essentially means nothing to the overarching plot. It’s cute, whimsical and tinged with all the mild horrors one comes to expect of Carmilla, but big picture? There’s no real consequences. It only really serves to set up a mob of Styrian villagers, and perhaps the fact that their plan to runaway from Silas was not going to go well, but by the sheer existence of Season 2 you can safely assume something was going to bring them back to Silas for the next semester. The chances of the show taking us anywhere else for the next season was small, when the University is as much a character in the show as any of the cast, and not to mention the budget. You did not need to know necessarily that the running was going poorly to make a good estimate as to where we would be come Season 2.

I will concede it could potentially, serve to lay the groundwork for a relationship that could split over moral differences, core misunderstandings and being quote “very different people”. However, I am wilfully choosing not to think that because in spite of their differing opinions regarding the holidays in this little excursion – and some certain tendencies towards violence – Hollistein are nevertheless adorable in this little Special. We have come to expect nothing less really, haven’t we?

So, look, is Carmilla | The Christmas Special anything special? That depends on who you ask. It’s not “The Runaway Bride”, “It’s Behind You” or “The Husband’s of River Song”, but it’s special to me, and like the rest of Carmilla, you will have to pry it from my cold dead hands.

Short

Look the length of this episode brought me to question whether I would even be able to fill an entire Complete Comments post on it. It is perhaps more worthy of a Random Rambles and I cannot promise this post will not devolve into such a post, but nevertheless it is time for a Fortnightly Fixations post, moreover it certainly need be a festive one, and this is what I felt like writing about.

The video has a total run time of 7:20, which is admittedly not a lot – though, longer than some of their episodes – but you know what, in typical Carmilla fashion there is a well rounded arc told in that limited time, making good use of every second.

We have the plot between Carmilla and Laura as they have some disagreement over the holidays, and you have the plot of Literally Mrs Klaus, and both are concluded very well. Not to mention a venture into new camera angles!

So it’s like seven minutes, but it is seven fun festive minutes! With plenty of Hollistein, creepy gingerbread and vampiric violence. Everything you could want from them.

But Sweet

It’s just cute! There’s no grand plan here, it’s just wholesome (violence included).

Only Carmilla would make gingerbread creepy and then follow that up with a cannibalistic Mrs Klaus, who by all accounts murdered and ate, the elves, reindeers and Santa. So if you wondered where they were a decade ago, it was apparently a cafe in Styria Austria, being enjoyed in a gingerbread man. All of which Carmilla then followed up with snarls, growls and cries resulting in off-screen vampiric disembowelment. Good Christmas fun.

But, hey! There’s also cute Christmas music, cute Christmas jumpers and festive snacks. Speaking of jumpers, though, Carmilla is wearing a grumpy cat Christmas jumper. She is a literal grumpy cat and she is wearing a grumpy cat jumper and I have to ask, was that already in her wardrobe (doubtful) or did Laura somehow convince her to wear it? Because that is also an episode I would watch.

“Murder Her For Christmas!” (x2)

I have nothing to say in particular in this section I just think it’s important to note that “Murder her for Christmas!” (x2) might be one of the most iconic quotes ever.

Though, to note, while Laura can (and will) absolutely charge into any fight alone, and knows Krav Maga – which, this special within itself seems to forget – it does somewhat highlight Laura’s early Season 2 reliance on Carmilla for accidentally heroic violence. Like Laura doesn’t need her, as she proves routinely, but also Carmilla saves her life more than once via gratuitous off-screen violence, and in some ways Laura relies on the image of a hero that that creates in her head.

But enough about that because this little thing ends adorably! With some honesty, some blood wiping and a cheek kiss, and quite honestly I am satisfied. Laura misses her dad, and Carmilla likes her violence and can be a little jaded, but you know what, they’re still cute, and that’s fine and I love them. This is early them – like really early them – and near future be damned, we know they will eventually be okay. So enjoy how cute they are at Christmas, because they are.

To Conclude

That, dear readers, is all the words I could squeeze out of myself about this little special for the moment. I am eager to get this post out before the conclusion of the weekend, and while that is not a factor in me deciding to leave this post where it is, it is the excuse I’m using. Let’s be honest, aside from me sitting here and explaining the entire plot of this seven minute video to you, what more is there to say?

Probably a little more, you kidding me? It’s Carmilla, it will come up again. That is not only a promise, but a threat, in keeping on theme.

I, however, do not necessarily promise to keep it.

Anyways! Happy holidays, Merry Christmas and whatever else you may choose to celebrate, if none of those apply to you then I hope you simply have a fun festive season and/or next two weeks.

I do believe the next time we’ll speak is in the new year, so thank you for reading, sticking with me all year if you have, and we shall talk again in 2025.

In the meantime, you can read my other posts on Carmilla at the tag or here.

Feel free to leave a comment or send me a DM on socials.

You can follow me on Instagram at: @thebomff or on Threads at: @thebomff

On to the next!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the images, narratives or characters present or referenced in this post. All rights belong to KindaTV and all other relevant parties.

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