Revisiting the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special

It may not be Christmas yet, but “The Guardians of the Galaxy: Holiday Special” is still our next stop on our tour through the multiverse saga. After the events of “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame,” apparently the Collector sold Knowhere, prompting our favorite ragtag team of galactic misfits to buy the Celestial head. As renovations and relief efforts continue, the Guardians hear that Yondu (supposedly) ruined Christmas for Peter Quill as a child. Moved by this sad story, and seeing how badly Gamora’s loss is affecting Quill, Mantis and Drax scheme to get Quill the greatest Christmas present ever: the “legendary hero,” Kevin Bacon himself. Through a series of hilarious misadventures and misunderstandings, the Guardians eventually bring Christmas to Knowhere, and Mantis reveals her most shocking yet wholesome secret to Quill: that she is his sister.

The Pros and Cons

I absolutely love this special, so much that I’ve made it a tradition to watch it every year around December! Sure, it doesn’t have any high stakes or overall relevance to the Multiverse Saga, but it doesn’t need to. First of all, it’s a Christmas special, so we don’t need anything major or world-threatening, even though it’s an MCU production. Instead, I love the focus on Mantis and her desire to help Peter. Learning that she’s his sister was absolutely mind-blowing because, after thinking back to Guardians of the Galaxy 2, it makes total sense that she would be Ego’s daughter: she could literally put Ego to sleep and could even subdue Thanos for a limited time. Even for telepaths, neither is an easy task unless you can match such beings in terms of power. And even though she might not have had the Celestial genes like Ego, it still makes sense that she would inherit her powers from him because they always felt unique in a way. What I also love about this reveal is how nonchalantly they do it: Mantis hints at her secret, to which Drax mentions the zargnuts; she says it’s her other secret, and Drax simply asks, “That you’re Quill’s sister?” No surprised tone, no hesitation whatsoever; he just asked it like it was a completely normal question. It’s actually quite hilarious, yet still just as surprising.

Moving on, this special was so wholesome and very funny. The chemistry between Drax and Mantis was perfect, and their constant antics make me laugh every time. Even though they’re both looking for Kevin Bacon, it was priceless watching them act like tourists once they arrived on Earth: constantly getting distracted, then getting wasted at the bar, and Mantis using her powers to get that one woman to give over all her money. And when they finally did reach Bacon’s house, I love how they blunder social etiquette, hunt Bacon like an animal, and then put him under Mantis’s influence. But my favorite part came after Quill’s initial outburst during the scene where Mantis and Drax give Bacon as a present, because after Kraglin tells Bacon how much he meant to Quill, Bacon turns around and helps bring Christmas to Knowhere. It was so heartwarming to watch everyone celebrate the holidays and the Guardians give each other presents: Quill giving Groot a new gaming system was awesome and shows how much he cares about Groot’s wants; Nebula giving Rocket Bucky’s arm was hilarious and unexpected, but still shows her more sensitive side; and of course Mantis and Drax giving each other their beloved Christmas decorations from Bacon’s house.

By the end, we finally get a private talk between Quill and Mantis, where Quill elaborates that Yondu never actually ruined Christmas. Instead, we see how Yondu cared about Peter long before he softened up in GOTG 2, which only tugs on the heartstrings of Yondu fans everywhere. What tugs on mine is when Quill finds out Mantis is his sister, and he reacts by saying it’s literally the greatest Christmas present of all. I always love stories with close family dynamics, so seeing how Quill focused more on his new sister rather than the insane efforts she put into making him happy is so unbelievably wholesome and an amazing lesson. It was never about the perfect gift or celebration; it was about the people you love and care most about. And for a character who was abducted by aliens when he was only a child, lost his mom to cancer shortly before that, and especially found out his dad was a psychotic supervillain, words can’t express how happy I am that Quill found true family.

However, despite how amazing this special is, I have a couple of complaints. Neither of these is a hindrance to my experience, but first of all, I wish we had some more focus on how Christmas or the holidays affect Peter. Mantis says that Peter has been depressed ever since Gamora disappeared, and believes Peter distances himself from the holidays because of Yondu. Yet, we don’t really see any evidence of that. Quill barely even gets any screen time in this special, and whenever he did, he seemed pretty fine unless he was hiding it deep down. The best we got was that five-second clip of him sitting alone at a table before he went outside to see what was going on. Also, with how much Quill praised Kevin Bacon as a legendary hero, I thought he would’ve been more excited to see him after the whole misunderstanding was cleared up and forgiven. Instead, we mainly focus on the celebration, and all we get is a group hug with Bacon and the Guardians. I mean, if Quill lifted Bacon to such a high level, I would’ve thought he’d react like any typical fan of their childhood hero, so it was a little disappointing not to see that.

Conclusion

Even so, finding any cons with this special was very difficult, because it’s an overall fun and amazing watch! Not only was this a feel-good Christmas special, but it also gave us some important context for some of the Guardians. Plus, with several gags and callbacks, they made the special all the better. It was especially nice to see Kevin Bacon finally make an appearance in a Guardians of the Galaxy project, especially after how much Quill immortalized him in legend. So, whether you’re a Marvel fan or not, I would still highly recommend this for a family Christmas watch!