'The Larkins' Recap: "The Larkins at Christmas"

The Larkins is the sort of show that was made for very special holiday installments, with its focus on the all-important bonds of family, its vintage rustic feel, love of excessive food and drink, and old-fashioned charm. So it should likely come as a surprise to no one that "The Larkins at Christmas" is this show turned up to eleven, featuring everything from a neighborhood power outage to a thrown together community nativity-play-slash-panto in the family barn.

"The Larkins at Christmas" is also the series best outing to date, a teeming mass of festive spirit that's heavy on the charm and goodwill toward men from its opening scene and gives almost every major character a moment to shine. (And not for nothing: It's the strongest argument I've yet seen for a Season 2 of this show.)

The plot, such as it is, almost doesn't matter, but in a Larkin family Christmas miracle, Mariette and Charley return from France to surprise the family for the holidays and give the gift of the news we all knew was coming: The pair are officially returning to Littlechurch, having sampled the joys of life abroad and apparently determined that there is indeed no place like home. While I'm sad that Mariette's French adventure only lasted for roughly six months, the pair's return is handled as deftly and sweetly as possible given the circumstances. (And Mariette's colorful fashion sense has been cranked up to eleven as a result of her time in Pais, which is honestly a joy to watch.)