'Tis The Season For Moves To Be Busted By The Last People In The World You Would Expect

Speaking as someone who loves Christmas with a depth and purity that might actually shock and alarm you, I was delighted that both of Fox's new sitcom episodes last night (by which I mean both the ones worth watching; shut up, Dads) not only brought us fun holiday-themed stories, but showed how the Christmas spirit can animate the hearts one might assume would be most hardened against hall-decking and comfort and joy tidings.

First up: Brooklyn Nine-Nine. While the rest of the squad (Santiago) works on a festive holiday card, Jake is assigned to provide security for Holt, who's been receiving death threats from a perp he sent away back in the '80s, and who's just been released from prison. Because Holt doesn't really take the threats seriously, extreme measures must be taken. To wit: both Jake and Boyle secure Holt by handcuffing themselves to both of his wrists. Naturally, the next step is pulling off a three-man b-boy move.. While the case is still underway, Holt refuses to participate.

But once the perp has been apprehended and Holt is safely back at the festively decorated squad, he can resist no more.

On The Mindy Project, while Mindy uses the holiday as the backdrop for a party where she plans to seduce/trick cute lawyer Cliff into falling in love with her, Danny shrugs off his Secret Santa duties. Of course, he's pulled Mindy's name, and of course, being Danny, he doesn't believe in spending money on bullshit presents, which is why he initially tries to pacify her with a roll of medical gauze and, later, a stapler. It's not that he lacks the spirit of the season, though: we also see him painstakingly build his usual gingerbread house (this one's a model of Monticello!) (which an off-the-food-wagon Jeremy, sadly, devours). And when he goes in to comfort Mindy after her seduction plan goes haywire, we learn that he did prepare a gift for her. (Click on the image for ET's exclusive clip.)

Whether or not this display was intended to make Mindy fall in love with Danny, it seems to come pretty close to working: she's obviously delighted, and the two are having A Moment when their other two partners bust in to ruin everything with their idiocy; the episode ends with Cliff returning to tell Mindy he broke up with his girlfriend for her, and if the post-Aaliyah afterglow was the opening of a window between Danny and Mindy, it closes along with the party. But if I know Mindy — and I think I do — Danny can get her back with some hot choreo set to a Beyoncé hit. Something to think about for the new year, buddy.