"Festival of Lights" is the first segment of the tenth episode of the first season of The Ghost and Molly McGee, and the nineteenth episode overall.
Synopsis
When a town-wide blackout occurs on the final night of Hanukkah, the people of Brighton seek refuge in Libby’s mom’s bookstore, the only place in town with light.
Plot
On the final night of Hanukkah, the Stein-Torres' invite the McGees to their bookstore "Book Marks the Spot" to help celebrate. Not intimately familiar with the holiday, they are happy to learn more about it, though Scratch as usual is indifferent to it all. They have the whole night set up, but suddenly a blackout occurs. Ms. Stein-Torres puts more gas into their generator, but thinks that it will only hold for an hour. Nevertheless, people come to stay at the store for warmth. Following this, the episode is split into "hours":
Hour One: Scratch is already bored until Libby reveals that she has baked numerous desserts which, due to her upbrining, are filled with fat and oil. Scratch happily sings about eating such delacies, only to burn his tongue.
Hour Two: Libby, Molly, Darryl, and Scratch play dreidel. Despite the intensity of the game, Libby ends up winning the gold coins. Scratch is further angered when he learns that the coins were actually chocolate.
Hour Three: Libby challenges the McGees to a spelling contest and asks them to spell Hanukkah. They all fail and she revals that there are sixteen different spellings, which Molly believes she had unintentionally spelled.
Hour Four: Libby introduces the McGees to a miracle box and asks them to write their miracles down and put them in. Afterwards, she reveals that they are going to read them one by one. Scratch tries to remove his, but fails at every chance he gets. Molly's miracle is that she made a ghost friend, Darryl's miracle is that he "didn't get caught", Ms. Stein-Torres interjects that her miracle is Libby and Sharon's miracle is that the van is still running. Pete is about to read his, but when he realizes that Scratch is avoiding his, he decides to read it aloud. ("I used to haunt a house, now I haunt a home.") The McGees and Libby are moved, annoying Scratch.
Hour Five: Libby does a spoken verse about the history of Hanukkah, much to everyone's delight. Scratch wanders off after growing bored again.
Hour Six: Scratch eats way too many latkes.
Hour Seven: As more people come into the store, Ms. Stein-Torres meets Abby, another Jewish woman who reveals that ever since moving has felt distant from her holiday, but is now happy to see other people celebrating it. Ms. Stein-Torres reveals that her menorah has been in her family for generations. Flashback reveals that her great grandparents fled Europe with it before settling in New York where every generation of the Stein family has had it. Ms. Stein-Torres is now happy to share it with Libby.
Hour Eight: The generator has managed to run for eight hours straight, only to suddenly stop. Luckily, the power comes back on all over Brighton. Ms. Stein-Torres is about to give more latkes away, but Scratch eats them all, amusing the McGees and Libby as the episode ends.
Cast
Main article: Festival of Lights and Saving Christmas/Credits
- Ashly Burch as Molly McGee
- Dana Snyder as Scratch
- Sumalee Montano as Sharon McGee
- Michaela Dietz as Darryl McGee
- Jordan Klepper as Pete McGee
- Lara Jill Miller as Libby Stein-Torres
- Pamela Adlon as Ms. Stein-Torres
- Eden Riegel as Abby
Additional voices
- Thomas Lennon as Poetry Fan
- Dana Snyder as Todd
Non-speaking cameos
Song
Titles in other languages
| Language | Title | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 Spanish (Latin America)
|
La fiesta de las luces | Festival of Lights | |
 Spanish
|
La Fiesta de las Luces | Festival of Lights | |
 Hebrew
|
חג האורים | The light's holiday |
Videos
Trivia
- This is the second episode to have Libby replace Molly on the title card after the previous episode.
- This episode does not feature a real conflict and instead serves more as a Hanukkah appreciation episode.
- During the spelling bee Libby mentions that there are sixteen accepted spellings of the word "Hanukkah". Those spellings are:
- Hanukkah
- Chanukah
- Hanukah
- Hannukah
- Chanukha
- Chanukkah
- Hanuka
- Channukah
- Chanukka
- Hanukka
- Hannuka
- Hannukkah
- Xanuka
- Hannukka
- Channukkah
- Channuka
Revelations and significant events
- The episode delves into the Stein-Torres history; revealing that Libby's great-grandparents were Holocaust survivors (as well as World War II), who fled from Germany to New York.
- The events of the Flashback and Stein store getting destroyed was the events of Kristallnacht (also known as The Night of Broken Glass), occurred on November 9-10, 1938.
- This episode reveals that Scratch has indeed accepted the McGees' house as his home.
- one of the 16 accepting spellings Chanukah, might be a reference to The Chanukah Song by Adam Sandler.
Continuity
This took place after the Previous episode where Libby met Scratch.
Allusions
- The Voice - During the spelling contest, Libby spins around in a red and black chair with a giant buzzer. This is most likely a reference to the singing competition series The Voice.
- The Dreidel Song - When Libby is about to spin the dreidel she says, "Don't forget who made you out of clay". This references this popular children's Hanukkah song.