'Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated' "Wrath of the Krampus" (2012)
Opening thoughts: 'Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated' for me was a great show and one of the better Scooby Doo shows, the best and most consistent of the modern ones anyhow. It has a very high number of great and more episodes and not a bad ones, even the weaker ones are still decent if uneven. Memories of my first watch of "Wrath of the Krampus" are vivid and in the best of ways and after watching the whole show on first watch it for me up there with the standout episodes.
"Wrath of the Krampus" still is an outstanding and even quite special episode, in a season full of high quality episodes that fared even better on rewatch it is one of the best easily. Also the best 'Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated' episode since "All Fear the Freak", as well as the most emotionally impactful and most shocking, and one of the show's very best episodes along with the likes of "Escape from Mystery Manor" and "All Fear the Freak". This is what 'Mystery Incorporated' is all about.
Good things: Everything is executed fantastically. The animation has plenty of rich detail, colour variety and atmosphere. The music never jars, never sounds dull and has eeriness. The voice acting is spot on, as is the character writing and interaction with no exception. The writing is thought provoking and balances serious, poignant drama, intensity and amusing moments expertly.
What also makes "Wrath of the Krampus" stand out considerably is the fantastic mix of old and new Scooby Doo. There are lots of twists and turns and all of them are surprising. It also outdoes the ending of "All Fear the Freak" as the most shocking ending of the whole show, and definitely the only one since that episode to really surprise me. There is a lot going on without it ever feeling rushed or over-loaded. Betrayal has seldom hit this hard in anything Scooby Doo related. Fred's, whose character was the Mystery Inc member that developed the most in this show, character development here is very deep and did like that he could think for himself while clearly hurting.
Overall the story is enormously absorbing, suspenseful and emotionally moving and it is never dull. Loved the threat posed by Mr E and Pericles and also the return of past villains, not just in previous episodes of the show but also villains from previous incarnations.
Concluding thoughts: Absolutely outstanding episode in summation.
10/10.