stated, "nice as 'Last Christmas' was, I'm glad Finn didn't fall for it." Benigno noted that Finn's few lines in the episode really counted. Critics had widely divergent views of Sue's storyline. Keller wrote, "They made Sue Sylvester into a cartoon character." Though he called Sue's destruction of the choir room "a fun little parody to watch", he added, "in the grand scheme of what was a pretty damn good episode, it was too much of a distraction", and worried that the role of Sue was becoming "a big fat joke". While Canning also noted the shift in tone "from despicable Sue to cartoony evil Sue", he enjoyed her "attempt to hijack Secret Santa", and said it was "another fun reason to love to hate Sue Sylvester". Hankinson felt that the Grinch was "the perfect touchstone for the heartless Ms. Sylvester and Jane Lynch's lanky frame made the physical humor (think gliding around the base of the tree on her belly) really sing." Poniewozik called Sue's transformation "pretty amusing to watch", admitted that he doubted he would "have been able to resist the urge to put the rangy Jane Lynch in that classic role" and called Brittany as Cindy Lou Who "unexpected, clever and surprisingly touching". Several reviewers commented favorably on Becky playing Max, including Canning, who wrote "it was all worth it to realize Becky is and always will be the Max to Sue's Grinch", and Entertainment Weekly Tim Stack declared, "I totally love how Becky is becoming Sue’s little minion. It’s both adorable and hilarious." Music and performances The episode's musical performances received generally good marks, though some more than others. Canning described it as "an average song selection", and wrote: "There are literally thousands of holiday songs to choose from and the ones sung in 'A Very Glee Christmas' could have used some more of Santa's magic." Some reviewers commented on the songs themselves rather than the performances, including Wham!'s "Last Christmas", which Canning described as "a terrible song in any season", while Jen Harper of BuddyTV stated that she loved Wham! Benigno called "The Most Wonderful Day of the Year" a "perfectly pleasant opening that the Gleeks sing while they decorate their tree". Canning deemed it "the episode's most successful song" and added that it "would have been a great tone setter if the rest of the episode hadn't focused on heartbreak, hate and grinches". Harper