Hondo (Shemar Moore) and the rest of the team are forced to work over the holiday season. The crew will chase down a drug cartel out for blood after their cache of gold bars gets stolen in the upcoming Christmas episode of the freshman crime drama television series "S.W.A.T."

The Christmas installment titled "Miracle" will also bring Jessica (Stephanie Sigman) as she draws the attention of Police Commission President Michael Plank (guest star Peter Facinelli) as she conveys to him he ideas on improving the SWAT division. Will her proposal gain the approval of the Police Commission executive?

The inclusion of Peter Facinelli in the cast for "Miracle" provides an interesting take on what sort of personality the actor can provide for his role. According to Cartermatt, Facinelli could possibly appear a number of times before the end of the season because of the sort of role he will be playing.

Having premiered in fall of this year, the eighth episode will be the last installment of "S.W.A.T." for 2017. More than half of the season is still to come as the show was recently granted a full season by CBS.

Additionally, with the present pace if its ratings, "S.W.A.T." is already anticipated to return for its sophomore season. The Nov. 30 episode of the show drew 6.63 million viewers and a 1.0 18-49 rating.

"S.W.A.T." initially received an order for seven more episodes, bringing its total to 20 episodes, but that was two short of a traditional 22-episode full season. Nonetheless, it was considered a full season because the series was launched more than a month after the start of the season.

In the previous episode, Hondo was requested by an imprisoned childhood friend to protect his son from gang violence. Elsewhere, Luca's (Kenny Johnson) grandfather passed away and he had to deal with a painful family secret.

"S.W.A.T." episode 8 will air on Thursday, Dec. 21 at 10 p.m. EST on the CBS Television Network.