The Tucker-Pritchetts celebrate Halloween, and Mitchell dresses up as a…Cossack lawyer? Steampunk Hugh Hefner? Seriously, no clue.
“A Gryffindor letting his mom carry his Quidditch broom – how Hufflepuff is that?” – Phil Dunphy
Modern Family has had just one other Halloween episode – season 2’s stellar “Halloween.” Who could forget the Dunphy’s haunted house plus Cameron’s fear of Halloween plus Gloria’s self-consciousness about her accent plus Mitchell’s Spider-Man costume at his law firm? It was a home run.
This one wasn’t quite on the level of the first Halloween episode because of a tired plotline. Ignoring that, however, the episode was smart, fresh and funny.
The Dunphys
Claire loves Halloween but scared the kids off last year with a terrifying haunted house that involved her revealing a bloody heart and bleeding out of her mouth. Phil’s selling real estate on Halloween in an older house and when Claire realizes all the neighborhood trick-or-treaters are scared of her house, she hides in it and goes all Paranormal Activity on Phil to scare him in an actually creepy scene where the television goes static and the lights go off.
The Tucker-Pritchetts
Cam’s lost a lot of weight recently, so he and Mitchell decide to throw a Halloween costume party for all their friends to show off Cam’s new bod. Lily, meanwhile, decides to go as a princess for her second straight year, much to her fathers’ disapproval. Mitchell knows the reason: It’s because he told Lily her real mother was a princess, to ward off questions and prevent talk about her adoption. He decides not to tell Cam until one of their friends shows up to the party as a princess in drag, resulting in Cam hearing Lily referring to her real mommy as a princess. Lily ends up taking the news well and dons a matching white suit for Halloween instead – just like Cam’s.
The Pritchetts
Jay feels old after failing to scoot out of a ticket by wooing a cop. Gloria is perpetually hotheaded because of her pregnancy (“You egg my house? I kill what you love!” she says to teenagers who come trick-or-treating). Manny goes trick-or-treating and the cool kids ask him to join them. In the end, Jay and Gloria go to Mitchell and Cam’s costume party, where Jay is comforted by flirty words from the drag queen in the princess costume. He then tells Gloria she’s not hot headed and that it’s just hormones.
Why this episode was just okay
One-third of the plot has already been done before. How many times do we need to have Gloria self-conscious or upset about her pregnancy or Jay worried that he’s getting too old? Seriously, Modern Family, think up some other plotlines that surround the topics of pregnancy and fathering a kid at an older age. You can do it. You’ve won Emmys.
What saved this episode
Thank goodness for the two other brilliant plotlines of Lily’s adoption and Phil’s “haunted” house. These were fresh, highly entertaining and developed the families further. We got to see a wild and funny side of the Dunphys that hasn’t been foregrounded since the seriousness of Haley’s coming of age and departure for college earlier this season. In the Tucker-Pritchetts, there was growth when they told Lily the truth about her mother.
Also, the sheer cleverness of the writing saved a straggling plotline. Manny is flanked by Luke in a devil costume on one side and a friend in an Angels costume on the other when deciding whether to go join the popular kids or not. Gloria is dressed as an alien to the party, prompting a reference to illegal aliens. It was a smart episode weighed down by an unfortunately stale plotline.
diversionsdbk@gmail.com
