Modern Family: The Last Halloween (11x05)

Maybe my expectations were too high, as Modern Family is known specifically for its Halloween episodes. This wasn't bad, but it didn't blow me away.

Cons:

Okay, let's talk about Gloria's plot thread here. Because... yikes. Gloria thinks she's old, because people start believing that she's Jay's wife, or Manny's mother. It makes her insecure. And then in the end she wins a drag queen contest and she's super excited, but she doesn't know that they're drag queens... ahahaha the joke is supposed to be that she thinks she's still desirable but she's not because people think she's a DUDE. Like, what year are we living in here? This was just such a cheap, uninteresting concept. It added nothing.

Just as uninteresting and uninspired was the part where Jay is trying to track down an old candy bar because he wants to share the holiday with Joe, who is off trick-or-treating with another family. Apparently it's all about how Joe is starting to grow up and forge his own path. And then Manny has this trite line about how kids always come back eventually, even if they have to make dumb excuses for it. So it's like he was wanting that closeness with Jay again. I wish I found this touching, but I don't, because Manny is flat-out insufferable as a character, and none of it is earned.

Alex and Luke's dates with their respective partners didn't really offer a lot of laughs for the majority of the run-time, so I want to mention that here too. Alex has nothing to do, and frankly neither does Luke. Hopefully these breakups will clear up some room for these characters to become more interesting.

Pros:

I will say, there was one moment with Alex and Luke that was funny. After their dates break up with them for various uninspired reasons, they are sitting together at the table and they see people in Halloween costumes walking by - a man in a firefighter costume, and a woman in a nun costume. Alex is reminded of her ex, and so is Luke, because apparently she's into some weird stuff. It wasn't the obvious joke, and it made me chuckle. It was also nice to see Luke and Alex being kind to each other and supporting each other. That's all too rare.

Mitchell and Cam's story was very predictable, but it ended up being quite sweet. They encourage Lily to go to a party so they can go to a parade unimpeded, but then freak out when they learn of the older boys there. They rush to the party, then rush home, thinking Lily is alone with a boy. But all they find is Lily alone and sad, because the boy she liked was using her to get to her friend. Of course, she thinks her dads couldn't possibly sympathize with her plight, but turns out they have quite a bit of experience with liking a boy who doesn't like you back. That was a sweet resolution to a somewhat bland yet serviceable plot thread.

The most successful story of the night goes to Phil and Claire. We find out that Phil has spent all year planning a way to scare Claire, because he's never able to pull it off. So he concocts an elaborate story about a creepy old woman sitting in a window, and manages to scare Claire at the end of the episode. There were lots of great moments here, and a genuinely funny and surprising conclusion. This was the only plot thread of the night that really made me happy the whole way through.

So that's that! We're marching along through this final season of Modern Family. It's sad to see the last of the Halloween specials pass us by.

7/10