BWW Recap: Phil Takes The Dunphys to Awesomeland on MODERN FAMILY

It's the annual Halloween episode, and given MODERN FAMILY's previous Day of the Dead-themed outings, I've got high hopes for this one. Holiday episodes in general can go either way - because you've got a broad holiday that everyone can relate to, but then you have to tailor it to that specific show and those characters. Again, MODERN FAMILY has some pretty good outings, but with the holiday repeatedly coming every year, the decision to do a Halloween episode every season means continually having to work with this same formula - except that they then can't do what they did the previous year, but of course, are still working around the same holiday.

As a result, most sitcoms overdo it and any holiday episode after the first one of each season falls pretty flat. While that's partly true with this show (okay, I will say "Open House of Horrors" pales in comparison to the A+ Season 2 Halloween episode). Luckily, MODFAM's got enough characters and situations to keep everything fresh and new (which i will say "Open House of Horrors" did).

Case in point. Rather than having Claire plan the same, spooky haunted house again, Phil's in charge, and he creates Awesomeland, complete with cupcakes, rainbows, and some magic with a bunny in a top hat (what else would you expect from Phil?) Then, when Claire does decide to go back to her old ways, it's because she wants to compete with the neighbors. Which I think is a fantastic utilization of these new characters, and adds some new spice and motivation behind Claire being scary too. The reason to shut it down offered some further (hilarious) insight into who these characters are. Just gotta wait to see if without a) an introductory episode or b) a holiday episode, that I think these new folks are worth it. For right now, they're doing pretty well.

Gloria and Jay's plot was interesting, too - Jay goes as Prince Charming to Gloria's Princess Fiona instead of the more suitable Shrek. But he becomes attached, read obsessed with his hair and uses it to excess. I liked this plot because it showed us a more human side of Jay - that he feels he's without something without his hair. It's a warts-and-all revelation, sort of the opposite of what we saw of Gloria in the season premiere. Rather than give us another "oh-this-is-my-wife-and-I-like-her-because-of-this" episode, this gives Jay another human side - as Gloria remarks, "You were enthusiastic....you were singing, [and] for once, you were not like, 'I don't want to do this. I just want to sit at home, watch golf and eat my ten-layer dip." It was really nice to see Jay this way (if only for a period of half an episode). To boot, the storyline is revealed naturally because the hair is tied to his Halloween costume, and not just that he found a random wig in a box, which he might have done in any other episode.

Speaking of taking non-Halloween things and giving them a Halloween spin, Mitchell's plot involves him giving a closing argument. As a lawyer, this could be a plot for pretty much any episode any day of the year. But not in any day of the year could you have a stenographer in full spider Halloween-costume get-up. However, this is the least Halloween-y (and funny) portion of the episode. It's made up for, however, in the Lily-Cam plot line, which concerns Cam accompanying Lily to a Halloween parade, and expertly gives Mitchell some closure after losing the case at work, while tying it into both a) Cam and Lily's plot line and b) the Halloween festivities. I've said it before and I'll say it again: this is what MODERN FAMILY does best.

Simply put, on the whole, another fantastic outing. And on that note, I leave you 'til next week.

SOME FAVORITE QUOTES

- Jay: No, I don't wanna walk around all night with an ugly, rubber mask.

Gloria: No, you just need to paint your face green and that's it.

Manny: Ouch.

- Gloria: (to Joe) So, because of this marriage, you're basically third cousins with Shakira. I mean, we don't get the free tickets, but it's fun.

- Cam: (re: dressing as Wizard Whitebeard) Okay. That'll be fun. I haven't been out with a white beard since I took my cousin Sally to the prom.

- Claire: Welcome to the Insane Asylum from hell.

Phil: That's what it feels like.

- Jay: Prince Charming had hair!

Gloria: Please, we don't really know that for sure. There weren't cameras back then. Maybe he had to be charming because he was bald.

Jay: Wow.

- Ronny: (re: Amber) She spent six months on a koo-koo farm in Nevada. I'm sorry. She gets mad when I say that. It was in Utah.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS

- Where did the hair come from on Claire? (I mean, wig, yes... but why was it needed?)

EPISODE MVP: On Halloween, who else but Claire? Had a couple good barbs with Phil, too, so I'll pair 'em together.

Photo taken from MODERN FAMILY's official Facebook page.

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