Modern Family - Season 4 Episode 5 - Recap and Review - Open House of Horrors
Modern Family has always been good with theme episodes, and tonight's Halloween-themed "Open House of Horrors" is no different, blending some great character bits with an overarching plot on how Halloween allows us to be someone other than who we are for one night.
Credit: ABC
Claire (Julie Bowen) has two goals, with the first being to tone down her Halloween-themed theatrics, since Phil (Ty Burrell) has criticized her for using too many bells and whistles to elicit scares, arguing that his wife "could be just as scary without makeup on." Turns out she gave a guy a heart attack last year via a gag involving a bloody, heart-holding hand bursting out of her Granny costume as she vomits blood. Phil, however, insists that she didn't cause the man to have a heart attack at all, she merely caused him to pee a little, which Phil does anytime he sees a monkey wearing people clothes, in a great throwaway line. Phil's insistence that Claire isn't all that scary leads to Claire's second goal of the episode: scaring the bejeezus out of Phil. These dual plotlines provide some pretty great returns, with Claire dressing as Little Bo Beep, and hooking small children with her cane in a failed attempt to convince kids that she isn't scary. Meanwhile, her attempts at scaring Phil are also wildly entertaining, with Claire failing to get Phil's attention while he's on the phone, gushing about a Hall & Oates cover band (because Phil would love a Hall & Oates cover band). The payoff is a wonderful setpiece of mock horror, with Claire finally earning the big scare from Phil, which allows Ty Burrell to really go over-the-top with his horror movie scream (I'd love to hear that autotuned like Claire and Phil's Town Hall debacle).
Credit: ABC
The themes of Halloween, however, are best exemplified through Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) inadvertently telling Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) that her birth mother is a princess, which causes problems for Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitchell's Halloween party, in which Mitchell has to keep Cam from finding out what he told Lily, while keeping Lily from approaching every costumed royal in the room. The party, which is being thrown as a sort of coming out party for Cam's slightly slimmer figure, exemplifies the lengths to which people go to wear a different identity for a night. The resolution of the storyline is pretty rote, but it's a story that actually handles a delicate issue (having "the talk" with an adopted child) with a surprising amount of grace. The series has occasionally confronted the types of social issues facing Cam and Mitchell as gay men trying to start a family, and "Open House of Horrors" allows the duo to confront their quandary without getting shouty, or turning another one of their parties into a histrionics showcase. Lily shows a surprising, and believable, level of understanding when Cam and Mitchell tell her the truth, and the sweet resolution sees Cam dressing as Mr. Roarke from Fantasy Island, with Lily as his Tattoo. It's rare that a Cam/Mitchell storyline is the night's strongest, but this was easily tops for the night.
That said, Manny (Rico Rodriguez) had a decent little subplot with Luke (Nolan Gould), in which the boys try to fit in with the older, cooler kids, who seem to welcome Manny into their fold for accidentally pulling a fire alarm that got the class out of a test. Manny knows it's a bad idea, but between prodding from Luke, and the opportunity to be someone else for a night, Manny falls into the crowd and winds up paying for it. It's a simple story, but it's well-told, and if nothing else, I enjoyed the novelty of Manny dressing as Gene Kelly in Singin' In The Rain. It's the kind of choice that would seem writerly on any other show, with any other character but this. But Manny's "old soul" sensibilities make the choice as practical as it is amusing. Less amusing are the dealings with Gloria (Sofia Vergara) and Jay (Ed O'Neill). I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but the "pregnancy is making Gloria crazy" arc is already starting to wear thin. Sofia Vergara is far more talented as a comedic actress than to be reduced to a shouting, hysterical stereotype. That said, the storyline provides Jay's amusing flirtations with a drag queen, so it wasn't a total loss.
"Open House of Horrors" succeeds far more than it stumbles, and contributes to the increasingly-solid season of Modern Family we're getting thus far. If it keeps with the character-based comedy and semi-serialized storytelling, I could see it taking a fourth Emmy in a walk. But for that to happen, the show needs desperately not to rest on its laurels. Thankfully, from all appearances, that doesn't seem to be the case.
By the way, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the great horror trailer edit posted by ABC in anticipation for tonight's episode, cutting together footage from the past three seasons and making a teaser out of it. Great stuff, and you can watch it below.