Halloween

Leave it to this family to have a few mishaps on Halloween. 

Mitch, new to the law firm, wrongly believes that employees dress up at the office on Halloween. He quickly realizes his mistake when he shows up to the office dressed as Spiderman and everyone else is dressed in suits. I had to feel sorry for Mitch. He was really trying to make a good impression at work, and it just went all wrong. The lengths that he goes through to not be seen in his ridiculous costume is just that….ridiculous. While I did laugh at him climbing out of the window dressed as the superhero and stealthily making his way to the car (in a very Spiderman like fashion), I couldn’t help but think: who would put themselves through this? If you’re really that embarrassed, go home and change! Who cares if you’re late to work? It’s better than looking like a total idiot in front of your boss. But that's just me.  Anyways, according to Mitch this was his worst Halloween. But, of course, Cam didn’t think the situation was that bad, especially not compared to his own Halloween nightmare. He continues to bring up his terrible past experience that scarred him as a child, but stops short of actually telling us what happened.  When he finally spits it out at the end, it turns out he was wrongly blamed for stealing candy and ended up peeing on himself while trick-or-treating.  Leave it to Cam to make that story seem so much bigger than it was.

 

This episode showed the crazy side of Claire. So Halloween is kind of a big deal for Claire.  Apparently all of the other major holidays have been taken over by other members in her family: Gloria has Colombian traditions on Christmas and “the gays” (her words, not mine) have Thanksgiving.   She sets up this haunted house and drags the family into it. She's really excited about scaring the kids (a bit more excited than a grown woman should be, but it's Claire, so I'll let it slide). Of course her family is no help: Gloria and Jay are arguing about her Colombian accent (side note: Gloria's "American" accent scared me it was so horrible!), Phil is determined to keep his marriage alive after hearing about his neighbor’s divorce, Cam continues to complain about how Halloween traumatized him, Haley wants to wear a costume with the least amount of material (she goes through three costumes and even managed to make her Mother Teresa costume look like a stripper getup), and Alex is too busy studying to care. It seems like the haunted house is a flop, but her family finally pulls it together in the end.  

The best storyline goes to Mitchell. Even though I think he was stupid for staying at work in that costume, it was pretty funny to watch him squeak down the hall with the costume under his suit.  I wish Cam’s traumatizing experience had been more interesting: it really didn’t seem like the kind of story that would upset someone over 20 years later. But maybe that was the point. Cam is a big drama queen after all. His over the top reaction to what happened so long ago is pretty fitting with that role.

This family is crazy, so I expected them to have a crazy Halloween. This episode didn't disappoint.