they never did find the Time Pirate who crashed, did they?

Can we just talk about the fact that drunk stepdad number two was one of the VR Troopers 20 years ago?

I appreciated what the writers did with Haley here. I'm happy she gave Phil and Claire their comeuppance for that plot. When the story began, I knew the Phil and Claire plan wouldn't quite succeed, nor did I want it to, but I didn't foresee Haley serving them with such aplomb.

I'm not entirely sure to feel about tonight's events. As the reviewer noted, the big event comes as a result of a senseless act of violence, and as such feels at least a little bit contrived. And I suppose the random nature of the attack plays into ideas of unpredictability, how no one is ever truly safe, or something…

In addition to rehashing the same character dynamics from previous episodes, this one also brought back the doorbell gag last seen in season four's "Flip Flop." Though I understand the narrative necessity of having the family arrive before Manny's crush does—so we can have the big talk-it-out, feel-good scene—the…

Agreed that this episode on the whole felt weak—the Cam and Glorida/Lily stuff was totally unnecessary—but the bit with Phil breaking into the house made me laugh harder than anything else on this show has in a while. The kicker for me was his wiping the powder off his nose with the cat, but Ty Burrell really made…

Ty Burrell and Nathan Gould really nailed that tag with the flipjacks. As soon as it started, with the image of the two of them in mad-scientist gear in the kitchen, I knew I was in for a treat.

"Show me the Benjamins the homies are always rappin' about!" needs its own star on the Walk of Fame.

how excited are y'all to use "thank you for availing me of your gift" in a sexual context?

Braugher really made a meal of the words "metal toilet" in the flashback.

She's an acquired taste in that if you don't like her, you need to acquire some taste.

there's no way to make a fictional Rob Ford more funny than the real-life one, so using the segment to pivot into a 60 Minutes gag was a good call.

I hated the Mr. Senior bit. Literally anyone else in the cast wandering the streets of New York wrecking Christmas decorations would have been hysterical, but with Kenan, it was interminable.

The fox-clad Chris walking into mirrored walls was my biggest laugh-out-loud moment.

The best joke in this episode was Mac constantly explaining everything. I like the idea that he's confused in most movies because the exposition isn't obvious enough. But apart from that gag, and the Paddy's sign thing, this episode didn't do much for me.

I loved the weird Halloween Dad thing, which was basically just the Steve Buscemi Christmas sketch from a few years ago repurposed for Ed Norton and Halloween. And God, was it great.

"I respect this episode more than I really like it."

exactly. I'm hopeful that all the newcomers, but particularly those two, can infuse that sort of mannered weirdness into the show as they grow.

I thought Update and Sigma were the strongest entries of the night. If nothing else, Sigma shows that the newcomers have a bit of weirdness and an awareness of how to play it for maximum laughs.

A network with gumption would eliminate, or at least dial down, the Brody/Carrie threads this season in order to focus more tightly on Quinn and Fara. That's a show I wouldn't mind watching.