It had its funny moments (the best was Gloria's line about being “loco for loco puffs”) but there was just something off about it (C sounds about right), maybe because it was too trite about drinking alcohol (especially letting Haley drive her new car after a few drinks [12/13 EDIT: strike that - I just went back and…

I think it's more that the writers are portraying Alex as someone who thinks she is not attractive (and dresses accordingly) as opposed to others thinking that way – she's felt that way right from the early days of the first season, like in “Come Fly With Me” when she says she doesn't want to dress like Haley because…

I thought Alex was selfish for saying it that way, although given she just had her heart broken (again) I could understand the reaction.

So at least the writers finally remembered a couple of things: 1) Mitch and Cam have a cat (I had completely forgotten about Larry until he showed up on their couch); 2) Alex went to therapy last year (obviously I remember that story).

AbracadOuch.

1. We know Alex doesn't (except maybe Jason, the kid she met at her Cal Tech tour, and right now he's 3,000 or so miles away).

Maybe when Alex is about to make (or has made) her final decision about college we'll see a bonding story with Claire. However there probably will be a major blowup story (like Mitch and Jay had before the wedding last year) at that point as well.

I wouldn't be surprised if you weren't the only one - my opinion of that episode is definitely in the minority.

Considering I wasn't a big fan of “Las Vegas” it's surprising that I thought that the crazy hilarity style actually worked this time, mostly (B+). However, just like “Las Vegas”, it did get overwhelming by the end (especially the innuendo with Phil's app). And I'm not going to say the kids being there this time…

They alternate - odd seasons get Christmas episodes, even seasons get Halloween episodes. It looks like Thanksgiving is on a 3-year cycle ("Punkin Chunkin" in S3).

That bottle of water with Phil's picture on the label that Haley was holding in the final kitchen scene - is that a new thing?

Cam had a 'confessional' scene at the start of the last segment, talking about going to Mitch's trial (where his cellphone kept going off).

The minute Phil saw/heard how unresponsive Alex was to his questions he should have gently grabbed her and said "OK, dear - enough of the studying - you are going right to bed before you hurt yourself" (IOW, a more extreme version of what he and Claire did in "Our Children, Ourselves"). Yes he was worried about her…

I understand what you're saying and I agree - Phil hasn't always had many clues about Alex. It took him seeing her staggering around running into things because she was so focused on her studying to realize she was in trouble.

And, yes, before anyone says it, I'm one of those who wants Alex's stories to take a more dramatic tone. I just don't want to see her hurt herself (or worse) in the process.

Which could work well in her new work environment - time will tell but I think she'll be OK.

I thought it screamed "cry for help", myself, just like her meltdown from last year. If this were real I'd be scared for her life (yes, it isn't real but a sitcom, but they're dangerously close to turning Alex into a grenade.)

I don't think it's so much Phil and Claire don't care about Alex (and here Phil was worried about her throughout, even if his reaction in the last scene was totally off), but that they realize of their three kids she's the one needing the least maintenance (but not zero - even self-cleaning ovens need some, especially…

When your best story of the night only gets about a minute of screen time (and damn near gets ruined by having Phil be happy about Claire being wrong while poor Alex is totally falling apart) it doesn't speak well for how well the rest of the show went. I'll be generous and give it a “C” for Alex's insomnia story…

If I'm not mistaken, didn't Carly Simon sing the main theme for "Working Girl"? Given his earlier infatuation for "Nobody Does It Better", that might partially explain why Phil thought it was awesome.