[7.1/10] This episode certainly isn’t bad, but it’s a little more straightforward and conventional than the other episodes in the series so far, so it loses a little luster by comparison. The themes about maturity and change are worn more on the sleeve, and that diminished subtlety makes the proceedings perfectly pleasant, but not quite as deftly-presented as the show’s first two hours.
The contrast is between Peter and Lindsay, who take different paths and end up in similar places.
Peter feels like he’s being rushed into adulthood when he still wants to be a kid (illustrated via his ignored copy of Crime and Punishment), and it causes him to take one last shot a trick-or-treating despite the fact that he’s a freshman in high school. Sure enough, he has a miserable experience, involving weird looks, bad reactions from neighbors, a tussle and candy-thievery from bullies, and an accidental egging from his own sister to add insult to injury. So Peter learns his lesson, picks up his Dostoevsky, and starts accepting that he’s got to take those steps into adulthood.
It’s a little easy and a little too tidy. None of its bad necessarily. Bill’s misadventures as the bionic woman and Neal’s efforts to go full Chaplin and zero Hitler are quite amusing. But a lot of the laughs from the too old kids going out roaming for candy on Halloween come from pretty cliché places, and the thematic story of Peter growing up whether he wants to or not is signposted pretty hard.
The same’s true for Lindsay’s story, except in the opposite direction. Her attempt to hang with the cool kids and, by extension, pull Halloween pranks on people is a standard story, with solid laughs but not a lot to distinguish it. The process is predictable, with her trying to be more adult, realizing that what that calls for (at least as a teenager) isn’t for her, and retreating back to the old, semi-dorky ways she tried to avoid.
And last but not least there’s Mrs. Weir, who is adorably excited for the holiday, only to be crestfallen when her daughter bails on handing out treats with her, and those treats are rejected by the kids and parents out and about because they’re unwrapped. Again, “mom is sad because kids are growing up and the world is changing” is a pretty stock story, and there’s little in the execution that makes this stand out.
Still, it’s sweet when Lindsay returns home and dons her dorky costume to lift her mom’s spirits and give into something wholesome. And there’s even a bit of depth to the way Lindsay subtly calls her mom on the “things were different in my generation” bit.
That’s the trend of this episode. Little of it’s bad. Most of it is just standard, which isn’t a sin; it just keeps this episode from hitting the heights the show’s first two episodes did.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2018-01-28T07:49:26Z
[7.1/10] This episode certainly isn’t bad, but it’s a little more straightforward and conventional than the other episodes in the series so far, so it loses a little luster by comparison. The themes about maturity and change are worn more on the sleeve, and that diminished subtlety makes the proceedings perfectly pleasant, but not quite as deftly-presented as the show’s first two hours.
The contrast is between Peter and Lindsay, who take different paths and end up in similar places.
Peter feels like he’s being rushed into adulthood when he still wants to be a kid (illustrated via his ignored copy of Crime and Punishment), and it causes him to take one last shot a trick-or-treating despite the fact that he’s a freshman in high school. Sure enough, he has a miserable experience, involving weird looks, bad reactions from neighbors, a tussle and candy-thievery from bullies, and an accidental egging from his own sister to add insult to injury. So Peter learns his lesson, picks up his Dostoevsky, and starts accepting that he’s got to take those steps into adulthood.
It’s a little easy and a little too tidy. None of its bad necessarily. Bill’s misadventures as the bionic woman and Neal’s efforts to go full Chaplin and zero Hitler are quite amusing. But a lot of the laughs from the too old kids going out roaming for candy on Halloween come from pretty cliché places, and the thematic story of Peter growing up whether he wants to or not is signposted pretty hard.
The same’s true for Lindsay’s story, except in the opposite direction. Her attempt to hang with the cool kids and, by extension, pull Halloween pranks on people is a standard story, with solid laughs but not a lot to distinguish it. The process is predictable, with her trying to be more adult, realizing that what that calls for (at least as a teenager) isn’t for her, and retreating back to the old, semi-dorky ways she tried to avoid.
And last but not least there’s Mrs. Weir, who is adorably excited for the holiday, only to be crestfallen when her daughter bails on handing out treats with her, and those treats are rejected by the kids and parents out and about because they’re unwrapped. Again, “mom is sad because kids are growing up and the world is changing” is a pretty stock story, and there’s little in the execution that makes this stand out.
Still, it’s sweet when Lindsay returns home and dons her dorky costume to lift her mom’s spirits and give into something wholesome. And there’s even a bit of depth to the way Lindsay subtly calls her mom on the “things were different in my generation” bit.
That’s the trend of this episode. Little of it’s bad. Most of it is just standard, which isn’t a sin; it just keeps this episode from hitting the heights the show’s first two episodes did.