“Open The Door And Let 'Em In” (“It's The Great Pumpkin, Phil Dunphy” Recap)

Yep, Mr. Ol' Reliable did it again, and it started happening less than a minute into the episode. The next time Alex gets a boyfriend, remind me to say every week that they're going to break up – maybe then she'll finally have a lasting relationship.

Again, like her first breakup with Sanjay, I'm not surprised Alex and Ben broke up, but, again, it happened with little notice, and this time in a week when I said it wouldn't happen. OTOH, I was right about Alex instigating the breakup.

I am a bit sad about the breakup, but for a different reason than the first one with Sanjay: Alex tried to let Ben down easy, but then he dropped the bomb about seeing his ex again, and how he was unhappy being the wedge (such as it was) between Alex and Claire. So I am sad Alex had to endure another meltdown because of Ben (ironically causing the scene she tried to prevent Ben from causing). I probably would've cried if she had cried herself (I still might later once everything sinks in).

And obviously I'm not particularly happy with Ben for firing back but I'm not totally breathing fire about it either.  I suppose one could even sympathize with him a little but I'm not going to be all that forgiving.

Does that make Ben “almost the worst boyfriend” Alex has ever had? Not quite – Reuben and that kid from the dude ranch are still at the top of the list (though there is a large gap between even those two), but Alex's relationship with Ben has always been a bit of hot and cold¹ between the two of them – they've had moments when they've really seemed like a perfect couple, but other moments where one wonders what they saw in each other.

And the fault to that lies both ways, IMO – as I mentioned last week Alex could've tried to be nicer to Ben, but Ben is a bit too quirky (take it from me – I know how to be too quirky) and he himself could've shown more tact tonight.

Because of that, I wouldn't put this episode that high up on either the sad or mad "Poor Alex" lists - Alex being partially to blame leave me a lot less worked up about it than I might have been.

So where does this leave Alex in regards to her love life? Since Ben is still Claire's assistant, he's not totally going to be out of Alex's life, unless he quits or gets fired (I doubt we'll see one, but if Alex has a conversation about what Ben said with Claire...). I think there is a chance for a brief makeup between the two², but I doubt there's much chance of a long-term relationship now (of course, having said that...)

I suppose this might also re-open Door #1 with Sanjay, but (as I said before the season started) that's probably wishful thinking.

I think we're going to have to wait for Haley to find another man (or re-find Andy) before we see Alex get back into the game.

Oh, by the way, why were Alex and Ben having a date on a Tuesday afternoon? The episode was clearly set on Halloween, which is next Tuesday. And why was Alex home at all on a Tuesday – surely Halloween isn't a day off at Cal-Tech (and we know Jay's closet company was open as usual so Ben should have been at work)?

Alex's Line Of The Night: ”(The) scariest thing is you could be a cheap pick-up line, two beers and nine months away from being a grandparent and you just risked asphyxiation in the fridge.”

It was a close call between this shot at Claire and Haley in the beginning of the show or her meltdown tirade. I went with the funny this time.

A final aside – I almost didn't get to this recap tonight. I forgot to set the recording on my usual channel in high definition. What saved me was the threat of rain (and the possibility of rain fade) led me to set a recording on the standard definition broadcast. So I was able to re-watch that recording and get Alex's line word-for-word (not to mention getting a chance to find something else I might have missed). Had I not done that I would've had to finish this in the morning when the episode came out for downloading from iTunes (like I had to do earlier this year when my channel was blacked out).

Time is really flying this season – after next week we'll already be more than a fourth of the way through it.
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¹ I know I could've gone with the obvious lyric from the Katy Perry song here for the post title, but instead I chose to highlight my own failings (i.e. I opened the door to tonight happening by saying I didn't think it would). If you've skipped ahead to this footnote you'll see when you go back that I think there's still a chance I can use that song down the line.

² And for those who did skip ahead to the first footnote, there you go. You may now resume your regularly scheduled programming.