S9E20 "Mother!"
Mitch and Cam are excited to have the house to theirselves when Lily is away, but things go wrong when their naked breakfast is interrupted by Dede showing up. Their leaving the room after she shows up is very funny. However, the story here ends up contradicting what we have learned in the past. Cam has never been a fan of Dede, but according to this episode they keep in touch regularly and are now quite close.
It turns out that Dede has been influencing Mitch and Cam's decisions by talking Cam into things and using reverse psychology on Mitch. This contradicts what we have learned about Mitch and Cam's respective relationships with her, as Mitch used to be very close with her, and Cam didn't like her influence on Mitch. Mitch and Cam push against Dede's influence, which results in Mitch wearing an awful suit and Cam going extreme with an accent.
With Claire at the spa, the rest of the Dunphy family prepares to give her bad news when she gets home because Claire will be in such a good mood. However, the arrival of Dede threatens to ruin the mood. The family's attempt to hide Dede is quite funny, and they almost succeed in getting Claire to accept what they are telling her. However, the fight to go second among Haley, Phil, and Luke causes Claire to catch on.
Manny and Jay are working together on a horror film. Manny created it for a class, and when Jay got a look at the script he decided to contribute. They feel that everything is going well, until Joe points out the similarities between the noise the monster makes in the film and Gloria's yelling. They need to figure out a way to distract Gloria when the film plays, and they get their solution in Dede. Also, there is a really funny joke throughout this where Gloria needs the help of a friend of Manny's, addressing him as "nerd."
Once the whole family comes together, tension comes to the surface, as it does often in this show. Surprisingly, the three mothers come together and the end of the episode, despite their differences in the past. Unlike everything with Dede, Mitch, and Cam, this actually makes sense because of what happened in the episode. The three make their family realize what they do for them. It's a nice ending to the episode.
There were quite a few funny moments here, and a nice ending, though I was very bothered by the show redefining the relationships that Dede has with Mitch and with Cam. This wasn't an outstanding episode, but it was a stronger one for season nine, helped by the guest appearance.
Score: 7/10
What did you think of "Mother!"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!