Maybe it’s because Modern Family followed the Arizona memorial service, but I didn’t find this week’s episode nearly as funny as I usually find Modern Family. I still have it saved on my DVR, and I’m definitely going to revisit it when I have the chance to see if it’s the episode itself, or just my perception of it after coming off a half an hour of tragedy.
This is the second week in a row that the three families haven’t come up with some excuse to get together, and I officially don’t like it. Yes, it’s contrived that they’re all going to go to a fencing tournament, or that they have dinner so often, or love flying model planes together, but these characters are much more interesting when they’re intermingling. Otherwise, what’s the point of following all three families? Why not just make it three separate sitcoms?
Jay and Gloria especially seem to need outside interaction. Their storyline was funny enough: I loved Jay’s pronouncement at dinner, because honestly, who hasn’t wanted to do that before? But the breakfast scene where Jay had “dementia” just kind of died. He dribbled his orange juice, and the boring couple from Cabo was on their way. It wasn’t exactly a thrilling conclusion.
Same with the Mitch/Cam/Mary Lynn Rajskub storyline. I knew it was going to be her husband before they even left the mall, so everything after that was just a lead-up to its inevitable conclusion. While I wasn’t a fan of the awkwardness at her house (except for Cam’s exit, which was perfect) and the predictable “Little Slugger” baseball mitt, I adored the scene in the kitchen between Mitch and Cam when Cam came to terms with Mitch possibly having a son out there in the world. They are quickly becoming one of my favorite couples on television.
My favorite storyline of the night was definitely the Phil and Claire one, because it was really nice to finally see them share something. We have so many episodes of Phil being the laid back man-child and Claire holding everything together, that it’s easy to wonder what they see in each other in the first place. Well, more specifically, what Claire sees in Phil. What Phil sees in Claire is easy: she’s super-hot.
But it’s nice to see them on the same team and actually sharing a common interest. Especially because it’s a very Phil-like common interest. It’s fun to see Claire embrace her goofy side and get so excited about Croctopus. My favorite line of the entire episode came when Claire tried to get Phil to watch the French movie: “Why do I have to watch a French movie? I didn’t do anything wrong!” Love it. Almost as much as I loved him eventually getting up and going to see the movie — and molesting the guy in front of him.
Clacked by Kona Gallagher 
on Jan 13, 2011 @ 09:22 EST5EDT
If it helps, the only parts I loved were the Croctopus (anyone who knows me knows why this is true) bits and Jay saying what he felt about the annoying guests. Didn’t really laugh out loud once. And I didn’t watch the president. So, shouldn’t be a factor.
I really want to see Croctopus in 3D, however, so I hope SyFy gets on that, stat!
I have a few things to say;
1) I was a little surprised and a bit embarrassed about all the complaining people did on the Modern Family website in reference to the President speaking at the funeral. Seriously, we all need to keep perspective what happened to that little girl, her family and all the victims. Very sad. That being said, I think it was one of the funniest episodes of Modern Family. I highly disagree that the families have to interact in each episode to keep it fresh. Quite the contrary. I have a big family, six kids from 29 to 16. 2 married, one going through a divorce, 5 grandkids… what I liked about the show was the fact that… Our lives are not spent together all the time. Different things are going on in each household, and then they find time to comet together and reconnect as a family… I relate to that. I did not find it predictable because I don’t sit there trying to analyze the show… I allow myself the break I deserve and let them take me on a fun ride of laughter and humorous family antics. It is called entertainment for a reason… People need to keep comedy as comedy and be serious when life calls for serious… I don’t know what the parents were doing when they raised these whiney, give it to me now people, with the ungrateful and disrespectful attitude… they were certainly not putting them over their knee and giving them a well deserved spanking…. ( oh great, now I will be accused of a child beater…LOL)
I haven’t read anything bad about the President’s address. What little complaining I saw was directed instead toward the young college students in his audience that were screaming and cheering rather than applauding in a solemn, subdued, fashion, but I suppose that’s to be expected in a venue of that size.
I found all three storylines laugh-out-loud funny this week; I was dying by the end of the episode. Remember that Manny’s orange juice dribble glass was preceded by an extended conversation about Jay’s golf game on Manny’s side and Jay’s dementia on the couple’s side, then capped off by Jay offering to drive them to the airport, which culminated in them running for a cab.
I’m also a fan of Rajskub’s trademark awkwardness and the predictable yet classic escalation of comedy from Alex to Phil and Claire. Even the “NOT AN EXIT” bit got me. Though the most impressive bit of work was the Croctopus standee in the lobby; set design went all-out on that puppy.
I too thought this was a hilarious episode of MF. So many quotable lines too, which I love (look for the quotes on Sunday in “Quotation Marks”). I didn’t miss the families being together, but I did love the bit at the end with Mitchell and Jay touching base about his adventures.