Modern Family – Ty Burrell, will you be my funny Valentine?

The promos for the Valentine’s Day episode of Modern Family promised to “cook up some heat” for one of my all-time favorite TV couples, Claire and Phil Dunphy, thanks to the help of special guest-star Greg Kinnear. For this loyal viewer — who has been enthralled by the series since its first season — the episode did not disappoint, though that kiss shown on the commercial shared by Kinnear and Claire wasn’t quite what it seemed.

While most sitcom Valentine’s specials have historically focused on disastrously funny first dates, awkward encounters involving an ex who has clearly moved on, or maybe even the occasional sappy marriage proposal (flashback to Chandler & Monica on Friends), the brilliant writers of Modern Family took a fresh stab with Cupid’s arrow.

Guest-starring as a character named Tad, Kinnear was none of the clichéd gimmicks mentioned above. Here as a recent divorcee with a lucrative property that Phil was determined to list, it was unclear whether or not Tad was interested in more than just business. Ty Burrell (who portrays Phil) kept making me laugh because it was hard to fathom how oblivious he could be to the fact that Tad may or may not be hitting on his wife, especially when he pecked her on the lips twice in front of him.

Phil didn’t seem to have a problem at all until Kinnear finally crossed a hidden line drawn in the sand and made his wife laugh with a lame joke. Phil’s response to the laugh: “You can kiss my wife. You can take her to bed. But you can’t make her laugh.” After pondering a few more seconds, he added: “Wait. Only I can kiss my wife and only I can take her to bed and comma make her laugh.”

As a person who has used humor all my life to let people know how much they really mean to me, that was a sentiment I could totally relate to. Phil and I were also in complete agreement when he told Claire, “You can fake anything you want with me, but not your laugh.” I believe people should always express genuine emotions, whether they are ones of sadness, anger or laughter.

In his genuinely loving but bumbling way, Phil is what I consider the ideal valentine. Only one word really applies to him in my mind: Adorkable. He may not be perfect or even cool by modern standards, but he is 100% genuine and capable of unconditional love, and maybe that’s what everyone is really looking for out of life.

I have one more thought for this week. Ty Burrell, will you be my funny valentine – that is if it doesn’t work out with Claire for all eternity? Are my best friend and I the only ones who think you are handsome in a real-life “Count Chocula” sort of way? Seriously, if the producers ever had Phil dress up as the beloved cereal mascot for the Halloween special, I don’t think I’d ever be able to stop laughing – and it would be all genuine and all for you, Mr. Burrell. Cross my heart and hope to die.

Other stand-out quotes from the episode:

Phil: “He travels the world doing charity work…”
Luke: “How does he have time to do all that?”
Phil: “He got divorced and his whole life opened up … guy’s livin’ the dream. (After looking at Claire) His dream, not my dream. I’m married to my dream.”

Greg Kinnear as Tad: “Well, I had some time to kill so I thought I’d drop by with that tool your wife needed.”

Cam, when Gloria said she was going to fix Lily’s hair: “I didn’t know her hair was broken.”

Greg Kinnear as Tad, holding up a bottle of wine: “This should come with a warning: May cause pretentiousness.”

Phil, talking about Costa Rica: “It’s a progressive culture … they travel everywhere by zip line.”

Phil: “It doesn’t look super-vacuumed down there … I’m surprised he kept his pants on.”

Claire and Phil, to Luke after his sisters dressed him up as a girl: “Good to see you, Betty Luke.”

Kim Tibbs is an accomplished writer and editor from Indianapolis who loves all things pop culture-related, especially from the 1980s.  She often goes to horror conventions and comic cons in the Midwest to meet celebrities and her apartment is literally like walking into a pop culture museum, with records on the walls and an original Nintendo arcade circa 1986, paying tribute to some of her favorite TV sitcoms, movie and music industry icons.

Clacked by Kim Tibbs
on Feb 08, 2012 @ 23:10 EST5EDT