On this week's Modern Family: Phil unwittingly sets up a date with a gay man (guest star Matthew Broderick) and Manny and Luke go bar mitzvah hopping while Claire supports Alex during her academic competition. Mitch spends the day shopping for baby gear with his father and Cam gives Gloria and Jay a surprise gift.
He said...
Things aren't always how they seem, and we often grow from misinterpretation. That appeared to be the cliche that Modern Family worked its charming way around in this episode. The subplots of this episode focused around some situations that we don't see too often in the show: Claire and Alex, Luke and Manny, Mitchell and Jay, Cam and Gloria, and Phil and the stranger. Some definitely worked better than others. Since these are in no particular order and happen more or less simultaneously, I'll just go over them in the order that I listed them.
I think that the Claire and Alex dynamic is somewhat interesting mostly due to the changing nature of Alex as she grows up. Claire is and has been somewhat narcissistic and less than tactful in displaying her own emotions. The two of them go out of town to follow Alex to some academic competition that she wins every year without fail. The whole time they're on the trip Claire won't stop bragging about how good Alex is and that she wins every year, but she tries to play it off like it doesn't matter. I think Julie Bowen really did a great job in this episode. I really felt painfully embarrassed for her when she was bragging to the other moms and Alex gets shut down in the first round. In this episode, Mother and daughter alike both grow somewhat. Alex starts to grow out of the cookie-cutter need to win every single event and be the best of the best while Claire learns a bit of humility in losing. In the past few episodes we've seen Alex changing a lot, with Haley coming in and out of the house and she's going through some major defining years of her adolescence. I think that soon we'll see Alex taking a new direction in life.
As for Luke and Manny, I really enjoy the segments they have together and would like Modern Family to show more of them in the future. Luke is always hilariously cynical and amoral, while Manny is (usually) the polar opposite. In this episode though, Manny is swept up in another one of his love-at-first-sight moments and needs to connect with some girl he saw in the lobby. He convinces Luke to use his conniving ways to get them into crashing multiple Bar Mitzvahs in the hopes of finding Manny's dream girl. For Luke though, it's really about the danger and the gift bags. Luke's one of my favorite characters and he doesn't disappoint in this episode. I lost it when he got hoisted up for the chair dance. Manny grows up a bit in this episode too and gets a little more action than usual, just a little though.
Another interaction we don't see very often was between Mitchell and Jay. The show has always made it clear that the two did not have a good relationship growing up and they lean pretty heavily on that in this episode. I wasn't that fond of this sub-plot because it seemed to be pretty cookie-cutter. Not many surprises, and a few laughs here and there. The larger picture is that we do get to see a bit of Jay's vulnerability in this episode. Without giving too much away, it was good to see their relationship take another step in the right direction.
The Cam and Gloria segment was ok. It didn't do too much for me until the aha! moment right at the end when Cam finally revealed his gift. Now that was really something. The rest of the episode Cam is basically just stalling, trying to get Gloria to avoid the upstairs while his gift was being finished. Gloria is still somewhat stale and doesn't really show that much depth to her character. The whole time she just thinks Cam is trying to run her day and control everything, which to be fair he usually does. I would call this and the Jay/Mitchell plots the weakest ones of the episode, unless I guess you really like Gloria or Cam's stories.
Really though the shining moments of the episode come from Phil and guest star Matthew Broderick (Dave). Though there aren't any real Buellarian moments in this episode, Broderick's character is convincing and the situation is hilarious. Phil and his usual caring, oblivious nature leads him to not understanding that Dave is actually a gay man that was trying to pick up a date at the gym. He is also, coincidentally, a very good friend of Cam's. The writers really did an excellent job of weaving this plot together with Cam directing Dave by phone at every turn and simultaneously (unwittingly) setting up the perfect date night for Phil and Dave. The dramatic irony plays out perfectly and it is hilarious to see Phil just being Phil, but coming off as aggressively advancing the mood of the man date he was on. Dave being in an emotional state after a hard break up just makes it all the more perfect. The ending was hysterical and altogether I think everything tied together pretty nicely. Overall, I'd say this was a pretty good episode.
Overall Rating: 8.5/10
- Could have done more with Cam/Gloria and Jay/Mitchell subplots
- Phil and Dave scenario is a riot
- I'm a sucker for Manny and Luke's antics
- Overall, another consistently good episode
She said...
I had fun watching Ty Burrell and Matthew Broderick's scenes on Modern Family this week. It all starts when Phil invites a fellow Bulldog alum (Dave) to his house so he can have a guy's night out while Claire's out of town.
Dave had just come from a break-up and took Cam's advice to get out there, have fun, and meet some new guys. This segment was cleverly done and just plain hilarious. Even though nothing was said between the two, their actions said it all. Phil was oblivious to what was going on and his actions towards Dave kept him hoping for something more interesting to happen.
Luke and Manny's bar mitzvah hopping didn't do anything for that episode. I did laugh at a couple of their scenes, but Burrell and Broderick definitely stole the show. Cam and Gloria's scenes got kind of boring, but the surprise baby gift was pretty funny! Claire and Alex's scenes during the academic competition didn't add anything new either. She was just the overly proud mom who wanted to brag about her incredibly smart daughter to everyone. I thought it was funny though when she bragged about her 2-day cushion and complained about how she paid more money for one last year.
Overall Rating: 7/10
Ty Burrell and Matthew Broderick really took it home with this episode. You're not going to miss anything in terms of plot, but if you want to see those two guys be hilarious together then go ahead and watch! Oh and don't forget about the surprise baby gift!
All images are used courtesy of ABC and Modern Family.
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