Modern Family: "Boys' Night"

Once I discover the origins of the name ‘Longinus,’ I’ll offer up a review of last night’s episode, after the jump…

“So I have to try new things – like scrambled eggs – and you don’t have to?” – Manny

It would be an exercise in the obvious for me to wax on about how this episode brought characters out of their comfort zone; no doubt you noticed it yourself while watching the episode. Instead, I want to focus on the more powerful effect that all of this comfort-zone-breaking had tonight: we got to see some new sides to some old characters.

Jay has always been curmudgeonly character; in fact, it’s usually what makes him funny, and such action is right in Ed O’Neil’s wheelhouse. But I have, at times, found some of his more crotchety statements to be off-putting, especially when he seems to be showing near-contempt for Mitchell’s sexuality and the accompanying life style. I of course understand that a) this is a reflection of the time period that Jay grew up, and b) that the show has attempted to tone down this kind of behavior, but in a show so obviously gay-friendly, it always seems a bit off to me.

So imagine my joyous surprise when Jay stumbles into Cam and Mitchell’s get together with their friends, and he is able to sit down with this group of gay men and comfortably converse with them, taking and giving jokes in equal measure. (In fact, all of those scenes in the restaurant put such a big smile on my face that I almost wish that had been the entire episode.) Now, some might claim that such action was out of character for Jay, yet I think that how this scene was set up tells us a lot about him. Note his initial hesitation at being invited to sit down, and how he quickly breaks the ice with a quip.  Jay takes control of the situation, and thus he can allow himself to be around the kind of company that generally makes him nervous.

Of course the alcohol helped, as Jay was able to relax around these guys, eventually going so far as to make a man-date with Pepper. But if we believe that alcohol brings out a person’s truest intentions (as I certainly do), then I think there is something else here. Jay doesn’t dislike gay people as much as his outward gestures may make it seem. He’s just uncomfortable around them, but as long as he knows that he can joke and banter with them, then he’ll do all right. But when their company is” forced” upon him – much like he perceived Pepper was the following morning – then he’ll retreat back, unsure of what to do.

The real question now is what this revelation will hold for him and Mitchell, considering his son was sincerely moved by the thought that he and his dad could be friends again, like they were before he his sexuality started to come out. Now, Modern Family isn’t really a show that embraces a whole lot of change, but its smaller character beats do tend to carry on past their initial episode, so it is quite possible that this could be the turning point in one of the show’s lesser explored dynamics. Let’s just hope the show has the foresight to go through with it.

“Little kids can be friends with old people, right?” – Claire

While none of the Dunphy children have ever had as much of a chance to grow as characters as I might have liked, Luke has been the most slighted out of the three. (Though considering that the show has given both Alex and Haley slightly larger storylines this season, and Luke got one tonight, maybe this is the turning of a tide.) Yet despite all of this, Luke has also been my favorite, as I find his weird nature tends to lead to a larger variety of jokes. So Luke was long due for his own storyline, one that shows us a bit more of how he operates, and tonight we got that. We find that Luke doesn’t tend to discriminate friends based on age (or their love of fire), and that he has a way with people (especially those who are outcasts like him) that tends to endear him to them. As much as Phil and Claire worry about Luke’s intelligence holding him back, that kid’s got a personality that’ll take him far, and it’s good that the show recognizes this.

The other side of this plot held meaning for Phil and Claire. Sure, they got to trust their son a little more, and they changed their opinion of the creepy old man next door, but this plotline also worked in a character beat for the two of them that hasn’t been played (at least well) in a good while. While I don’t doubt that Claire and Phil care for their children, and that they do all they can to make sure they grow up to be the best adults they can be, sometimes their concern gets over shadowed by their own neuroses or the strict sense of morality that they think their kids should follow. But tonight it was only genuine concern for their son that drove them, both in their quest to make sure that their son  was save, and their attempts to make sure that he can also have a friend.

There have many complaints about how Claire has been too much of a nag this season (I have made such comments myself), and while I can understand why Claire would be driven to this level of crazy by her family, the show sometimes loses the sense of love that drives Claire and pushes her to such extremes. But tonight Claire wasn’t nag, just a concerned mother. Phil, on the other hand, is never a nag, though given that he is easily distracted, it sometimes feels that he doesn’t act in the best interest of kids, that he just forgets to look out for them. Again, the issue with Mr. Kleezak seemed to bring his character back into line with the parent that we know he is, even if it isn’t always represented as much as it should be.

“I’m sick and tired of people not trusting me.” Haley

Unfortunately, as strong as the other two plots were tonight, Haley’s plot (or perhaps I should call it a runner) gave us nothing new about the character. We have long been inundated with all of the various ways that Haley is a vapid, shallow typical teenage girl, what with all of the irresponsibility and the sneaking boyfriends into houses of her family members. In fact, a lot of this plot felt like a retread, from Haley having to convince Mitchell that she was responsible enough to babysit Lilly, to that talk of whether she can be responsible (and the jokes that she can’t), and her sneaking Dylan into somebody else’s house. In fact, it was the strength of the other two plots that really made this tired nature of this one standout.

But I guess the show has to give everybody something to do, right? I wonder what’s going to happen when Lilly’s able to speak in whole sentences…

What did everybody else think?

Additional Thoughts:

Alex freaking out over all the news of animals dying didn’t really go anywhere, but it was fairly amusing.

“Am I right, Jay?” “Let’s not make this a thing.”

“Wow. Are the movie rights available for that one?”

“I’m still growing into my tongue.”

“Did you mean optometrist?”

“We have that in our house, but we don’t need tanks.”

“He likes to melt stuff. Like you’re so perfect.”

“Oh crap. You mean nothing but instruments?”

“And if you knew Frankie Valley, you’d be cracking up right now.”

“Oh god, he’s seen my sexy dance.”

“I go a lot of places without shoes.”

“That’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a guy name Longinus.”

“Are you talking about Rob Lowe?”