Modern Family: "Two Monkeys and A Panda"

In recent months, Modern Family unfortunately hasn't been living up to the high standards set by seasons one, which generally means I've been taking it out of the review rotation, as I don't like to cover a show week to week if I am just going to point out the same problems each post. Last night's outing, however, was quite good, so a review that episode, as well as some thoughts on what makes it stand out from this latest batch of episodes, after the jump....

After being relegating to plots that are overly-slight or feel like leftovers from sitcoms past, Cam and Mitchell were finally in a plot....that felt liked it belonged to a sitcom. Okay, so the “incorrect official document” plot isn't the most original, but here the show managed to do something that they haven't done it quite a while – give Cam and Mitchell an emotionally resonant story. The two of them are some of the best written characters on TV, not just as gay men, but as people. So it frustrates me when the show insists on sticking them into plots that were originally meant to service the caricatures on Married... With Children.

But tonight, even though the action was originally predicated on Mitchell seeming to fill out the forms incorrectly, and thus fulfill the role of incompetent husband (because, let's face it, he's the man in that relationship), there was a far more satisfying twist. It turns out that Cam, in the weeks leading up to the adoption, was developing cold feet, and in case he ended up bolting, Mitchell didn't want that constant reminder of him in Lilly's hyphenated last name. Good stuff, and excellent work from both Eric Stonestreet and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.

But then the show added another layer to it, by not only having Mitchell compose and read the fairly sweet titular story (and thank god that didn't lead to some sort of voice-over/montage), but then to have Lilly clap at the word “adoption”, and legitimize what had been a string of jokes that opened the episode, well, that just warmed my heart.

Elsewhere, Jay and Gloria likewise had an emotional component to their story. The show long ago established that yes, Gloria does in fact love Jay, and that this marriage isn't just a sham, for either of them. But those feelings and insecurities don't just go away, even when somebody rationally knows that the other person loves them. So to have Jay become conscientious about Gloria moving on after he dies – and that he'll been seen as the “putz” husband – felt like an entirely realistic worry for him to have. What's even better was that Jay had his fear assuaged by Manny - who hasn't been used this well since “Manny Get Your Gun” - and then later by Gloria. The elder Prichett household hasn't had too many emotional beats this season (in fact I believe that they been give short shift in this department through the show's entire run), so it was nice for their plot to have a bit more weight to it.

The Claire/Phil storyline was the relatively weak link this week, even if Phil hanging out at the spa was good for some laughs. The gender politics at play here were fairly route, and the fact that Phil learns how to interact with Claire from a group of random women as opposed to his own wife doesn't really make a lot of sense. However, I do buy that Phil turning all of the attention onto Claire would appease her specifically, because, well, Claire is a bit of a narcissist.

Claire's side of the story saw a marked improvement in her characterization. Over the past few weeks, the show has depicted Claire as something of a nag, so while she was still a bit short with Phil this week, at least they gave it some context. Claire was trying to help Alex and Hailey learn to share, and hopefully foster between them a loving relationship, so for once we got to see we she was so stressed and snippy, and the reason here was legitimate, not due to something vague like stress.

Not only was tonight's episode funny (the show always is), but it also was a return to form of sorts, as wee got to see emotional stories that were couched in the character's individual personalities. Here's hoping the show sticks to this in the forthcoming weeks.

What did everybody else think?


Additional Thoughts:

What, no Luke?

“I don't think you're grasping the magnitude of the package, valued at over $250.” THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!

“If you don't use them, all the money just goes to charity.”

“And not the heart-of-gold kind. The by-the-airport kind.”

“I gotta give my cholesterol pill something to do.”

“A we're monkeys because....” “I can draw monkeys.”

“We're four down from Bugsy Segal!”

“Maybe it's all the creams, but that just made sense, girlfriends!”

When does Manny ever play?

“I had to undress a mannequin while a creepy guy filmed it, so we have that to look forward on the Internet.”

“We need to talk about this 'Ta-da!'”

“Adoption. Yay!”