Modern Family: "Someone To Watch Over Lilly"

Season 2, Episode 20

A weaving set of plotlines leads to a very strong episode

For as much as Modern Family is about, well, family, it doesn’t concern itself with the issue of parenting as much as one might think. Sure, the show has given over moment showing how much joy parenting can bring, but it rarely discuss what makes a good parent; usually the show just takes it for granted that each parent here is skilled enough to adequately raise a child.

That changes with “Someone To Watch Over Lilly,” perhaps the season’s strongest episode since “Manny Get Your Gun,” not doubt due to the intersection of three of tonight’s four stories. The show has finally freed Cam and Mitchell from their weekly appearance in The Gay Minstrel Show, giving them a plotline of substance as they attempt to determine who would get Lilly if (GOD FORBID!) something terrible were to happen to both of them. Cam and Mitchell’s storylines are the most powerful when they focus on their relationship/family in a way that isn’t predicated on their sexuality, and though their storyline doesn’t technically hold a lot of substance (given how it was spread out to involve the other characters), it was a nice reminder of why GLAAD is such a big supporter of this show.

Cam and Mitchell search eventually lead us to stories from the Pritchett and Dunphy household. The Dunphy plotline, while the more developed and complex of the two, was also the more problematic of the two, as it requires us to suspend our disbelief that Claire has gone this long without sending Luke to a psychiatrist. But regardless of this, and the fact that the show went a bit too with having it seem that Luke’s problems were solely Phil’s fault, it ended on a nice note. Phil and Claire may both screw up their children (all parents do to some degree, really), but that’s just something that comes with the territory. And as long as a nice newlywed couple – or a police officer – can make sure their kids get back to them safely, well the rest of it will work itself out.

The Pritchett storyline was predicated on something that we already know – that Jay cares for Manny and is actually a good paternal figure for him – which Cam and Mitchell do not. For while it would seem odd that Cam and Mitchell don’t know this, I get that Jay’s a “tough on the outside” type who might not let others see how he really is with Manny, so I get it. But even more, it clearly harkens back to Mitchell’s own father-issues – the extent of which we didn’t learn until tonight – something that bothers Cam more than it does Mitchell, who a) is more look past Jay’s faults and b) obviously is focused on the idea of Gloria, not Jay, raising Lilly. Yet it all came together in the end, as Manny sticks up for Jay, and convinces Cam to make Jay and Gloria the guardians.

It was a great night for MF, which deftly flitted between stories tonight, subtly brining up parallels between the families that it didn’t feel had to be summed up in yet another treacly voice-over. These are the best kinds of episode for the show, and I hope to see a few more before the season is out.

Any other opinions?

Quotes, etc.:

“I don’t love ‘grandmother.’”

“I’m so sorrah.”

“Bad time?” “Come back in 5 years and 7 months, when they’re all gone!”

“Ready.” “Did you pee?” “Not ready.”

“So cows freeze now? Are we all just accepting this?”

“Nothing is going to happen…But if it did, we would be so happy!”

“Well buddy, you’re going to have to smell dad’s receptionist some other time.”

“Don’t use the word ‘daunting’ in nature.”

“He was two and all he could do was bark.” “I understood him.”

“Excuse me, Sherpa? Can you assist me with the harness?”

Alex’s happy place? School

“Did you see both sides? I didn’t just do the gay ear.”

“We don’t know the whole story.” “Don’t we?”

“Jay said that?” “Yeah, and he wasn’t drunk or anything.”

“If Rueben can go with the extra nipple…”

“Lilly, when something horrible happens, you’re going to be all mine!”