Modern Family: "Mother's Day"

Season 2, Episode 21

Character-based moments elevate the episode above its gimmicky premise

“We’re a new kind of family. They don’t have the right vocabulary for us yet.”

-Mitchell

I don’t know a whole lot of gay people – it’s just part of living in Texas – but when it comes to the one that I do get a chance to interact with, we usually get around to talking about where they see themselves on the traditional gender spectrum. (What can I say? I like discussing the big issues with people.) I’ve gotten varied responses, with some saying that they are okay with people assuming they like “girly” things, because hey it’s the truth, while others become offended by such thoughts. The truth is, there seems to be no real consensus about whether or not applying the female stereotypes to gay men is “wrong.”The long and the short of is that the responses tend to be based on how flamboyant the person being asked is; the more flamboyant they are, the less offended they get by the application of the female gender to their person.

Note: All of this is based on personal experience, and I do not presume to speak on behalf of the gay community, so if any of my conclusions here seem offensive, I apologize forthwith. For the record, I do not personally ever believe that it is okay to apply gender stereotypes to any person, gay or straight. People are people and each individual person will act they way that they are going to act, regardless of which category they fit into.

(Now that we got that out of the way…) 

All this is a long way of saying that I haven’t quite figured out just what the show is trying to do with Cam and Mitchell. I get that they two are meant to upend a lot of stereotypes of the typical gay man, sure, but some of the nuances seem to escape. For the most part, Mitchell seems to be the less flamboyant of the two, the one more likely to attempt to avoid playing into stereotypical behavior. So it was a bit unexpected to see that Cam was the one who suddenly so offended that people were typecasting him.

Yet I still liked it. As stated above, there are a lot of different “theories” (for lack of a better word) about what we should expect from gay people as far as their actions, likes/dislikes, etc. (At this point, if you are starting to get offended, please go read that note again), and it is sometime hard for me as a straight man to tell when something is “typically” gay, and thus still acceptable, as opposed to something that plays off an offensive stereotype.

But I do like when MF attempts to break down gay stereotypes, even if I wasn’t positive if it was a stereotype in the first place. And it makes sense that Cam would be the one more often to be considered the woman in the relationship – just look at the way he acts as compared to Mitchell. Yes, such a sudden change in Cam’s behavior might not make the most sense, but it was another positive step in the show’s continuing quest to prove the gay people are just as normal as straight people, and that is something that will always earn my admiration.

“I know you would all be so happy if you thought I had some big emotional moment about my mom.”

-Jay

The other half (two-thirds?) of tonight’s episode thankfully wasn’t as morally complicated, as it kept to more familiar territory for me. Jay has always been the tough guy with the soft interior, but it is a well that has yet to dry up for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed tonight’s plotline, as it once again brought out that side of him, and has Phil along for the ride.

Even better was Jay’s little speech in the end – taking the place of the end-of-show voiceover, natch – which Ed O’Neil managed to perform in such a way, and also helped to incorporate the least serious plotline – that of Claire and Gloria’s hike and their talk of how their kids annoy them – into all the action.

ABC’s theme for last night’s comedy block was “Mother’s Day” (at least the first 3 episodes anyway, I assume Cougar Town was let off the hook because the network has mistreated it so, and well, I don’t watch Happy Endings, but I assume it got that “new show pass”) and I was a little worries that the show might just spit out a bunch of clichéd plotlines once again. Instead, the show managed to give the theme a little spin and evoke moments that felt true to the characters. Making something forced feel natural? That’s the sign of some good writing right there.

Quotes, Etc.:

“It looks like you were felt up by the creepy guy around the corner.” “Ewww, why him?” “Cause he’s got like freakishly tiny hands.”

“Okay, scratch the balloons, she is in a mood.”

“It’s not like that. She’s just bananas for walking around in nature.”

“And it smells like lemon-lime, something coyotes hate.” “Where do you get for information?”

“No, pink loves me.”

“You should get a pair.” “I was going to suggest the same thing.”

“Those really frame your face.”

“Book? Wake up and smell the internet, grandma.”

“Cam, hands.”

“We’re your mother now.”