Two weeks after what we deemed, with utmost conviction, as the pinnacle episode of "Modern Family's" sophomore season, the show graces our screens once more with a Mother's Day-themed installment—a golden opportunity to toast the ladies who polarize our affections the most: the lovable Gloria and the ever-sharp Claire. Yet, akin to the fateful gift of a redundant bathrobe for your mom (unbeknownst to you, she already owned one), we find ourselves drowned in the same, undesired mishmash: meager chuckles, an overabundance of cheese, and a curious tinge of queerness and lady-centric conundrums!
The Pritchett-Dunphys
The curtain-raiser, however, hit the mark. Phil and the sprogs assemble in the kitchen, armed with Mother's Day tokens for Claire, who swans in adorned with laughably quirky homemade relics from bygone years, chief among them a white T-shirt emblazoned with tiny crimson handprints, strategically placed over her bosoms. ("It's as if the creepy guy next door gave you a good grope." "Yuck, why him?" "Because he's got abnormally tiny hands!") The narrative then pivots to the universal truth of moms' occasional frustration with their offspring and kids' propensity to be little brats. Claire and Gloria, determined to make Mother's Day their own, embark on a hike with the tykes, who gripe about the moms, and vice versa ("He's so finicky," Gloria bemoans about Manny, earning him the week's quirky, accentuated moniker). Though not heart-pounding, the griping ("I'm ingesting dust!"; "Do you know more people have perished while hiking than in the entire Civil War?") unfolds against the breathtaking backdrop of majestic mountains.
The Pritchett-Delgados
Elsewhere, Phil and Jay are ensconced in their abode, whipping up a lavish Mother's Day feast, recipe sourced from Jay's mom's ancestral cookbook, to sate their hungry mountain-whiners. Phil dons onion goggles; Jay scorns the idea. "You should get a pair," Phil suggests, to which Jay retorts, "I was about to suggest the same." Jay embodies the quintessential man—unyielding tears being his forbidden fruit, evidenced by his onion-chopping fortitude. That is, until Phil unearths a tiny scrap of paper in Jay's mom's cookbook—a heartwarming recipe penned by nine-year-old Jay Francis Pritchett, titled "Recipe for a Perfect Mom." Phil giggles like a schoolboy until he notices Jay's tears, which Jay promptly denies. Phil, a gem of a soul, endeavors to console him with an endearing series of semi-hugs, only to be brusquely brushed aside by Jay. We're left pondering: were Jay's tears fueled by homophobic undertones, or is he genuinely repelled by Phil? Regardless, Jay plays it tough until dinner, when Mitch's anecdote about his grandma's spaghetti-cutting lesson triggers Jay's reminiscence of her dressing down his Little League coach. His long-suppressed tears finally break free. As seen earlier this season when Alex, Haley, and Phil commiserated in tears in the car, the contagion spreads—whiny kids, whiny moms, and dads all clutching each other in an overly sweet, chaotic embrace. Except for Mitch, who was over the emotional melodrama.
In this week's Mother's Day-themed episode of "Modern Family," an attempt was made to explore how the male characters navigate the traditional gender roles associated with parenting, albeit in a startlingly awkward manner. Cam, awakened by Mitch with a Mother's Day breakfast in bed and then singled out as an "honorary mom" at Lily's playgroup's Mother's Day picnic, found himself inexplicably enraged. "You perceive me as Lily's mother? I'm a wife. I'm a woman!" he exclaimed, his frustration evident.
Mitch, in response, scoffed, "As if I'd ever treat my partner like a woman," while a montage of his previous jokes flashed through their minds, jokes where he referred to Cam solely as his wife (e.g., "The wife's not gonna like this," when working late at the office). Sensing Cam's displeasure, Mitch announced to Lily, "Scratch the balloons, she's in a mood," unaware of the depth of his insensitivity. For indeed, there is no fury quite like that of a woman scorned—except, perhaps, a gay man made to feel like a woman. And so, in one fell swoop, "Modern Family" managed to implicitly disparage both the LGBTQ+ community and women. How delightfully thoughtless!
Cam, in a fit of macho overcompensation, descended into a whirlwind of football-throwing and whiskey-gulping chaos. Meanwhile, Mitch, suddenly realizing the need to be supportive, reassured Cam about the playgroup ladies with, "We're a new kind of family—they just don't have the vocabulary for us yet," conveniently forgetting his own lack of sensitivity earlier that morning.
