This very episode encapsulates the essence of why we fell in love with this series in the first place: an explosion of laughter, tears, pure joy, edge-of-your-seat suspense, and yes, those unmistakably gratuitous breast-jiggling moments! Throw in some gunshots – literally, from a firearm – and a spirited dance routine, and you've got a recipe for television gold. The jokes landed with precision, striking a chord repeatedly, while characters we hadn't seen much of lately, like Manny and Luke, were aptly thrust into the limelight. It wasn't flawless – the show still indulges in some peculiar tangents we'd rather it did without – but this is precisely what kept our spirits dampened through much of season two. We've always known that 'Modern Family' harbors the potential to churn out episodes of this caliber. Here's to hoping we've turned the corner and bid farewell to our slump.
The Dunphy-Pritchetts' Saga
Let's rewind a tad: Two weeks prior, it was refreshing to witness a glimpse into Phil's professional life seamlessly woven into the narrative. It infused the episode with a much-needed touch of legitimate drama and introduced a tension that we eagerly anticipate the series will revisit sometime soon. However, we're quite content if this conflict takes a backseat this week. Instead, Phil and Claire inadvertently ignite a near-cataclysmic family feud by organizing a two-car race to a restaurant for Manny's birthday dinner – Phil and the girls in one vehicle, Claire and Luke in the other. En route, both cars come to a grinding halt, victims of their parents' deepest insecurities: Claire fears Luke prefers Phil over her ("Dad's like, insanely fun – but you're nice"), while Phil bears the brunt of Alex and Haley's disinterest in attending his beloved Family Camp the following summer (Phil still boasts about his team's Color Wars victory: "This year, I predict total white domination!").
Within the Dunphy fold, it's typically boys on one side, girls on the other. So, it was delightful to see Phil navigate the perilous terrain of female adolescence ("What gives? Boys, your bodies are changing, or are those eggs?"), as Alex and Haley gang up against him (in perfect harmony, Sarah Hyland and Ariel Winter have delivered some of the season's finest moments, including heart-wrenching tears in the car this week). Luke was long overdue for some quality bonding time with Claire, especially since it's increasingly evident that he and his dad are kindred spirits. Of course, this extra screen time only fanned our fervent yearning for a Luke-centric holiday special. (Showrunners, heed this call: Christmas is nearly upon us, followed swiftly by Hanukkah, Boxing Day, New Year's Eve, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Valentine's Day, and National Children's Dental Health Month. The options are endless, so pick your poison!)
The Pritchett-Tuckers: A Mall Plaza Brawl with a Twist
Imagine this: you're ambling through an outdoor mall plaza, on your way to your nephew's birthday bash, when all of a sudden, you find yourself in a spat with your beau. It begins innocuously enough, a mere tiff, like any other, sparked by his squeals of delight as he pauses to sample some lotion. Then, as he stops to lend a helping hand to an elderly gent trying to patch things up with his equally senior sweetheart, you huff and puff, rolling your eyes skyward in mock exasperation. Before you know it, you're oddly entangled in their reunion, and somehow, your phone gets smashed in the chaos. It dawns on you that you've inadvertently aided in some geriatric infidelity drama.
Your lover eventually concedes, admitting you were perhaps right and that impulse control isn't always his strong suit. As you step into the plaza, the soothing melodies of En Vogue's "Free Your Mind" caress the air, luring people into a spontaneous dance frenzy. Your boyfriend, trying to explain the concept of a "flash mob" to the uninitiated TV audience, looks utterly baffled. And then, you seize the moment, diving into the perfectly choreographed mayhem with a strange, almost eerie coordination. You move with a fluidity that stuns him, proving him wrong and blowing his mind! Or perhaps you just irritate him further, given his theater-nerd gay cliché persona. He's miffed, muttering, "You cheated on me with choreography, and that's the ultimate betrayal."
Either scenario is a vast improvement over the usual living room squabbles between Mitchell and Cameron. It's so enchanting and unexpected that we're willing to overlook the show's penchant for centering their subplot around yet another spat over their differing life flexibilities. Let's hope this was their final showdown, the climax towards which all their recent fights have been building. Now, they can finally move on to greener pastures. Although we're clueless about what that might entail. Perhaps Lily will soon start talking, throwing in her own sass. Maybe, at some point, they'll all groove to En Vogue together? Now, that's a dream worth chasing!
The Pritchett-Delgados: A Call for Fresh Humor and Poignant Moments
Indeed, it's high time we reigned in the absurd plot demands for future episodes until the writers bestow upon Jay a novel jest about his spouse. Throughout this season, it seems Jay can't resist using her South American heritage as a punchline for her eccentricities in nearly every installment. Now, he flips the script, utilizing the same background to justify why she shouldn't be so quirky: "I'm punctual to a fault. My wife, on the other hand... You'd think navigating a land of death squads and inebriated uncles would've taught her to hustle a bit." The immediate concern is her misplaced keys, a situation as ludicrously cliché as Jay's forgetfulness of their anniversary two weeks prior. Fortunately, this subplot takes a backseat to Manny, who marks his birthday with a soul-crushing awareness that his youth has slipped away.
Manny, donned in his smoking jacket, sipping espresso, and perusing newspapers, has finally faced the music. The show's lackluster performance this season is underscored by the fact that his delightful, budding curmudgeonly traits are most prominent in this very episode, as he grapples with the onset of adulthood by regressing into the childlike world he once spurned. He blends sodas, pulls pranks, and lounges poolside, fully dressed, amidst an inflatable beach scene. ("Is that a skateboard down there?" "The second thing that escaped me today.") However, the harder he strives to prove he's no mere pint-sized adult-in-training, the clearer it becomes that he is precisely that. Ultimately, an exhilarating incident involving Gloria and a handgun bursts his bubble, and the family's birthday dinner (their intended destination all along) ensues in an unexpectedly refined manner, complete with heartfelt apologies, sans any narrator's intrusion.
