What I’m Watching: Modern Family

Modern Family: Season 2, Episode 7 “Chirp” (B+)

It doesn’t seem like this show will ever run out of relatable family dynamic plotlines to turn into comedic gold. The impossible-to-locate beeping smoke detector is a great and believable way to keep Phil occupied for an entire episode, and seeing him get frustrated after doing everything he possibly can to find and check every single unit in the house was entertaining. I enjoyed the fact that it was Luke’s placement of the old units in the attic that was causing it the whole time, in addition to Luke’s attempt not to catch a cold despite his fondness for kissing pigeons on the mouth. With the middle child absent from the episode, Haley and Claire had a nice session of misunderstood bonding as they were both home sick, and I love how much credit Haley tried to give herself despite completely misunderstanding the situation. Her celebration of her alleged success to Luke and her swift dismissal of the pizza boy at the end of the episode were very funny little moments. Cameron’s moments, as usual, were considerably bigger, and I liked how he went behind Mitchell’s back to get Lily into the commercial then promptly taking a stand when he heard the ridiculous and offensive accents being put on by the voice actors. There’s nothing like the relationship between Jay and Manny, and I like how Manny gave up the intel to ensure that Jay went to the right place to celebrate one of one million different anniversaries with Gloria when Jay called him his kid. Very touching.