What I’m Watching: Modern Family

Modern Family: Season 2, Episode 8 “Manny Get Your Gun” (B+)

There really isn’t another kid on TV like Manny. Sure, there may be children like Becca on “Californication” who seem impossibly older than her age in terms of maturity and the way they speak to their parents, but no one has the same flair and distinctly adult attitude about growing up and no longer being a little kid. It’s no surprise that one of Jay’s off-handed and accidentally insensitive comments would be the thing to set Manny off on an existential crisis full of soda combinations and lots of moping. I enjoyed the battle between Jay and Gloria over who misplaced the keys, but the most entertaining spousal debate was that between Phil and Claire. I like how each parent took the children of the other gender with them, and it was entertaining to see Haley and Alex start bawling while Claire herself got upset when she realized that Luke had thought that they were getting divorced and proclaimed that he wanted to go with Phil. Mitchell’s performance in a flash mob was very amusing, as was Cameron’s reaction to what he saw as a betrayal, or “cheating with choreography.” Cameron’s latest efforts to save one marriage had a nice surprise twist, and it’s fun how Cameron continues to insert himself into other people’s business only to find he’s missing a key piece of information. The culmination of the episode with all four cars screeching to a halt at the same time was great, and it’s good that this family all made it back together again.