What I’m Watching: Modern Family

Modern Family: Season 2, Episode 10 “Dance Dance Revolution” (B+)

In this episode we have a number of plotlines that have come up before all representing themselves and coming to the surface in new, creative, and entertaining ways. Whether it’s Claire clashing with Gloria, Jay not liking Phil, or Cam and Mitchell thinking their Lily is perfect, we’ve seen it before, but to this show’s credit, it all feels fresh, and, like real life, things like this don’t simply go away and do come up again. I of course had thought that this episode, based on its title, would feature Phil trying to compete in a Dance Dance Revolution contest, but seeing him go ballistic on an eager cologne salesman, who hilariously happened to be a good friend of Cam and Mitchell’s, was funny enough. Jay yelling at the guy who lost his dog was also amusing, as was Luke’s desire to upset Manny by wearing the same color as him. Gloria’s presence at the dance was entertaining, and I like how this show manages to have a dramatic plotline – Claire feels inferior to Gloria and needs one thing to be hers and hers alone – but that doesn’t mean it can’t also be funny, as evidenced by her fury over janitor Danny Trejo devoting his creepy attention to Gloria rather than her. I realized watching this episode that I usually neglect to praise Eric Stonestreet for his stellar delivery of Cam’s lines, the best of which in this episode was directed at Mitchell: “Don’t bite my head off, I’m not a pack of batteries.”