Tuesday, March 1, 2011

What I’m Watching: Modern Family

Modern Family: Season 2, Episode 16 “Regrets Only” (B+)

What’s especially enjoyable about this episode is that it takes three storylines whose connections are not immediately obvious and unites them all together by pairing up certain characters in order to help them all draw conclusions and achieve the appropriate closure. Phil’s situation is perhaps the most universally relatable, as he struggles to figure out what it is he’s done to tick Claire off so terribly. It was funny to see him consult a rather angry, death threat-hurling Gloria and then, in typical bumbling fashion, berates Claire about trying the salad when that’s the very thing for which she’s mad at him. As is occasionally (though hardly always) the case with Gloria storylines, it’s the reaction of her family members that’s truly amusing, as Jay nearly goes out of his mind and Manny is the one to snap. After being barely seen in the episode, Manny’s two brief appearances were hilarious, especially the final moment where he pulled the plug on Jay. It’s fun to see Cameron flustered, and it’s nice that Mitchell goes to such lengths to try to help him out after he forgot to send out the invitations. Luke as an assistant was funny, but what was seriously hilarious about this episode was Alex’s efforts to get Haley busted and her utter exasperation when the would-be waitress got away scot-free without even having a decent plan to fool her parents. In the category of awkwardness, we have a winner in Claire’s horrifying massage reaction noises that represent the opposite of self-awareness.

1 comment:

Greg Boyd said...

When people say that the second season of "Modern Family" is somehow bad or deficent, I point to episodes like this as proof that it isn't. Granted, it's nowhere near as good as it was last season, but that level of quality was almost impossible to keep up. This is still one of the funniest shows on TV, and this episode was one of the best of the season.