What I’m Watching: Modern Family

Modern Family: Season 3, Episode 4 “Door to Door” (B+)

This episode was a whole lot of fun, mostly because it managed to allow its characters to appear in each plotline’s while still giving them their own specific arcs. Claire’s concern about the dangerous traffic intersection was the real impetus for everything, and I enjoyed her immediate family’s reaction to her getting on a project. Haley pretending to work on college essays to avoid helping was particularly amusing, and I like how Phil and Luke ended up making a video about the intersection to help Claire rather than just showing Phil getting hit in the head with a basketball so many times. Jay trying to train Manny to sell wrapping paper provided some fun moments, and it was great to have the shots of Manny and Jay, Cameron and Gloria, and Claire all going door to door interposed together. Gloria and Cam screaming at the little girl who wanted to sell the dog back to them and Cam’s excitement about getting to yell “Stella” was a bit silly, but still enjoyable. Mitchell’s frustration with Cam’s tendency to get creative in the kitchen and not clean up produced a hilarious line – “Scrub this place like a crime scene, which it is, because you’ve murdered joy” – as well as a predictable ending with the adoption agency rep coming right at Mitchell was letting out his inner messy person. I’m not sure what to make of David Cross’ appearance as the traffic guy upset that his cake isn’t ice cream cake, but he was generally funny if a bit over-the-top.