What I’m Watching: Modern Family

Modern Family: Season 5, Episode 19 “A Hard Jay’s Night” (C+)

This episode wasn’t as formulaic and staged as last week’s, but it also wasn’t all that funny. Phil trying to help Gloria sell her house only to have her distract him by stepping up to fill in for her old job as a hairdresser was an instance of very broad comedy that felt forced. Seeing snapshots of Phil’s former life as a cheerleader and a hairdresser is entertaining but not always effective or believable, though there was something to his episode-ending idea about how to get his kids to tell him their secrets, which backfired with Haley and resulted in him telling her one of Alex’s confessions. The whole affair at Jay’s wasn’t too compelling either, especially Claire being mad at Jay for refusing to acknowledge or thank her for her hard work because he didn’t want to get old and be replaced. Luke continually trying to escape so that they could go to the party wasn’t anything new, though it was somewhat reassuring to hear that Manny’s more off-putting qualities have now become appealing for mysterious reasons. All of Cam and Mitchell’s wedding planning has been a bit extravagant, and I think this particular instance was an amusing if exaggerated representation of reality, how people often pretend to care about something so that they can later make a compromise to get something else they really wanted. Mitchell didn’t exactly respond well, so his punishment wasn’t entirely undeserved. Jay, on the other hand, is clearly guilty of some convenient and selective hoarding.