What I’m Watching: Modern Family

Modern Family: Season 7, Episode 8 “Clean Out Your Junk Drawer” (C+)

The premise of this episode was extremely stupid, but it did contain a few funny moments. I find it very difficult to believe that Gloria would bid knowingly or unknowingly on a family therapy session, and even less likely that any of her extended family members would feel the need to participate in it just because Gloria had won it. Catherine O’Hara was a fitting choice to play the orchestrator of the session who more than a few times cast doubt on her abilities, most humorously when Jay pointed out her use of the words “never” and “always” that she had earlier said should not be used. Jay faking sadness to run to the bathroom to listen to the game was far more believable than most of what happened in the Dunphy living room, and, as usual, excessive slapstick comedy leads to sappy endings. There was an overwhelming amount of double entendre language, particularly from Cam, but that’s no surprise on this show since it happens pretty much on a weekly basis to varied effect. Haley going to meet Alex to talk about bad boy decisions (read that carefully, because neither Andy nor Reuben should be described as “bad boys”) was fun, though it really was Haley talking about herself and expressing disgust at Alex’s stories, which helped Alex figure out what she needed to do. Ending that plotline with Haley talking on the phone under the covers next to Andy tells us that romance is far from dead, and I’m excited to see where that leads.