What I’m Watching: Modern Family

Modern Family: Season 8, Episode 6 “Grab It” (B)

This was actually a pretty decent and funny episode, with most of its plotlines working better than usual. Luke’s new job at the country club was the catalyst for a handful of threads, starting with Haley paying with his tips and the whole family thinking that she’s a stripper. Phil stopping by to see his son naturally led to him being interested in joining the club, and Jay couldn’t power his golf cart away fast enough. Though Phil can be a buffoon, he is charismatic, and he did a great job winning over all of Jay’s buds. After his slapstick sauna incident, he gave up the opportunity to join the club in exchange for dragging Jay along to some things that he knew he would hate, like trampolining and interactive theater. Mitchell really did find the perfect way to get back at Cam for tricking him into going to the staged high school reunion, and when he got called up on stage, he delivered the performance of a lifetime, stealing Cam’s limelight. Claire was understandably frustrated that Alex was idolizing a SheEO not too different from her, but that all worked out nicely when the experience of speaking to someone so self-involved inspired her to get an honest job at a coffee shop. Everything involving Gloria was less enticing, with Manny getting embarrassed at a party and Joe ingesting a cup of coffee just to make sure that he was driving his mother as crazy as possible and preventing her from having a night to herself.