09/25/13, 9 PM, ABC
WHEN LAST WE SAW THE PRITCHETTS: Phil’s mom, Gracie, had passed away, and the entire family gathered in Florida to find a way to memorialize her. The Dunphy kids all received tokens of their grandmother’s esteem to mixed results, Claire and Phil tried to follow Gracie’s last request – to have Phil’s dad hook up with another woman posthaste, Cam bonded with the Dunphy’s gossipy neighbors, Jay encountered a woman whose name he could not recall (and who couldn’t recall him), and a day in court defending Gloria on a (false) morals charge ignited Mitch’s old passion for law and order. United for a memorial fireworks display, the family finally had a peaceful moment and were able to say goodbye to grandma Gracie.
The first episode of the double-header was all about romance; it focuses on Cam and Mitchell’s love for each other, Jay’s love for Gloria, and Claire and Phil’s love of peace…and a child-free household.
In series-wide developments, Gloria discovered she was pregnant, and by the middle of the season she and Jay welcomed a son named Fulgencio Joseph, nicknamed “Joe”. Gloria’s ex-husband announced his engagement to a woman named Trish. Manny turned fourteen, developed a crush on his little brother’s nanny, ended up playing the lead in Cam’s production of “The Phantom of the Opera” and nearly went to private school. Cam and Mitch tried to adopt another baby, but Lily – who has grown into a six-year-old deadpan snarker – wasn’t having any of that. The idea of any sort of further adoption was quickly dropped when they added a cat to the household, leaving stay-at-home dad Cam at a loss when Lily started attending kindergarten. So Cam filled the void by returning to his first love – teaching. He got a job at an elementary school, and his music classes led to him staging a disastrous performance of the Phantom of the Opera. Alex tried to fit in with the popular crowd at her school and then assumed a leadership role within the household, but ended up embracing her true brainy self and forming a band. Older sister Haley has entered college…and swiftly got herself in trouble by driving drunk. She ultimately committed so many errors that the college expelled her and Haley then returned home to attend a different school…and start dating other guys, breaking her high school boyfriend Dylan’s heart. Luke meanwhile developed an interest in girls and lost his interest in magic, much to Phil’s dismay. Phil considered and rejected the prospect of a vasectomy. And Claire, after a health scare, considered re-entering the workforce- first by considering a job with Gil Thorpe, Phil’s rival in real estate, then by taking a position at her father’s closet-building company.
The first episode of the double-header was all about romance; it focuses on Cam and Mitchell’s love for each other, Jay’s love for Gloria, and Claire and Phil’s love of peace…and a child-free household.
Manny’s ready to head off for a summer visit with his grandma in Columbia, and Jay must deal with Gloria’s resultant separation anxiety. An overjoyed Cam and Mitchell, in celebration of same-sex marriage being legalized in California, immediately try to propose to one another – with disastrous results, as fussy details encroach upon their attempts at recreating various perfect moments from past dates. An exhausted Claire, meanwhile, tries to schedule some quiet, kid-free time – and Phil assumes she wants to be alone with him, forcing him to go into overdrive juggling the kid’s schedules so they can both be free.
The writing is as workmanlike and feels as relatable as ever; Eric Stonestreet is cute as a button, and the final moments of “Suddenly Last Summer” will bring a tiny tear to your eye thanks to his chemistry with Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Manny is also hilarious, but the best comedienne on the show is tiny Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, whose dry delivery of a single line (“I didn’t.”) brought me to tears of laughter. The Gloria/Manny/Jay subplot felt underwritten and ended up with the short shrift, but it provided some of the episode’s loudest guffaws.
In “First Days”, Luke and Manny deal with their first day in high school, and Phil and Gloria deal with the fact that Luke and Manny are growing up by hanging out together…and appearing in a local commercial as the worst extras ever. Meanwhile, Claire goes to work for Jay’s closet-building company and tries to impress his associates, ending up bonding with the office ‘weird guy’ to Jay’s dismay; Mitchell ends up sitting for Lily during an important meeting, which forces him to call in Hayley for reinforcements – and allows Hayley to catch the eye of his boss ; and Cam, the victim of budget cuts, is substitute teaching – he ends up in Alex’s history class, his theatrical flair and mediocrity with the subject running afoul of her desire for junior-year academic excellence.
“First Days” does have a string of good, laugh-worthy bits – while not sparklingly original, Phil and Gloria’s attempt at providing the commercial director with what he wants is fun to watch.
“First Days” does have a string of good, laugh-worthy bits – while not sparklingly original, Phil and Gloria’s attempt at providing the commercial director with what he wants is fun to watch. The Hayley/Mitchell subplot has a somewhat creepy quality to it, but leads to a great Mitchell-based moment. Cam and Alex undeniably have the best subplot – it allows Cam to be his flamboyant self while Alex’s superior nature shines as well as it has in years. Cam stumbles upon a future that doesn’t include George Washington costumes but still might get a lot of mileage. Julie Bowen does get a good showcase ep. for Claire, whose struggle to fit in is awkward and realistic and echoed in Cam and Phill and Gloria’s struggles.
Overall , both episodes are pleasant exercises in sitcom cheeriness. And that’s Modern Family’s biggest problem at the moment – both episodes were breezy and cute, but they definitely lacked belly laughs. There were a small number, but not tons, which is something of a stumble for a veteran show.
The Roundup:
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* We first met Gloria’s vibrant, Columbia-based family in last season’s “Fulgencio” .
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* Jay proposed to Gloria by simply handing her a ring; Javier, meanwhile, proposed to her from atop a dolphin.
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* Claire told Phil to return her engagement ring and buy her a washer-dryer.
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* Important places in Mitchell and Cam’s romance: a restaurant where they had their first date and the hills of Los Angeles, where they went hiking before Lily was born.
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* Beside Lily’s deadpan line, my favorite moment was Phil’s “Christopher Walken Closet” joke.
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* Cam first went back to work in season four.
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* So that is what Illini Cam might have looked like.
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* Apparently Hayley’s thing for older men is a character trait now. Yikes.
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* In next week’s episode, Luke holds a poker game for his friends, Phil’s job drains his spare time, Gloria fears that Joe is cursed, and Cam holds a funeral for Larry the cat’s imaginary wife at Lily’s behest in “Larry’s Wife.”Mord
[notification type=”star”]89/100 ~ GREAT. Overall , both episodes are pleasant exercises in sitcom cheeriness. And that’s Modern Family’s biggest problem at the moment – both episodes were breezy and cute, but they definitely lacked belly laughs. There were a small number, but not tons, which is something of a stumble for a veteran show.[/notification]
