After a seriously lacking episode last week, Modern Family picked the ball up again with "The Storm". This wasn't the show at its best, but I'll take anything over the mess we were given last week.
This episode benefited from the fact that the whole family gathered at one house, giving a handful of fun character pairings that we haven't seen in a while. Claire and Manny's subplot was slight and inconsequential, but I really enjoyed it. It was simple, but it was effective. This is the kind of comedy that Modern Family always excels at, the kind of low- stakes-big-laughs humour, and this subplot nailed it. Mitch and Cam fared just as well with a story that didn't really lead anywhere, but packed a solid number of laughs in the small amount of screen time it was given. Cameron discussing his "butter churning arm" was perhaps the comedic highlight of the episode.
Where things don't work as well is with Haley and Andy. Haley is my favourite character on this show, and probably the most consistently written and well developed one too. So it's a real shame that the writers are ploughing through her first real adult relationship with such a carelessness as to what this means to her. We haven't seen or even heard of Andy since they officially got together, and now we're expected to believe that Andy is serious enough about them to hold back on the physical sides of their relationship to focus on the emotional aspects. The two actors try their hardest (and give naturally great performances) but they can't make up for the script's dodgy attempts at fleshing out their relationship.
Luckily, Phil and Jay were on hand to save the episode. When Jay reveals that he lost another old Navy pal and won't make it to the Irish pub for his traditional silent toast to the fallen, Phil wordlessly pours Jay a drink and places a four leaf clover decoration alongside it. This comes after a scene in which Phil is bothered by the fact that he "can't fix things like a real man", to which Gloria tells him his gift is making other people comfortable around him. The scene is based on tropes of these characters that we all love and care about it, and it works fantastically well. As Jay calls Phil back, pours him a drink and invites him to share this personal moment with him, it's genuinely touching.
"The Storm" is far from Modern Family firing on all cylinders, but hopefully it represents an uptick that the show can keep moving as we head further into the season's second half.
Grade: B
This episode benefited from the fact that the whole family gathered at one house, giving a handful of fun character pairings that we haven't seen in a while. Claire and Manny's subplot was slight and inconsequential, but I really enjoyed it. It was simple, but it was effective. This is the kind of comedy that Modern Family always excels at, the kind of low- stakes-big-laughs humour, and this subplot nailed it. Mitch and Cam fared just as well with a story that didn't really lead anywhere, but packed a solid number of laughs in the small amount of screen time it was given. Cameron discussing his "butter churning arm" was perhaps the comedic highlight of the episode.
Where things don't work as well is with Haley and Andy. Haley is my favourite character on this show, and probably the most consistently written and well developed one too. So it's a real shame that the writers are ploughing through her first real adult relationship with such a carelessness as to what this means to her. We haven't seen or even heard of Andy since they officially got together, and now we're expected to believe that Andy is serious enough about them to hold back on the physical sides of their relationship to focus on the emotional aspects. The two actors try their hardest (and give naturally great performances) but they can't make up for the script's dodgy attempts at fleshing out their relationship.
Luckily, Phil and Jay were on hand to save the episode. When Jay reveals that he lost another old Navy pal and won't make it to the Irish pub for his traditional silent toast to the fallen, Phil wordlessly pours Jay a drink and places a four leaf clover decoration alongside it. This comes after a scene in which Phil is bothered by the fact that he "can't fix things like a real man", to which Gloria tells him his gift is making other people comfortable around him. The scene is based on tropes of these characters that we all love and care about it, and it works fantastically well. As Jay calls Phil back, pours him a drink and invites him to share this personal moment with him, it's genuinely touching.
"The Storm" is far from Modern Family firing on all cylinders, but hopefully it represents an uptick that the show can keep moving as we head further into the season's second half.
Grade: B