After three excellent episodes in a row, Modern Family's hot streak comes crashing to a halt with "Thunk in the Trunk". This episode alone represents all the faults of the show's seventh season; it features a handful of stories we've seen before, it's not particularly exciting nor funny and it just isn't building on the endless possibilities the show was given come the end of its sixth season.
Modern Family tends to be weaker when the episodes split the three families into separate stories, which this one unfortunately does. Let's start with Mitchell and Cameron. "Thunk in the Trunk" repeats countless Modern Family stories by simply giving Mitch and Cam something to argue over, then making them lie to each other, then forcing them back together for the conclusion. This time they're bound to some creepy upstairs renters (because apparently that's still a thing), and none of it works. Watching Mitch and Cam fight over petty subject matter is about as entertaining as watching paint dry, we've seen it so many times before that it's just no longer enjoyable.
Phil and Claire fare equally as poorly, with a plot that sees Claire turn into a character so detestable and unlikeable that I have to question how this story ever made it to air. As Claire taunts Phil and turns him into an "invisible housewife" it's impossible not to loath the storyline; there's not an ounce of humour to be found and it turns a pair of lovable characters into something quite off-putting. To make matters worse, there's a chance of an emotional redemption at the end of the episode when Claire reveals that she's too overwhelmed to sit in Jay's old Boss' Chair when she used to play hide and seek under it, yet the show botches the moment by lacing it with sketchy humour and doesn't even earn the right to make the viewer feel something after such lazy, unimaginative storytelling.
Jay, Gloria and Manny fare slightly better, at least in terms of humour. The story still follows the same "Jay doesn't like something Gloria's doing - Jay tries to do something about it - Jay has to lie - Gloria finds out - They make up" structure that we see so many times, but Modern Family always handles sight gags and visual humour well and this subplot is packed with it. Gloria's cardboard cutout re-emerging from the lake and her head getting jammed in the shredder made for the episode's funniest moments, but the story is too formulaic and repetitive for it to ever become more than simply passable.
And, unfortunately, that's more than can be said about this episode as a whole. After three stellar episodes in a row, Modern Family has returned to the middling kind of show that this season was shaping up to be before its Christmas break. What a shame it is, that one of TV's greatest shows has taken such a downward turn.
Grade: C
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