Perhaps this is a known sure-fire standby (think "Frasier" for a start), but episodes of American sitcoms taken out to some country house with lots of farcical door-openings and closings and various people concealing their real goals do tend to go well. This Modern Family episode from Beth McCarthy Miller goes OUTSTANDINGLY WELL, putting in doubt the (otherwise possibly justified) claims that MF has not always been reaching its former peaks of perfection.
Here the characters gallop inside and outside their comfort zones, pushing the boundaries, getting slier (and sillier) by the minute, teaming up in unexpected ways, and there is wordplay and physical comedy, and there are gags and satirical takes on various genres. Happily, it is hard to say who does the best job, though it has to be noted that, since both Luke and Alex are absent here, they contribute nothing to the success. Otherwise this is an ensemble on cracking form, and all the more so as each character shifts a little from what we expect of him/her.
You would need to watch this episode at least twice to get full benefit from the diversity of humour available, and I have every intention of doing that. And that will indeed be a rare pleasure.
Indeed, there can only be a few farcical, house-in-the-country episodes in any sitcom series (Frasier has maybe 4, as I recall), so the device has to be made to count. Here that is really, really the case and the result is screamingly funny, but also warm, and intellectually and artistically satisfying in a far broader sense...
Here the characters gallop inside and outside their comfort zones, pushing the boundaries, getting slier (and sillier) by the minute, teaming up in unexpected ways, and there is wordplay and physical comedy, and there are gags and satirical takes on various genres. Happily, it is hard to say who does the best job, though it has to be noted that, since both Luke and Alex are absent here, they contribute nothing to the success. Otherwise this is an ensemble on cracking form, and all the more so as each character shifts a little from what we expect of him/her.
You would need to watch this episode at least twice to get full benefit from the diversity of humour available, and I have every intention of doing that. And that will indeed be a rare pleasure.
Indeed, there can only be a few farcical, house-in-the-country episodes in any sitcom series (Frasier has maybe 4, as I recall), so the device has to be made to count. Here that is really, really the case and the result is screamingly funny, but also warm, and intellectually and artistically satisfying in a far broader sense...
