Sam's Review: Modern Family, Season 2 Episode 1, "The Old Wagon"

The breakout comedy last year not named "Glee" last season was undoubtedly, Modern Family and for good reason. While it may not have been the best new comedy (that honor goes to Community, and I think you'll agree) it certainly had a throwback quality that people latched to. It was in many ways a classic family sitcom that did manage to tie in more modern comedic sensibilities. OK

The second season kicked off last night with the same general formula that made it Emmy worthy and popular amongst the masses. The problems of each family under the 'Modern Family' umbrella has a problem and then at the end they all love each other. Simple, but the writers make it work, and tonight was no exception.

The Dunphy family is getting rid of their old station wagon. When Phil manages to get the hunk of junk sold, Claire remembers all the great times they had whether it be back seat vomiting or windows that don't close. In a purely Phil-ian act of charm, he decides to take the crew out for one last day with the old wagon. In a brilliantly staged bit of comedy, we get one of the episodes highlights as they manage to lose the car after Luke nearly vomits, for one last time, in the wagon.

Cam and Mitchell continue to be the most interesting/fun couple to watch on the show. They characteristically decide to build a princess castle for Lilly who probably won't be able to enjoy it for a couple of years. Cam and Jay plot to keep Mitchell from going near the thing during construction ever since he got the idea that he is handy. Mitchell shows them in the end though that he can build it, of course he traps himself inside the castle with no way to get out.

Finally, we have probably the least interesting, though still mildly amusing, subplot from the episode as Gloria discusses Colombian mothers and the difficult time they have letting their children go. The consummate ladies man, Manny comes home with a girl from class and of course Gloria gets insanely jealous of the girl.

Like most MF episodes, it is tied together with some general theme like learning to let go or something like that. Though that is often a little clumsy, there's no denying the cast's chemistry and there is still that sweet "They still love each other" moment that I tend to be a sucker for.

A-

Observations:

-Jay on past construction projects with Mitchell- "It was my Vietnam...and I was in Vietnam."

-Salt and chocolate milk...intriguing.

-Phil's mnemonic or m-nemonic devices are classic! hope those come back-I know they won't. If this was HIMYM or Arrested Development it would.

Sam's Review: Modern Family-"My Funky Valentine"

Holiday episodes of sitcoms tend to be groan-worthy, this is true even more so for Valentine’s Day episodes. This week’s Modern Family bucked the trend by doing what it does best-being harmlessly charming. Not so shockingly the episode went in the most obvious route possible, focusing on just about everyone’s Valentine’s day.
Phil and Claire decide to dabble in the role-play (with sexy results!), Cam and Mitchell are on oppsosite ends of the spectrum when it comes to how important the holiday is (guess who loves it more), Jay decides to take Gloria to see the comic stylings of the David Brenner who is funny to people Jay’s age. The most anticipated story was Manny’s pursuit of yet another girl. Valentine’s Day was made for this young Casanova so his outrage at being cockblocked by a mop head named Dirkus was especially heartbreaking.

The episode’s highlight had to be Phil and Claire’s meeting at a bar. Ty Burrell’s Phil gains comedic momentum as he slyly walks to the bar with a classy turtleneck and a not so classy nametag with one of the better fake name’s “Clive Dixby”. Phil manages a way to be both cool and fumbling at the same time as he accidentally makes it sound as if he does want to cheat on his wife-with his own wife. The ensuing argument Claire and Phil have over her lists of chores threw a nice wrench in the role-play. Claire eventually goes to the bathroom to and changes into absolutely nothing under a rain coat. If you’ve ever seen a sitcom, it’s obvious what happens next.

The rest of the family also have trouble with their special days as David Brenner starts ripping on how much older Jay is than Gloria causing him to feel bad. This is territory the show has covered before so it did not feel like a problem at all. In fact, it left one wishing for more chatter with “Clive Dixby”. Mitchell and Cam decided to help out poor Manny to prove to a girl he likes that she should be with him and the poem that Dirkus gave to her was in fact Manny’s. This leads to an entertaining presentation of Mitchell’s lawyer skills which helped prove Manny was the real writer. Of course the stupid girl went for the flop haired dud instead of Manny. As is life.

This week’s show was about as pleasant an episode of “Modern Family” could be. Then again that does not mean it was so laugh out loud funny. In fact, this show is really just consistently watchable rather than miss or big reward like 30 Rock tends to be these days. “My Funky Valentine” did not go anywhere new with Valentine’s Day episodes, but managed to tread in comfortable waters.

B

Notes:

-Dylan is a great boyfriend making Haley and print of a photo to look like a painting. This show could always use more Dylan

-Phil to Claire “Little Kitty has claws-I like that.”

-Gloria has no clue who Johnny Carson is…I don’t buy that at all.

-“The universe is cold and loveless”-Keep fighting the good fight, Manny.

-People not to run into while naked stuck on an escalator: Friend from work, school principal, son’s math teacher.

P.S. Good to be back on the blog-hope to write more often than once every five months now.