Modern Family: The Wow Factor (4x18)

Cute! This episode was cute. One really interesting thing I noticed was that Phil and Claire had no interaction, and neither did Mitch and Cam. I thought it was a cool way to explore other relationship dynamics within the show. I'll go plot-by-plot, because that seems to be the best way to talk about this show.

Cam and Claire: I admit I had completely forgotten about the house-flipping plot they had set up all those weeks ago, but I'm glad to see it explored again here. Cam and Claire's relationship is a fun one on this show. I liked the opening part of the episode, as they each explained their methods for manipulating one another. There were some great jokes. At first, I was really annoyed by Pam, because I found it rather insensitive that the lesbian girl just had to have a crush on Claire. But, actually, the episode saved it by the joke later on - apparently, Pam was perfectly aware that Claire was trying to manipulate her, but she didn't mind the view, all the same. That was funny! I thought it was disturbing that the goldfish all got catapulted to their death at the end, though.  Ahh! So many bodies!

Then we have the Phil, Alex, and Haley plot. This one was... well, there was nothign wrong with it, but it wasn't very memorable. Basically, Phil teaches Alex and Haley how to take care of a house. Sounds like a funny premise, but not very much was done with it. There were only a few good laughs. I liked it when Haley suggested they fill up the hot water tank from the tap in the sink. Alex made fun of her for that one! There were also some jokes between Phil and his dead via Skype, but I'll admit I was a bit distracted wondering what the point of that was in the first place. Why does Phil call his dad? It seemed like a rather weak tie-in to Jay's dilemma this week, which involved bonding with his kid. However, it felt out of place here.

Speaking of Jay - I loved this plot line. Jay running into Claire's friend was funny, taking baby Joe to see a movie was funny, seeing Gloria and Jay both try to get out of a Moby Dick reading was funny... and my favorite joke in the episode also came from this thread: Gloria, trying to get out of a lie, says that she should get a pass because she doesn't "understand English very goodly!" Later, after she very eloquently insults Jay and leaves, he says: "Well, you rattled that off pretty goodly." It was a great joke! Other favorites included Gloria's observation that by the time Joe grows up, Spanish will be "numero uno" rather than "numero dos" in terms of spoken languages in this country. Also, when Jay makes a bad joke that he's made before, Gloria responds: "I love you, but I can't laugh at that again!"

Mitch and Lily's plot: The little girl who plays Lily is not so good with the acting, but she is very cute. Also, the plot of Mitch being in competition with a little boy was rather weak. The only really good parts were the two brief scenes between Mitchell and Luke. Both had some great jokes, especially Luke's "you need to give it 105%." Mitch replies "No, it's 110%, buddy." Luke counters, dead serious: "That's impossible."

So, as you can see, I was pretty happy with the episode over-all. I thought it had its weaker moments, but nothing truly horrendous. I had a fun time watching it!

8/10