Modern Family: Tough Love (9x09)

This episode felt a little lackluster to me, but I'm not convinced that's entirely a bad thing...

Cons:

What I mean by 'lackluster' is that several of these plot threads felt like they lacked climaxes. Lily accidentally gets left home alone with an infant, and nothing bad happens. Phil gets lost in the woods, but we next see him in a hotel preparing to take a bubble bath. Manny is dating an older woman, but then she leaves before they can have a conversation. Claire drives a large delivery truck, no shenanigans ensue. In some ways this is okay, because it avoids the pitfall of going down the expected slapstick path with each of these plot threads. But still, I found myself wanting something to happen.

The least successful plot thread, ironically, is the one where something does sort of happen. Mitchell notices that Cam is too gullible, and this all plays out when one of Cam's disobedient students convinces him that he's actually an undercover cop trying to bust drug dealing in the school. Mitchell thinks this is an obvious ploy to get out of trouble, and Cam realizes he must be right, showing up to bust the drug deal. Turns out, however, that the kid really is a cop, and Cam ruins the drugs bust. So... okay? This didn't really go anywhere, and I wanted something truly unexpected out of the situation. You know that the plot twist is going to be that he really is a cop, the minute Mitchell convinces Cam that he isn't.

Pros:

There were elements that I quite enjoyed about the other plot threads, even if I felt like they were missing a little something. It's actually refreshing that no disasters occurred when Lily was watching the baby, and I like how Mitchell bribed Lily with a promise of a vacation to cover up the mistake. It was also nice that this plot thread did not feature too much of Pam, who annoys me to no end.

I liked Phil and Claire's plot threads, too, not because of the creativity and showiness, but because of the gentle bond between these two characters that we've seen more and more over the years. Claire runs to Phil's side when she senses he needs her, and it's really nice to see. I also like the idea of Phil being asked to leave his job. It adds a unique new challenge to the character that I hope to see develop more fully.

I wanted to be grossed out by Manny dating his thirty-year-old teacher, but they kept it all PG and it mostly swept by without bothering me. This was another plot thread where a gentle conclusion worked alright, even if I still felt like the story was missing some excitement. Still, I liked Jay and Manny's conversation about how Manny's not quite ready to take the next step. It was frank, simple, and didn't need to be funny in order to be entertaining.

One of the things that Modern Family does well when it's at the top of its game is throw in little hints and throw-away comments about characters in a way that makes these people feel like a real family. This week, we had a brief moment where Claire was on the phone with Alex about her missing night-guard. We only heard Claire's half of the conversation, but I liked this little detail to show that Alex still talks to her family even when she's not around for an episode or two.

That's all I've got. A gentle, unremarkable episode in a lot of ways... but not bad.

8/10