Modern Family: My Hero (4x22)

Great episode. Great. The end.

Or maybe I should write a bit about why it was great. But not for very long, because my life is very busy at the moment. This show brought together all of our different family groups, which I always love seeing. It had a few funny premises and found a way to weave them all together in one location, thus giving an extremely busy episode that didn't feel too crowded.

So, on the level of plot, Mitch and Cam run into Mitch's ex (his only serious boyfriend before Cam), named Teddy. He invites them to a roller-rink fundraiser. Cam is completely okay and not at all jealous, until he sees that Mitch's whole family is also invited, and that they all still hang out with Teddy on a pretty regular basis. Cam is jealous - not of Mitch's relationship with Teddy, but of the family's relationship.

Meanwhile, Manny and Luke are supposed to write essays about their hero, selecting among members of their family. Manny is having a hard time finding anyone worthy of writing of, while Luke is worried that his dad will be upset that he wrote about Claire.

Claire, for her part, is offered a job working with Jay, but she's hesitant to work with her father again after how bad it was back when she was a kid. Haley gives Alex a lesson in flirting, and Phil teaches Gloria to skate.

What I loved about this episode was that it was chalk full of hilarious jokes, but it also had a lot of heart. Cam is often made to look ridiculous in this show, but this episode took that idea and showed how it can hurt sometimes. Cam suddenly questioned the love of his in-laws, and it was hard to see. "I worked my fingers to the bone to get these jumpy protestants to like me, and now I find out they're holding a torch for the man who came before me? It's not nuts, it's actually quite painful." This line is funny (jumpy protestants?!) but also sad, and it's a good example of how this show really shines when there's deep emotional weight alongside the humor.

The payoff came from a lovely conversation with Jay, in which he sits down next to Cam, talks about how he really likes Teddy, but how Mitch wasn't happy back then like he is now. This made Cam almost start crying, and it was so touching to see Jay talk about how he just wants his son to be happy.

Claire eventually agrees to work with her dad, which I'm excited to see. It will be interesting to see what conflicts arise because of this. I'm glad they haven't ignored this plot thread. Claire wants to work, and she should be able to. I'm sure lots of drama and humor will come out of Claire and Jay working together.

Luke and Manny had some of the funniest moments in the episode. Manny is complaining about how hard it is to come up with an essay on heroes, and Luke, who has his own problems, says "I can't always be the loveable sidekick on the Manny Show. Did you even notice I'm binge eating?" This cracked me up! Then, in the end, Manny has a voice-over about how everyone in his family is a hero of sorts - that heroism is about the community of family rather than just an individual. He gets a poor grade on the paper because he didn't follow the assignment, and then has this line: "I'll tell you who's not my hero. Mrs. Rita McNabb!" This had be laughing out loud.

Some other funny yet still sweet moments came in Alex and Haley's plot thread. Haley coached her little sister in the art of flirting, but the whole thing ended up being beneficial for them both - Alex tells Haley that "sometimes you're actually really smart. Like, smart smart. I hope you know that." Later, Haley is seen looking through brochures for local colleges that she had previously thrown away. I like to see this growth in Haley's perception of her self-worth, and Alex's acknowledgement that there are other ways of being smart other than just being intellectual. 

I don't have a lot more to say about this one. I have virtually no complaints about the whole thing. Phil and Gloria's plot was the weakest, but even they got a few chuckles - Gloria is really bad at rollerskating, and Phil is so funny with his awkward crush on her. I loved how perfect Teddy was, and how no matter what happened, Cam just couldn't get one up on the dude. What made it perfect was how entirely unaware Teddy was - he's just a genuinely nice guy who doesn't how how much he's hurting Cam.

In all, it was a satisfying episode that had me laughing and cooing through most of it.

9/10