Modern Family: Three Dinners (5x13)

As the title suggests, this plot centers around three separate dinners. As such, there isn't a unifying event for the family to attend, but there is a unifying theme, and I think it made the episode work really well. As is often the case with this show, the simplest of plots make way for the best jokes.

Jay and Gloria have Jay's friend Shorty and his wife over for dinner, when suddenly Shorty and Darlene announce their intentions to move to Costa Rica. Jay is rude about this, and says that Shorty will never go through with the plan, and that it's a stupid idea. Shorty leaves, angry. After talking with Gloria and Manny, Jay realizes that he's just afraid of losing Shorty, who has been his best friend for so many years. Shorty comes over to the house, and the two of them tearfully make up. Manny and Gloria watch, a bit perturbed at how girly the two men are behaving.

This was a nice little plot thread. I liked seeing Jay come out of his shell and be a bit more emotional than he would normally be. Also, Jay's abrasive behavior often goes unpunished, and here we saw real consequences for his rudeness. The one joke that didn't work for me came at the end: it's really not okay to equate emotional displays as "girly" ones, as if that somehow makes them weak or distasteful.

Phil and Claire take Haley out to dinner, trying to act like her friends and buy her drinks. Haley isn't fooled, though. As her parents get more and more drunk, she remains completely sober. Eventually, Phil and Claire try to ease into a conversation with their daughter about her future, because they think she's drifting. Haley is furious that they think so little of her, and she shows them a fashion blog she has been working on, and says she plans on taking business classes. She then turns the table on her parents, and asks them what they plan on doing with the rest of their lives once all of their kids move out. Phil and Claire realize that they haven't thought about it, and Haley ends up having to drive her drunk parents home.

This plot had a lot of funny moments. Phil and Claire were great drunk, and I loved the way that Haley turned things around on them and made her parents think about their futures. As someone in Haley's position of worrying about the future, I appreciated a lot of this. But also as someone in Haley's position, I felt like maybe the reveal that Haley has a goal in life could have been handled a bit better. Thus far, we've been given no indication that she had any plans. All of a sudden, she has ideas and goals and she's working towards them. That's great, but I think I would have liked to see a bit more of how all of this developed. However, that's a nitpick. This was still a really funny plot thread. The highlight - when the waiter offers to go get high with them all after his shift.

Finally, we have Cam and Mitch's dinner. They have been tense because of all the wedding planning, so they decide they need a romantic night out. They leave Lily with a sitter, and they agree not to talk about the wedding or about Lily at their dinner. However, they realize that they have nothing else to talk about. They try making awkward chit chat about political stuff, but it doesn't really work. Then, a couple sits down at the table right next to theirs. The girl (Katie) and Cam have a lot in common, and the boy (Brandon) is just like Mitchell. The two couples hit it off immediately, but when Katie goes to the bathroom, Brandon asks the guys to back off, because he plans on proposing to Katie. Things go wrong, though, when Cam offers to film the proposal with his phone, and Katie says "no." Cam and Mitch then get pulled into the situation even more, as Katie and Brandon go back and forth as to whether or not they want to be together.

This was the funniest plot of the night. The setup was your average sitcom fare - the couples are obviously mirrors of each other, and essentially each couple learns something about themselves from the other. What made it funny was the quick dialogue, great acting, and the way that the mirrored relationships weren't perfect, but still matched up pretty nicely. I liked the joke about Cam accidentally recording their breakup and then playing it back, while poor Brandon just falls apart.

So, there you have it! I kept it short. I think this episode did have its problems, but overall it was an entertaining half hour of television.

7.5/10