Modern Family: iSpy (5x14)

This episode was hilarious. It had lots of twisting and turning plot lines all centered around the themes of spying and privacy. It had a very satisfying, emotional ending, as well. While not flawless television, this was one of those episodes that captured the spirit of what Modern Family is truly capable of. Here we go!

Mitch has lunch with a friend, and his friend reveals a secret: he got calf implants. Mitch promises not to tell anyone, especially Cam, who's a notorious gossip. But, Cam figures out that Mitch is hiding something, so Mitch tells. Cam promises to keep it a secret, but he tells people anyway. Cam pretends to be insulted that Mitch won't trust him, but of course he wasn't trustworthy in the first place.

Gloria hears Jay call out "baby" in his sleep and she thinks he's having a sex dream about another woman. When Gloria acts mad at Jay, Jay thinks it's because Gloria snooped on his phone and saw that he lent money to a woman friend without telling her. When Gloria finds out that Jay thinks she's mad because of something on his phone, she demands to know what it was. In the end, at Haley's photography show (I'll get there in a second), Jay tells Gloria about the money. He also tells her that he had been dreaming of baby Joe about to fall off of a ledge, and that was who he was calling baby. However, later on we learn that the dream was about the dog, not about Joe.

Claire is trying to spy on all of her kids because she doesn't know what's going on in any of their lives. She finds out that Luke isn't where he says he is, so she tracks his phone. Haley says that the lot they're at is where kids used to go to smoke pot, so Claire and Phil drive out there, using Phil's drone camera from work to look over the wall. Turns out, Luke, Manny, and some other kids are making a zombie movie. At Haley's photography thing, Luke is upset that his parents were spying on him.

The photography thing is as follows: Haley's in this show where she gets to display her work from photography class. She tells her parents it's no big deal, but Claire has Alex do some digging. Alex finds out that only five people from the class got chosen, and Claire decides that they have to go. The whole family shows up, and they see what Haley's exhibit is: it's photographs of the whole family! Haley is upset to see her family at first, but then when she finds out one of her photographs has been purchased, she's just excited that they could all be there to share in the moment.

Alright. So what did I not like about this episode? Well, I thought the Cam and Mitch plot could have been a bit funnier. I just feel like we've seen it before. Cam is a gossip, Mitchell is annoyed. Been there, done that. Also, I would have liked to know more about Jay's money lending. They made a quick joke out of what could have been an entire episode's worth of plot. I suppose that's a nitpick, though.

The rest of the episode was great! Some of my favorite jokes: when Luke thinks that a big movie studio is spying on their idea for a "Zombie Parkour" movie. I love how Alex is trying to look through Haley's bag while she sleeps, but then Haley wakes up and is perfectly convinced by Alex's explanation that she was just watching her older sister sleep. In fact, she even gets upset when Alex tries to leave! I loved Claire's manic obsession to find out what's going on in her kid's lives, and Phil's reluctant participation.

There you have it! This was a good one!

8/10