Modern Family: Spring-a-Ding-Fling (5x16)

Diving straight in!

Phil is hosting a realtor's banquet, and he brings Haley along. During Phil's hilarious routine, he notices Haley texting, and it distracts him. He falls down and hurts himself, and is unable to finish his hosting duties. However, Phil wins the biggest award of the night, and when Haley gets up to accept it on his behalf, she starts telling some of the jokes he had prepared, to raucous laughter. Phil is happy that his daughter supports him after all.

This was really cute. Haley and Phil's relationship is not one that gets the most attention, so I was happy to see it showcased here. Phil's jokes are actually pretty funny. And Haley was so sweet, when she told everyone that Phil was the best dad.

Cam is hosting a dance at the school, and things seem to be going very well, but then a beloved Spanish teacher, Kaplan, comes back from sabbatical. This guy seems to be everybody's favorite teacher, and Cam feels like Kaplan is taking all the credit for his hard work at the dance. During the faculty dance, Kaplan ends up out-dancing Cam, until Cam has the idea to grab Claire and dance with her, thus showing his superior moves.

This was sort of funny... the idea of Cam being outshone by someone so similar to him was amusing. However, the dancing bit was a tad over the top.

Claire is at the dance in the first place because she's chaperoning her kids. However, unlike a normal mother who might try and keep her children away from relationships, Claire is trying to push her kids towards them. Alex is attending the dance with her friend Drew, but they say they're only attending ironically, to make fun of the people who take it seriously. Luke is going with Rhonda, who is a Tom Boy. Claire helps Rhonda dress up, but Luke is pissed that Claire is interfering. Alex, too, is unhappy with Claire's pointed comments to Drew that she and Phil will be home late, and that he could always come in when he drops Alex off and stay awhile. In the end, both of Claire's children are seen dancing happily with their date, and Claire is happy.

I don't know... I sort of wish Luke had decided he liked Rhonda without her having to change her appearance. Claire's meddling did get a few laughs though, especially when she was heavily hinting to Drew that he could totally have some quality alone time with Alex.

Mitch is starting at a new job. His boss, Wendy, seems nice at first but then Mitch starts to notice signs that she treats everyone really poorly. She even asks Mitch to groom her dog for her. Or... so Mitch thinks. In the end, it turns out she was asking Mitch to help train a new intern named Rex, and that all of the signs he's been seeing can be explained. Wendy is actually a very nice boss. Mitch apologizes for doubting Wendy.

This was really funny. Yeah, I saw the twist coming from a mile away, but it still got a lot of laughs. Particularly the moment when Mitch goes up to introduce himself to the dog. That got a real chuckle out of me.

Jay and Gloria are babysitting Lily. When Gloria's phone is found broken, Lily insists that Joe is to blame. Gloria and Jay try to get her to confess the truth, but she says that Joe can walk now, and that he did it. When Joe actually does walk, Lily is gleefully relieved, and decides to blame everything on Joe from now on.

Cute, I guess. The little girl who plays Lily isn't quite up to the task... but the idea was okay.

I promised myself I wouldn't go on and on, so I'll stop here. Not the best or the worst episode of the season... just somewhere comfortably in the middle.

7/10