Modern Family: Won't You Be Our Neighbor (6x05)

Three separate plot threads here. Let's talk about them one at a time.

First of all, we've got the thread that provides the title. Phil is getting ready to help sell the house right next to the Dunphy's, giving the family the rare opportunity to choose their own neighbors. They find a couple that they really like, and they're confident in their decision. However, another family of rowdy, unclean people shows up and makes a higher offer. Phil and Claire try to convince the original couple to up their offer, but in the process, they come on too strong and scare the couple away. The crazy family move in, and they proposition Phil and Claire for an orgy.

I'm not sure I liked this one all that much. The setup was rather cliche, what with Phil and Claire behaving like idiots to impress someone, and then having it backfire. The three kids barely had anything to do at all. That being said, there were a few individual moments of comedy that really hit their mark, such as Alex's adorable flustered attitude when the new neighbor kid flirted with her, or Phil's trip to the old neighbor's new bachelor pad, where the neighbors liked to take a nail gun to the adjoining wall. The best was when the new neighbor husband said he was basically a doctor, and the wife jumped in and said "don't be so modest!" Apparently he owns medical marijuana distribution centers. I'll have to see if they bring back in the new neighbor family, because I could definitely see some potential for further humor.

Next, we've got Jay, Manny, and Gloria. Manny brings home a new girlfriend. When Jay finds out that she is his competitor's granddaughter, he freaks out. He demands that Manny stop seeing her, because she could be spying on his ideas for her grandfather. Turns out, Jay and Earl have a very terrible past. They were business partners, and Earl betrayed Jay and became his competitor in the closet industry. Gloria forces Jay and Earl to sit down and talk it out. When Earl finds out that his granddaughter has a boyfriend, he demands that they stop seeing each other. Jay says he'll put a stop to it, only if Earl apologizes. Earl comes over to the house to do so, but when he sees Manny, dressed up in a toga, he realizes that he doesn't have to worry about his granddaughter.

Again, the setup here didn't offer for a lot of creative possibilities. I was annoyed that Manny already had another girlfriend, after his sad breakup in the last episode. Hopefully soon we can see Manny stay with one girl for a longer amount of time, and develop an actual character out of his girlfriend. The end to this plot thread actually pissed me off a little bit. Earl decides that Manny is not a threat once he's seen him acting like a dork. That's so demeaning and rude! What did Earl think was going to happen? What's with the macho-protective act, anyway? That, coupled with a few gay jokes about Mitchell, made me pretty angry.

But, much like with the Dunphy plot, there were a few individual jokes that worked really well. I liked how Manny's girlfriend was genuinely interested in Jay's sock dispenser idea. I also liked Gloria's demand that Jay and Earl either solve the problem, or kill each other. The dedication that Jay and Earl both have for the closet industry is pretty funny - the mundane nature of closets themselves is a nice contrast to the unbridled passion of these two men.

Then, we've got Cam, Mitch, and Lily. Lily is stressed out at school, because her teacher, Mrs. Plank, is very harsh. When Cam and Mitch learn about an opening in the other 2nd grade classroom, they go to Mrs. Plank and ask if Lily can be switched into it. When Lily hears she'll be moving classrooms, she's not happy, because the other class might be more fun, but they don't learn anything. Mitch and Cam go back to Mrs. Plank and ask if Lily can come back and be in her class again. Mrs. Plank agrees, but not before embarrassing the two men with their lack of grammatical expertise.

This, in my opinion, is the only of the three plots that works particularly well. I continue to love the idea that Mitch and Cam, while they do their best, keep missing the truth of what their daughter really wants. I'm probably giving the show too much credit here, but I think, in Mitch's case specifically, this could be a lesson to him of how difficult it is as a parent to have a child who doesn't think in the same way as you. They assumed that she would want to be in the "fun" classroom, but it turns out she'd rather work hard, even if it comes with some stress. When parents don't ask their kids what they want, things can get awkward. Perhaps this was a rather simplistic way to approach the issue, given that one teacher was all mean but was a good educator, and the other was nice, but a terrible educator. Even so, I enjoyed it! Mrs. Plank was a funny character.

There you have it! I still think that Modern Family is riding the coattails of its early successes sometimes. However, there are still gems to be found amid the mediocrity!

6/10