Modern Family: Fight or Flight (6x15)

Eh. Nothing wrong with this episode, but there were only a few really funny moments mixed in with a lot of mediocre material.

Phil and Claire are on a plane on the way back from a camping trip. Claire gets an upgrade to first class, abandoning Phil in coach. Claire feels that she deserves this, because she suffered through the unbearable trip with Phil and his crazy friends. Claire meets a woman in first class who seems to be perfect, offering her a neck pillow and chocolates, but then it is revealed that the girl is a racist who insists on eating stinky cheese on the plane. Back in coach, Phil is having a wonderful time, sitting between a magician and a masseuse, who gives him a back rub as the magician does tricks for him. Eventually, Phil realizes that Claire deserves some peace and relaxation after putting up with him for the trip, so he switches with her.

This plot wasn't the best. I feel like I've seen every sitcom out there do this type of episode, where shenanigans ensue on a plane. The reveal that Claire's companion was racist didn't come across as very funny, either. I did enjoy Phil's enthusiasm for the magician's tricks, though. Also, Claire talks about how Phil and his gymnastics friends kept updating their "tumbler tumblr," so that made me laugh for obvious reasons. All in all, not a bad plot thread, but not a great one either.

Manny is getting picked on in his culinary class. Gloria asks Jay to help teach him to be tough, but she insists that Jay pretend it's his idea instead of hers. After Manny takes some lessons in punching, he confronts his bully. Too bad the bully was trying to apologize with a homemade dessert... Jay and Manny realize that the real bully in their lives is Gloria, who always makes them do what she wants. They try to stand up to her, but she squashes them down.

This plot thread didn't really garner anything new or exciting. Manny has already confronted his physical weakness before, and we've already played with the theme of Gloria being the bully and Jay being the pushover. I did like it when Gloria said "do you have to be so white all the time?" to Jay, and I did rather enjoy Manny and Jay's attempts to stand up for themselves, as they declared they'd get their own pizza and eat it in the car. Again, another rather soft plot thread. Nothing terrible, but nothing great.

Cam and Mitch throw a baby shower for Sal. When Sal appears to take off, leaving baby Sammy behind, Cam and Mitch fight with Pepper and his partner over which couple should get to raise the baby. Sal comes back in while they're arguing and says that she has no plans to abandon her child - she was simply going to tell the father about Sammy. She laments that her baby won't have a father, since he wants nothing to do with him. She's not sure she can do this on her own. The guys all assure her that they'll collectively be baby Sammy's father.

This was the best plot thread of the night, for sure. Pepper Saltzman is always hilarious. The argument about who would get the baby was made even funnier but the utter incompetence of Pepper and his partner (I can't remember his name, sorry). The best moment was definitely when Cam talked about how maybe it was part of God's plan to give them Sammy. Mitchell questioned the convoluted weirdness of such a plan, but Cam pointed out lots of weird biblical examples and said "God only does weird baby stuff." That's so funny, and so true! Also, while it didn't make for as many laughs, I do like the idea of Sal finally growing up now that she has a child to take care of. That's a nice little resolution for her character.

Finally, there's a very brief subplot with Haley, Alex, and Luke. Luke wants to break up with a girl to start dating another one, and Haley and Alex write the breakup text for him. They get invested in the breakup with the girl, getting angry when she seems mad at him. Luke is angry because the girl he dumped tells the other girl about the texts, and he loses both girls. Haley and Alex realize they might need to get dates of their own.

This subplot was totally pointless. You could have inserted it into any episode without altering a thing. It felt like a way to squeeze out a few more minutes of screen time, rather than an actual attempt to be funny. I don't think I so much as cracked a smile the whole time. Luke's character is so random... is he a lady's man? An annoying punk? Nobody knows. He needs consistency!

There you have it. Not really a winner of a week, but I can't say there was nothing good about it, either.

6/10