Modern Family: Closet? You'll Love It! (6x17)

There were actually four plot threads in this episode, instead of the usual three. Let's go through them one at a time.

Jay's company is making a new ad to put on TV, and Jay wants to reprise his role from decades before, when the company put out a successful commercial. The only problem is, his tag line "Closets? You'll love it!" doesn't make much sense, and his demeanor comes across as too grumpy. Claire has to be the one to break the news to Jay that he's not going to work as the spokesperson. Jay is upset at first to learn that everybody considers him grumpy, but later he realizes that it's not the worst thing in the world, and he ends up helping Phil, Gloria and the others with their dilemma (I'll get there in a sec) and striking a good balance.

A drone camera thing keeps hovering over Gloria when she's sunbathing out by the pool. Luke, Manny and Phil all come together to help her get rid of this invasion to her privacy. They battle the drone camera, but at every turn they are thwarted. Finally, Jay helps Phil, Luke and Manny to triangulate and throw rocks at the camera. They think they've defeated it, but we then see that Gloria has taken it out with a BB gun.

Andy and Haley go to a carnival. Haley brings a date, and Andy was supposed to meet up with his girlfriend, but she bales. When Andy ends up in the hospital with appendicitis, Haley goes to the hospital to stay with him. She tells him that his relationship with his girlfriend isn't real, because if it was, she would have dropped everything and come to the hospital. However, Andy's girlfriend does end up showing up, and Haley leaves.
 

Lily has a talent show at her school, but Cam is worried about being embarrassed, since Lily appears to be totally tone deaf. At the talent show, Cam and Mitchell waver between letting her sing and getting her out of there. Cam and Mitchell's nemeses from their pasts are there with their daughter, and they know they need to save face. However, when this other little girl gets sick and goes home, they decide it's okay to take Lily out of the show. Lily is grateful. Turns out, she was nervous, even if she didn't show it.

I think one of these plot threads was a bit weak... the one with Gloria, Phil, Luke, and Manny. Basically, the reason I didn't like it is because I didn't understand it. What the heck was going on? Who had control over that creepy camera? If we had known who was watching Gloria in a bathing suit, then it would have been easier to feel something about all of this. As it is, I feel like this plot thread tried to side-step the utter creepiness of all of this for some cheap laughs. Maybe I just missed something? Who was controlling the drone?

There also could have been a stronger payoff in the Jay and Claire plot. We never do get to see what they do for their commercial, which is a bummer. There seemed to be a lot of buildup and potential with this whole Closets commercial thing, but I felt a little let down by the end of the episode.

Still, though, this episode got a few chuckles out of me, so that's a good sign!

First of all, there was a great culminating moment. It brought the whole gang together around the pool as they attempted to defeat the weird drone thing. Even if I wasn't fond of some of the steps along the way, it was awesome to see Jay smiling and playing with his grandchildren, reminding us that he's a lot more than a "Grumpa." Also, leave it to Gloria to take care of her own drone-stalker. She's such a bad-ass!

I adore the slow-build romance between Haley and Andy. I've said before that this show should do more continued plot threads, because when they do, they do them really well. The buildup between Haley and Andy is adorable, and when things finally happen between them (hopefully) it's going to be so wonderful to watch. My favorite moment was Haley's speech to Andy, when she thought Andy was asleep. She tells him that he has a chance with her. Rather than making this sound condescending, it actually comes across as very sweet and genuine.

My other favorite plot thread of the night was Cam, Mitchell, and Lily's. I liked it because I wasn't entirely sure where it was going - was Lily going to sing horribly, and that would be the punchline? Was she going to be surprisingly talented? Was the other little girl going to suck? Was everybody going to sing and be happy and the weird competition gets left behind? No. Lily and her dads all ran off, scared of embarrassment. Not exactly a positive message, but definitely a funny one.

I think that's where I'll leave things. This episode was pretty solid, but a few things did leave me wanting more.

7.5/10