Modern Family: Connection Lost (6x16)

I liked it. I know this episode has had a polarizing reaction, as some people were angry at what they perceived as gimmick-y and full of product placement. But actually, I thought this was very clever, funny, and oddly insightful about the way technology works in our world today. Let's look at the plot.

Claire is in the airport, waiting to board a plane back home after a business trip. The whole episode is just Claire's laptop screen, as she Facetimes and chats with her family members, looks things up on the internet, manages her to-do list, etc.

Apparently, Claire and Haley got into some stupid fight, and Claire is worried when Haley won't answer any of her messages. Claire has to deal with Phil, who won't stop playing video games, Alex, who just wants her mother to read her college essay, Luke, who gets a Mohawk at Jay and Gloria's house without asking, Cam, who keeps asking for special popcorn from Chicago, and Mitchell, whose birthday she almost forgot. Throughout all of this chaos, she can't find Haley.

Claire uses a fake Facebook profile to check Haley's page and sees that Haley "got married." She also tracks Haley's cell phone and discovers that she's in Vegas! The whole family freaks out, thinking that Haley has gotten married. To whom? Andy! Apparently they were together last anybody heard from Haley. Then, a package comes in the mail for Haley - it's a book on pregnancy! Oh no!

In the end, it turns out that Haley was asleep in her room the whole time this nonsense was going on, and she has a reasonable explanation for everything. Claire gets on the plane to come home.

I don't know if I have any complaints... I guess I could complain that Cam's whole obsession with the special popcorn was sort of getting in the way of more interesting things. It would have been nice if he could have been tied into the story a little better. But that's a nitpick.

I want to address one of the complaints that other people have been having about this episode - it's product placement. So... yeah. Of course Apple got a lot of advertising juice out of this episode, but you know what? Product placement in and of itself is not evil. If it's there just to be looked at, then it's annoying. But if it's creatively used and makes for a great comedic episode, then I think it's okay. This was a creative, innovative method of storytelling. It shook things up. And in terms of product placement, it could have been way way worse. We didn't see the Apple logo flying around all over the place, and the camera didn't pause awkwardly over any product names to be sure that they got implanted in the mind of the viewer. We saw an Apple product being used like a person really would use it. I liked it.

Oddly enough, I think there was some good commentary in this episode about technology - the good and the bad. Think about it - if Claire hadn't had the capability of tracking her daughter's cellphone and stalking her Facebook, then inevitably Haley would have been found in her bedroom upstairs right away. It's because of all these fancy gadgets that things spun so wildly out of control. There's also the fact that information is so easily found through the internet, that nobody's privacy can really be assured. It's creepy, but also useful and interesting.

There are too many individual moments of hilarity in this episode to catalog them all, but I'll go through a few of my favorites.

- Phil not knowing where any of his kids were, even though Haley and Alex were actually home the whole time.

- Jay's inability to use technology properly.

- Dylan and his new career as the guy who holds an advertising sign on a street corner. When asked if he's with Haley, he answers: "in what way?" And upon hearing that Haley might be married, he says "that's so upsetting!" Oh Dylan. You're always a joy to watch.

- I love that Phil was all hurt that Dylan didn't call him to tell him that he was marrying Haley. It's funny that Haley's old love interest (Dylan) and new love interest (Andy) are both such big fans of Phil. Phil had a pretty funny tirade against Andy, alternating between anger that Andy would knock Haley up, and acknowledgment that Andy would make a good father for his little grandchild.

- Mitchell had a love/hate relationship with the hat Cam got him for his birthday. I liked watching him watch himself in the Facetime camera as he tried to decide what he thought of it.

- Claire's proficiency with the computer was really fun to see. She's an expert, whizzing around from tab to tab and moving with sure-fingered expertise. It makes sense that somebody as organized as Claire would use her computer to rule her life.

- Alex's essay. In the draft that Claire is supposed to read, there's a line that says "I know you're not reading this, Mom." Claire, who did indeed get distracted within the first few sentences, replies back to Alex that she loves the new changes.

- Luke's new haircut! Gloria tries to salvage the Mohawk by flattening it, which just makes it look creepy.

Ultimately, my favorite thing about this episode was that it brought the whole family together. I'm always saying that the episodes where the whole group is involved are the best, and this was no exception. It got the job done in a really creative way, too, so that's nice!

I think I'll stop there. I guess I can understand the polarizing effect of this episode, but I personally think it was pretty great.

9/10