Modern Family: Summer Lovin' (7x01)

What a cute start to the season! Let's go over some of the pros and cons.

Cons:

I think this show is too clever to get away with putting someone in a fat suit. In this episode, we saw two versions of a person who has let himself fall apart. One is Mitchell, who quite cleverly starts to resemble Van Gogh, and the other is Andy, who just suddenly gets fat. I don't think the joke quite landed.

There was one plot thread in this episode that was a bit weak - Jay and Gloria are trying to find a preschool for Joe. The really good, fancy one with the kids of a bunch of celebrities has a long waiting list. Instead, Joe ends up at a hippy school where the kids run around with chickens in a park. This plot thread was... well, it lacked the usual creativity of Modern Family's humor. I thought there were a few funny moments, mostly with the teacher of the first school, as she gave hints as to the celebrities whose kids attended. I also liked when Gloria said that the "Learnin' Barn" seemed like a good school, because in her village only the richest children got to go to school in the barn. But other than a few clever jokes, I found myself bored.

But other than those few weaknesses, I was very happy!

The main plot of the night centered around Haley and Andy. We see, through a series of months, how Haley almost interrupted Andy's proposal to Beth to tell him how she felt, but she was too late. Andy later finds out that Haley almost did this, and as a result he ends up having a lot of doubts about his wedding, and putting on weight. Haley confronts Andy about his feelings for her, but they end up angrily declaring that they both made a good decision by deciding not to get together.

What was so funny and awesome about this plot thread was the way Claire and Phil were constantly meddling. If it wasn't for Claire, Haley might have gotten to Andy in time to stop his proposal. If it wasn't for Phil and Claire, Andy never would have learned the truth. In the end, the two of them witness the fight, and Claire declares that she's going to have to keep meddling. Phil agrees. Despite the Andy-gets-fat thing, I thought this plot thread was really awesome. Now, at the very least, Haley and Andy's feelings for each other are out in the open. I can't wait to see what comes next.

My favorite plot thread of the night was actually Alex's. Alex and her boyfriend have decided to schedule their breakup before they go off to college. However, the breakup ends up being a lot more difficult than either one anticipated. Alex then realizes that they were breaking up because the odds are against them when it comes to a long-distance relationship. But the two of them are geniuses. They're good at most things - they can beat the odds! I like seeing Alex with a boyfriend. And he seems like he's actually worthy of her, which is nice. I can't wait to see what Alex going away to college brings to the show.

The other winning plot thread was about Mitchell. He is without a job, and is constantly stressed about money. So, Cam tells him to try relaxing. Unfortunately, this works a bit too well. Mitchell gets in to painting, despite the fact that he sucks at it, and he stops trying to find a new job. There were a lot of funny jokes here, especially with Mitchell's degenerating appearance. With the red hair, the scruff, and a bee sting on his ear that forced him to cover it up with a bandage, he was the spitting image of Van Gogh, which was hilarious. There was also the delightful moment when Mitchell has Alex paint to help her recover from her breakup - turns out, she's way better than he is, even without practice!

But the best moment of Mitchell's plot thread was also the only good moment Jay had in this episode - he talks to Mitchell about his life crisis, and tells him that he'll feel better once he finds a job and gets back to work. I loved the way Jay goes to talk to him - Gloria tells him to quit worrying about Joe's new school - Mitchell is the son he should be worried about. Jay sighs, and says that he'd thought he was done with that one. So funny!

Dylan was in this episode! I love Dylan. I love the fact that Phil loves Dylan. Lots of good material here, especially with Dylan's newest genius idea - V-neck shirts with words written around the collar, so that the "V" of the neck is the letter "V" in the word. So he wears a shirt that says L I ___ E, and that's supposed to be "live," and so on. As the episode progresses, we see several of these shirts, and even Claire ends up wearing one of them.

This was a strong opener, despite a few errant weaknesses. I can't wait to see what happens with Alex and her new collegiate adventures, and I especially can't wait to see how the Andy/Haley thing progresses.

8.5/10