Modern Family: Blindsided (8x03)

A solid episode of Modern Family. Nothing ambitious or tricky, just some good setups and a lot of funny lines. I quite enjoyed it!

Cons:

The only thing I didn't like was Phil's weird promoter friend. Haley is starting a new job as a club promoter, and Phil introduces her to this guy because he wants her to have a more "serious" job. The guy just didn't make me laugh. It wasn't anything egregious, but it stood out in an episode that otherwise didn't have any problems.

Pros:

So, Haley's quest for a new job has led her to club promotion. She leads a group of young women around and they take selfies and post stuff about clubs. Phil doesn't think it seems like a real job, but Haley proves him wrong. Phil has been trying to sell a house where the previous family was murdered, but he hasn't been having any success. Haley and her friends post about the house on social media, and suddenly tons of eligible buyers are showing up. I liked this plot because it commented on the strangeness of millennial culture. A lot of young people don't have any money, but there's a growing portion of people who are making their livings doing things that didn't even exist when their parents were their age. Haley points out a girl who makes money playing video games, and a guy who invented an app and is now super rich. These types of people exist. The social media/internet age has really revolutionized the job market. Specifically, I like seeing Haley find something that she's passionate about. Club promotion is actually a tough gig, and I think she proved that just because she gets to dress up and go to parties, doesn't mean that it's not real work. Phil trying to sell the murder house was also pretty hilarious.

Meanwhile, Luke needs some extra curricular activities to boost his abysmal transcript. He decides to run for student body president, since their old president resigned. However, Manny has already decided to run. This sparks a competition between Jay and Gloria on one side, and Claire on the other. Manny's parents encourage him to loosen up to relate to his peers, while Claire writes Luke's speech for him and forces him to wear a suit. In the end, both boys decide to use their speeches to publicly shame their parents for trying to control them. After a very low voter turnout, Luke wins. Apparently everybody hated both candidates.

This plot didn't have as much meat as Haley's brief subplot, but it had the bulk of the funniest moments in the episode, and sometimes that's all you can ask for. Like, this exchange:

Jay: "Luke's running for president? I mean, I love him, but - "

Gloria: "Jay is right, Luke is a dummy."

Jay: "I never said that."

And Claire's comment about Jay's prowess when running a campaign: "He got Mitchell elected president before it was cool to be gay."

After Claire goes toe to toe with Jay and Gloria concerning Luke running, Jay gets ready to storm off, when Luke says, genially, "bye, grandpa." Jay responds, just as casually, "bye, kiddo!" I like that the competition was between the adults. Manny and Luke became nothing more than pawns.

Manny upon hearing his mother's doubts: "You don't think I can relate to my peers? Well, this is a fine kettle of fish."

Finally, we've got Mitchell and Cam's plot. Cam takes in the star football player when his dad is reassigned to Florida for his job in the military. He doesn't discuss this with Mitchell first, so Mitchell decides to get back at him by taking in a giant dog without talking to Cam. They both realize their mistake and agree to get rid of dog and teenager alike. However, Mitchell is showered with praise at the football game for taking in Dwight, and at the last second he stops Cam from telling Dwight he needs to move out. Mitchell is awarded the "person with a porpoise" award (because they're the Dolphins, get it?), and everybody is happy.

Another plot thread with a whole host of hilarious one-liners. Dwight is, like most growing teenagers, a bottomless pit, and he finds all of the food in Cam and Mitchell's house and devours it. At one point, Lily walks in during an argument between Cam and Mitchell and announces: "not that anybody cares, but for lunch I had a lozenge."

The other funniest moment was when Cam was about to break the tough news to Dwight that he had to move out, and Dwight said, "It's okay, I know you and Mitchell aren't just roommates."

Alex got a tiny bit to do at the beginning of the episode. Turns out, she's not allowed to talk for two days under doctor's orders, because she's sick. She continually writes out witty remarks only to be beaten to the punch by Haley, or to have the conversation change topics before she's done writing. A solid joke, actually. I wish we could have had a bit more of it!

So... yeah. A successful episode on almost all fronts. I could have done without Phil's promoter friend, but he barely made an appearance, so that's okay. All in all, I'd like more episodes of this nature this season. Sometimes it's okay to go back to basics and churn out a solid half-hour of comedy.

9/10