Modern Family: Frank's Wedding (8x19)

A fairly successful episode, although it felt a little rushed in parts, and a bit too on the nose in others. Let's take a look.

Cons:

I must start by saying that I hated the episode tag on this one. Usually a lackluster tag wouldn't be something to comment on, but... come on. Joe has to say "Great, now I have a swamp monster," and the kid's line delivery is cringe-worthy. Not his fault, obviously. And it's one of those silly things where Jay ends up with a tarp covering him, and green paint, and leaves sticking to it, just so Joe can come in and think he's a monster. Way more slap-stick and contrived than I can take.

As I said in the first sentence, there was a bit of a pacing issue. All three stories are about family and making sacrifices for loved ones. In each, there's a moment where a character has to realize his or her mistake and come forward to support their loved ones. Since we're cramming three of these revelations into approximately twenty-three minutes of television, it's a bit rushed. This is especially true in the Dunphy plot, where Phil decides to be "normal" and his family realizes they've made a mistake all in the span of about thirty seconds. A better episode would have put the Dunphy plot thread in the center and had the other characters fall to the background. That way, we'd have more time to focus on what is in fact a perfectly decent plot thread.

Pros:

So, Jay is learning that one of the perks of being old is that he gets to say no to things. This backfires when he sees Joe, Gloria, and Manny painting Joe's room together (monster-repelling paint, of course) and he's not invited to join in on the fun. This was a simplistic little story that I quite enjoyed. I could have done without Jay running around trying to clean out the garage through trickery, but even that became part of the fabric of the episode. Jay is so focused on being grumpy about Joe's old crib being in his way that he forgets to spend time with his family. Also, even though I hated Joe's line at the end about the swamp monster, I actually chuckled when he says "oh no, I do not need a ghost," in this put-upon tone of voice, like he's just got too much else on his plate.

Meanwhile, Cam's sister Pam is in town. For years, Cam has been using Mitchell as a buffer by blaming all of his own negative feelings about his sister on Mitchell. Mitchell staunchly refuses to say a single bad word about Pam, forcing Cam to reveal how he really feels. All of this negativity is put aside when Pam reveals that she's nine months pregnant. She gives birth on Cam and Mitchell's living room floor, and Mitchell suggests that she and the baby could stay in the apartment upstairs for a while. Cam takes credit for the idea.

This plot thread had a lot of jokes that I loved. Pam isn't exactly a favorite character of mine, but there was a lot of great physical comedy and some great quips, like when we learn that the father of Pam's baby, Bo, is in prison for punching a police horse in the face. When Pam goes into labor, she says she can't make it to the hospital, and says "Call 811!" Cam, in a tone of pure panic, turns and says "No, Mitchell! That's for livestock! Call 911!" as if seriously worried that Mitchell would call the wrong number. That just cracked me up.

Finally, we've got Frank's wedding. Phil and his family show up dressed in 1920's gangster garb, only to learn that costumes were optional. Phil knew this, and the family is all embarrassed and angry with him. Phil puts a stop to his dad's plan to have a surprise paintball confrontation at the alter, and he backs down from all his crazy antics. Claire and the kids realize they've made a mistake, and they work with a bride to pull off a surprise paintball climax to the wedding after all. Phil and Frank are both delighted.

As I mentioned, the pacing was a little rushed. But this was still a surprisingly sweet little plot arc. I loved the costumes, and I loved the moment when Claire pulled out the paintball gun. You just knew stuff was about to go down. Claire is often a bit embarrassed and put off by Phil's shenanigans, so it was nice to have an episode like this that reminded her how wonderful her husband is. The fact that he's goofy and high-spirited is a really good thing, at the end of the day. Who wants to be married to somebody who's super serious all the time?

That's where I'll stop. I enjoyed this episode. I didn't love it or anything, but it made me smile and it was pretty touching at moments.

8/10