Modern Family: Ten Years Later (9x06)

Modern Family usually shines the brightest when it focuses on a holiday or event than can bring the family together. This week, however, everybody kind of sucked and was horrible to each other, and it left me feeling bummed out.

Cons:

Gloria and Jay's tenth wedding anniversary is going to be an event to remember, hopefully making up for some mishaps that took place at the actual wedding ten years before. Okay, decent enough setup.... you would think that a story like this would find room to be about Gloria and Jay and their love for one another, but instead Gloria spends the whole episode lamenting the fact that she can't quite fit into her wedding dress from ten years ago. Manny acts like a selfish little brat by choosing not to come to the anniversary party, all because Jay told him he needed to be more independent, and then when Manny does turn up in the end, Gloria is still too distressed about putting on a few pounds to care that Manny is even there. The whole thing just felt... depressing. A tacked on moment at the end where Jay reassures Gloria that he doesn't care if she gains weight didn't feel like enough to counteract the rest of this negativity.

Similarly, we have Cam and Mitchell's crappy relationship continue to rear its ugly head. Cam wants to perform with Mitchell at the wedding. Mitchell fails to recognize that this is important to Cam, although he does eventually agree to perform. Then, during the performance, Mitchell monopolizes the stage and doesn't give Cam a drum solo. There's another tacked-on moment where they reconcile, but it felt cheap after all of the tension we've sensed from these two lately.

And then Phil and Claire... I thought this plot thread was going to be about Claire wanting to throw a great anniversary party for Gloria and Jay, because she feels responsible for the chaos at the wedding. That right there sounds like a good story. Instead, we see Phil find out that years ago, he missed a phone call that would have given him a chance to be a magician, but that Jay and Claire conspired to stop him from getting the message. Phil laments this whole other life he could have had, and Claire ends up buying him a magic shop so he can pursue his dreams now that the kids are grown.

Okay... what? This was such a weird departure for the episode to take. Claire's involvement should have been focused on her father's anniversary party, but instead we got sucked in to this weird side-vortex about magic. It's also ridiculous that Claire would buy property for Phil without going over it with him first. What kind of married couple doesn't consult one another about enormous purchases like that?

Pros:

The episode had a few funny moments to make up for the lackluster story-lines. I really liked the recurring flashbacks to DeDe at the wedding. We learn that Claire, Mitchell, and Phil all independently tried to get her a little tipsy at the wedding in order to solve their own problems, which resulted in her becoming belligerently drunk at the reception. There wasn't much to this joke, but the delivery was pretty amazing.

There was also this gag about Gloria's family being a studio audience for the various cliche moments of reconciliation. I don't know why, but it worked for me. They laughed and applauded obligingly as Cam demonstrated the great drum solo he didn't get to do, and then they let out an "awww" when Mitchell and Cam kissed to make up for their spat. The crowd of observers inexplicably turn up again in Jay and Gloria's house to share their reaction after the two of them have a romantic moment of their own. Maybe it's just because the episode was devoid of high points, but this worked for me.

Despite the stupidness of Claire buying a magic shop for Phil, I kind of liked that they hung a lampshade on it... he points out that it's ironic for her to make up for taking away a decision from him all those years ago by making yet another big decision without consulting him. Hey, maybe Claire and Phil's relationship has some communication problems! Just a thought.

I guess that's what I've got. I'm disappointed in this episode. Modern Family can be really good with the warm and fuzzies, but this week did not give me that sense at all. I hope we get something stronger in the coming weeks...

5/10