Modern Family: CHiPs and Salsa (9x19)

This episode was very middle-of-the-road for me.

Cons:

So, on the one hand, I do appreciate giving some direction to a few characters who have been mostly aimless for a while now. Luke taking steps to go to college, Haley trying to improve her reputation at work, Gloria working to sell her family's sauce, Mitchell contemplating a new job offer. But the reason I'm mentioning it in the "cons" section is that I'm just not sure I trust this show to go anywhere with it. I want true A-plots, developing character arcs, all that jazz. And this show hasn't been able to deliver on those things. Are we actually going to get to see Luke starting school? Are we going to see Mitchell accept a new job? Maybe, but if we do, it'll be several episodes from now and there won't be much time and thought put into it.

Claire and Phil's plot line was pretty uninspired. They get competitive, but then realize they're both out of shape. Phil has a robot that does stuff for them when they can't move because they're so sore. It was just... predictable. Nothing awful, just nothing all that interesting either.

Pros:

I did like Luke realizing that he wants to go to college so that he can have a future away from his parents. That was a funny moment of realization for him. The way the community college adviser was painting a realistic picture of Luke's future was pretty great as well. After two years, you can go to a real - I mean, four-year college, and then that will prepare you for an entry level job! Ain't it always the way. Sigh.

Gloria and Jay both trying to sell the sauce to Haley's boss, but Gloria accidentally selling Jay on how important the sauce is to her family was... well, it was pretty hilarious. And Haley's boss is just great. All of the jokes about her "lifestyle" business are so salty and I love it. My favorite moment is that after Haley's boss breaks out in a rash from eating the salsa, but hasn't noticed it yet, Haley says: "apropos of nothing, do you believe in Western medicine?" That cracked me up!

Mitchell and Cam's plot was, unsurprisingly, once again the most enjoyable. It had a healthy dose of actual comedy along with the more serious character stuff. I loved Cam being stuck in the backseat, and Mitchell being oddly amazing at the ride-along with the cop. And if I thought they were actually going to go somewhere with the career story, I'd be excited about that too. I don't think we've ever seen Mitchell truly happy in his career. We got to see a whole thread about that with Claire, so I'd love to see Mitchell find contentment in his job as well.

I guess that's all I've got. I don't have a problem with the majority of this episode. But what I do worry about is the lack of follow-through that this show seems to have. Part of that is just the nature of a sitcom, but part of it is that this show has been on the air for nine seasons, and it's starting to look a bit long in the tooth.

7/10