Modern Family: Whanex? (10x13)

I mean, there was nothing in here that was offensive or anything... but I don't think I so much as cracked a smile during the whole episode.

Cons:

Gloria and Phil go to the mall with Joe and end up auditioning for a photo shoot to advertise the mall. Gloria and Phil end up getting really invested, but at the end of the day it's little Joe who gets to be a model, while Phil and Gloria are left out. This plot thread... was mostly nothingness. There was a little conclusion piece at the end that I enjoyed, but everything that it took to get there was a waste of time. Gloria being too "sexy" to be the wholesome mom, Phil saying he doesn't care but getting too invested, and Joe blithely uncaring about the results... all of this was just bland. I didn't laugh once. It was predictable. They either needed to spend more time with Gloria and Phil, or more time with Joe, but instead we didn't get enough focus on any of it.

Jay and Claire's plot thread had a similar problem of being entirely unfunny the whole way through, although I did like a little moment towards the end. The joke here is that Jay is old and out of touch technologically. He messes up the Skype call, keeps zooming in and can't hear anyone... it's such a cliche joke. I kept waiting for the show to put some sort of unique twist on it, but... nope. The joke is that the new people working with them are millennials, and Jay doesn't know how to keep up. Yawn.

Cam and Mitchell's plot thread was the least annoying, but it didn't deliver on its setup nearly enough. The opportunity to have Haley, Alex, Luke, and Manny all on stage together answering questions should have been really great. I wanted to watch the kids play off of each other, and see the true contrast between their differing life paths. Alex could have talked about how much she loved college, but how it wasn't a straight line for her, and she had to take some time off. Haley could have talked about finding happiness in her career but having to struggle a lot to get there. But instead, the whole thing moves by way too quickly and we focus instead on Mitchell giving Cam confusing advice about how to behave during the panel. What a wasted opportunity.

Pros:

Like I said, though, there were glimmers of potential in how the first two plot threads ended. I like that Gloria's reasoning behind her sudden desire to get back to modeling is that she feels aimless. It was a nice subversion of expectations that she's not insecure about her appearance - when Phil tells her she's just as beautiful now as she was twenty years ago, she says "I know." But she doesn't have that exciting thrill of passion, and she misses it. At the end of the episode, we see her sitting in on one of Phil's real estate classes. That could be something fun for her to explore. At the end of Jay's story, he decides he wants to make a bigger effort to accept the changes, instead of just being grumpy about it. That was a nice subversion of expectations as well. Jay admits that it's his responsibility to change with the times if he wants to keep working. I liked that, even if the road to get there was incredibly boring.

And Cam and Mitchell's plot thread had a decent number of jokes... their comedic timing with each other is always fun to watch. I liked Cam's interactions with the principal, and the punchline that he gets the Vice Principal job permanently was pretty fun.

So... that's it. This episode was kind of a dud unfortunately. And while it wasn't horrifically awful, it was frustrating because I could see the hints of a much better episode peaking out underneath a lot of unsatisfying comedy.

6/10