Modern Family: Pool Party (11x04)

It was certainly fun to hear Lizzo. And there were a few cute things here.

Cons:

If this show makes one more stupid joke about young people being "triggered" I am seriously going to blow a gasket. And yes, I'm aware of the irony. I hate that Modern Family has decided to repeatedly mock the idea of people trying to be more accepting and understanding. It's such a cheap shot.

Same thing with the repeated references to Gloria's tough life back in Columbia. There's some gag in here about how she worked for someone as a shake-down artist and as a reward, her cousin got to keep one ear. It's just like... come on. Is this what we're doing? Really?

I didn't hate Claire's plot thread with Alex and Haley, but I didn't like the specifics of what they chose for the workplace catastrophe. Apparently the company's "Smart Closets" have been taking videos of people without their consent, while they are undressed. This feels like a bit too sensitive of a topic to really be tackled in such a casual way... it feels like the writers realized that privacy concerns in a digital age are a thing, and then thought that just putting in a reference would be enough to "comment" on it. You actually need to have something to say.

Pros:

Racist jokes about Columbia aside, I did like Gloria and Phil's plot thread. A sign in front of one of the houses Phil is trying to sell keeps going missing, and while Phil investigates possible saboteurs, Gloria tracks down the culprit using a tracker from Stella's collar. Turns out, the son of the family who currently live in the house had been stealing the signs because he doesn't want to move. I liked the wacky shenanigans of Phil's investigation, juxtaposed to Gloria actually being the one to solve the mystery. It proves that she's willing and able to go the extra mile, and she has an actual passion for this work. As an added bonus, Jay realizes that he needs to accept the change in their dynamics, and be there for Gloria as she pursues her career.

I like seeing Claire trying to encourage her daughters to have careers. It's pretty basic stuff, but it's important that women know they aren't limited in their life choices by motherhood. If Haley wants to stay home with the twins, that's great - as long as she's sure she's not doing it just because she feels like she should. And even though it was played as a joke, I liked the moment when Claire talks about how it was the fashion back in the day to stay at home and resent your kids. She likes having her career now, and wants to emphasize that to Haley and Alex both.

And while I wasn't super thrilled with the actual content of the work disaster, I did like the joke of the young and incompetent lawyer not knowing how to handle the situation. That felt very hashtag-relatable. And Claire got to give an actually competent motivational speech about what she loves about her job, which was a nice moment for her character.

I really like Lily as a character. I might be in the minority on that one, but whatever. Even when as a little girl the actress wasn't always the most solid performer, I think the one-liners they write for her are ridiculously charming and funny. Of all the child characters this show has had over the years, Lily's motif of being kind of a jerk to everyone is my favorite. And I like the way she indulges her over-dramatic parents. She's a young teen, so she's going to roll her eyes and fight against them sometimes, but she actually respects and loves them, too.

This plot thread, with Cam and Mitchell trying not to be hypocrites while hiding at a pool party, after giving Lily advice about confidence, was pretty basic. But it was basic in a good way - a message about loving yourself and being confident in your own skin is never a bad thing, and I feel like we rarely see that message when it comes to men. Obviously our society puts a lot more pressure on women to conform to certain beauty standards, but that doesn't mean that men don't have insecurities about their bodies. It was a predictable punchline, but actually a little sweet and charming, to see Cam, Mitchell, and the rest of the insecure men at the party emerge in their swim trunks, walking in slow-motion to Lizzo's "Boys" while Lily looked on with a big smile.

That's all I've got for now. This was a perfectly acceptable episode of Modern Family. I'm still just kind of riding the wave until this show ends, but that doesn't mean there's nothing good left.

9/10