Modern Family: The Last Thanksgiving (11x07)

This was pretty fun. If Modern Family wants me to feel feelings, it needs to lean heavy on nostalgia. Holiday episodes are a good way of doing that!

Cons:

Manny is insufferable. I know that's supposed to be the joke, that he's annoying everyone by talking about a girl that is giving him trouble. But just because he's supposed to be irritating doesn't stop him from being really freakin' irritating. Also, the jokes about his super tall and strong basketball girlfriend felt vaguely sexist, like the joke is that she's so desperate for a boyfriend that she won't let Manny leave. Yeesh.

At the beginning, there was the setup of Haley, Luke, and Alex making Thanksgiving dinner for everyone. Haley talks about how she wants to do something nice because of everything Claire has done for her with Dylan and the babies. But then this part of the episode ended up being about Alex's weird chef boyfriend. This stuff wasn't strictly bad, but I was expecting something else and wanted Haley to have more to do here.

Also... where was Lily?!

Pros:

I like that we're seeing the impact of Claire quitting her job. She's feeling restless, and she bonds with Jay about the strangeness of this transition. I liked the contrast between Gloria, who now has a job, with Claire, who no longer does. Gloria making Claire do chores was kind of silly but still brought a smile to my face a couple of times. This show sucks at doing career-based stories, but I actually liked the exploration here. Jay and Claire have so much in common and it's fun to see them bonding.

Speaking of Jay, I really liked his plot with Phil and Dylan. We go back to the time that Jay flew a model airplane into Phil's face, and learn that it might have been at least subconsciously on purpose. Phil worries that he's doing the same thing to Dylan, subconscious anger getting through in their mundane interactions. I wanted to be annoyed about this frankly reductive idea of fathers having to protect their daughters from men, but it was honestly funny to see Jay trying to bond with Phil by recounting how much he used to hate Phil. I liked it when Phil hit himself in the face with an airplane, too. He's so good at physical comedy. And I laughed out loud when Jay dejectedly shuffled over to examine the broken plane, ignoring Phil's prone body as he did so. It was such an obvious joke in every way, but it made me smile.

While I wanted more out of the story where the Dunphy children make Thanksgiving dinner, I did like the weird joke about Luke enjoying Alex's boyfriend's attentions. That guy was just so clearly a slimy douche, so it was funny to see Alex getting more and more frustrated while Luke totally leaned in to the whole thing.

Cam and Mitchell's story was probably my favorite of the night, even though the stuff that goes on in their relationship raises so many red flags. Basically, Mitchell accidentally tells one of their friends that he and Cam have "split up." He means it in the context of going grocery shopping, but before they know it, their entire group of friends thinks that they're getting a divorce. We later find out that Cam had done a fake break-up with Mitchell earlier to see how much support he can expect from their friends. This is frankly alarming behavior, but it did make for a funny episode, with Mitchell getting increasingly upset that all their friends are rushing to comfort Cam but don't seem to be worried about Mitchell at all. I loved the awkward scene of Mitchell trying to be upset and teary-eyed at the party, and all of his friends just staring at him in confusion because they can't figure out what he's trying to convey.

And that's all I've got for this one. A perfectly solid installment!

9/10