Modern Family: Baby Steps (11x15)

There are only so many different ways I can discuss how this final season has felt stagnant and uninspired... but there was actually one good plot thread here, I suppose!

Cons:

I want to talk about Alex. Rarely have I felt like a main character on a television show has been so poorly utilized. Who even is Alex? In this episode, she goes back to her old college, encounters some protesters and her old professor Arvin, who make her realize that she's working for a big unethical company. So she decides to work for Arvin's research team instead, using her smarts for good instead of evil. Okay... what a nice little plot arc for Alex. Too bad it all happens in one episode. Did I know that Alex felt ethical qualms about her job before now? Did I know this was a dilemma for her? She also talks about her "glow up," about how going back to the school triumphant and successful will be a big moment for her. Is that something I knew she needed/wanted? Is she searching for validation? Alex's colleges years on the show were so strangely framed and never really properly set up, so...

Bottom line is, this is fine. Alex taking a job that will make her less money but will be helping the world seems like a great move for anyone to make. But I don't know this person. I haven't really gotten to know her as an adult.

Also, apparently Haley is back at work after having the babies - that feels like it could have been a big moment, but it's brushed past like it's no big deal. And another thing... I don't want to be That Person who brings the room down, but all the jokes about Haley's company and their alternative/holistic lifestyle stuff... it's supposed to be a parody of Gwyneth Paltrow's "goop" thing, and other similar ideas. We're all supposed to chuckle when Haley points out that none of the company's employees are actually scientists and yet they're selling things for people to put into their bodies. But the thing is? That shit is straight-up predatory. People paying money for pills and products that do nothing, or even actively harm? It's a serious issue! I just wanted to point that out, because there's really no nuance provided for the fact that Haley works for an evil company, even as Alex is taken to task for the same thing.

Claire's story-line is in some way like Alex's, in that it feels perfectly fine for this to be the next step for the character, but it's so shoe-horned, and so uninspired. Basically, she wants to work for a company that sells organizational products, but she gets her foot stuck in a broken stair, so Jay and Phil help to bring her bookcase over behind her so she can Skype and pretend to be in her office for her interview. From there it's just stupid slapstick. Jay is having an allergic reaction to a mushroom, so Claire has to keep making excuses for the bookcase moving, or for Jay sneezing... and then the whole thing falls apart, Claire is honest, and she gets the job. I don't know... does this just feel like a retread of the same story beats we've done for Claire over and over again? She's never going to be fulfilled staying at home, so she gets a job, she's high-powered but trying to balance work/life, she quits the job, now she's looking for a new one? Okay... cool, I guess. Also, we get jokes made at the expense of people with compulsive disorders. Thanks, I hate it.

Pros:

One thing I will say for Alex's story-line is that it was nice to see Arvin again. The whole bit where Arvin is just casually talking with Haley and Alex, and Haley seems to truly believe that Arvin is still hung up on her, was pretty hilarious. I also like how he was polite, and only joined in the protest to save face, but later when he was alone with Alex he admitted his real opinion about her life choices. That was a nice little re-direct.

While Claire's portion of the episode was mostly boring and also too silly for my taste, I did like the little hints of chaos in Claire's life. Dylan needing to get upstairs to the baby, and Luke continuing to fall down the stairs, only for everyone to shrug it off, relieved that it wasn't Dylan or Gloria or one of the babies... that did make me chuckle!

The big success story of this episode is Cam and Mitchell's plot thread. I'm still kind of miffed/frustrated that they apparently aren't going the route of having them move away at the end of the show, because that would have been an interesting status quo shift. But I will admit, this episode got me right in the feels. Everything that happens is predictable, but it's no less powerful for that. Basically, Cam and Mitchell struggle with the decision about adopting a baby boy. They hem and haw, and ultimately decide that if it were the right thing, the decision wouldn't be so challenging... but then the adoption agency calls, and when Mitchell answers to tell them no, they both look at each other and just... know what the right thing to do is. They're having a baby, and they're also buying a bigger house!

There were just a lot of moments I loved here. Cam and Mitchell lying in bed, talking about prose and cons... one of their "pros" was finding out for sure how much of Lily's personality is their fault, and how much is on her! And then speaking of, when they go to talk to Lily, she is immediately supportive, but then points out how old they will be if they have a baby now, by the time that baby is grown.

And then there's the way Gloria gets involved. They go to talk to her about it, since she has experience having a baby a bit later in life, but end up enamored with the house she's in the middle of showing. They start to imagine a future with this new house, and a new baby, and things start to spiral. Gloria is in the background, doing her sale's pitch. I thought that was a fantastic way to integrate Gloria's progress and character development. It's something I wish the show could pull off successfully more often.

So yeah - Cam and Mitchell deciding to adopt a new baby is about as emotionally manipulative as you can get, but I have allowed myself to be emotionally manipulated. While the moment of their big decision was a success in my eyes, the rest of this episode was pretty much a swing and a miss.

7/10