Look at that face. So eager. So lovable. So, so stupid.
“1984, it’s kind of a lucky number for me. It’s the year Footloose came out.” — Phil Dunphy
Ty Burell and guest star Matthew Broderick steal the show but are surrounded by stale subplots.
The Dunphys
Phil’s home alone for the weekend while Claire, Alex, Manny and Luke head to Alex’s academic competition. Alex won the whole thing last year and Claire’s trying not to be the proud mama, but she can’t help it. When Alex loses, Claire realizes she’s living part of herself through her daughter and they reconcile.
Phil’s enjoying his time at home by wiring the entire house to his iPad. He goes to the gym to work out and finds a buddy named Dave, played by Matthew Broderick. Broderick’s character, unbeknownst to Phil, is gay, and is friends with Cam. Clueless Phil invites Dave over to hang out and Dave — poor Dave, who’s just gotten out of a relationship — thinks it’s a date. Cam urges Dave on.
Everything plays out just perfectly. Phil is so out of it that he compliments Dave’s spinach dip, tells him that he’s been longing for a guy’s night and flicks a button on his iPad to dim the lights and start the fireplace. One thing leads to another, and soon enough their shirts are off and they’re hugging after a great play in a football game on T.V.
Dave hurriedly leaves, but not before planting a kiss on Phil, who then goes upstairs happily confused.
The Tucker-Pritchetts and the Pritchetts
Cam and Mitchell decide to have a giant mural painted on the wall of Gloria and Jay’s nursery for their new baby instead of getting them something from their gift registry (“They don’t know what they want,” Cam insists). He has to distract a very antsy Gloria, who just wants to take a nap while it gets painted.
Mitchell goes baby shopping with Jay and finds him unsettled. They run into someone who appears to be a therapist, whom Jay uncomfortably introduces to Mitchell. Then Mitchell sees Jay hugging someone in a bunny costume. Mitch knows that something is up with Jay but doesn’t ask him about it to avoid Jay insulting Mitchell (by calling him a girl for talking about his feelings) and brushing him off. Jay finally tells Mitch that he’s upset that he won’t have his home office anymore. Cam shows the mural to Gloria — reminiscent of the heavenly painting done in Lily’s nursery, but with Gloria, Jay and Manny — and she loves it. Jay, surprisingly, loves it too.
Manny and Luke
There’s a bar mitzvah at the hotel Manny and Luke are staying at with Claire and Alex and Manny sees a cute girl. Naturally, he’s convinced she’s his soulmate. How could they turn that down? The boys suit up. They arrive, but they can’t find the dream girl anywhere.
Luke then leads Manny to a group of girls in red dresses, who part like the Red Sea to reveal Manny’s girl. Manny dramatically goes to the photo booth to await her. She joins him. The closing clip reveals that they took pictures together, but Manny went too far, upset the girl and drove her away.
Why this episode worked:
Matthew Broderick and Phil Dunphy (Ty Burrell) had great comedic timing. It was a perfect use of Phil’s gullible character. The scenes just kept building as Phil did one stupid thing after another and though the stupidity was predicted, the humor was so alive that it was difficult to tear my eyes away. The Broderick-Burrell segments stole the show and were some of the best of the season. Definitely not a Modern Family segment to miss.
What could have been better:
Everything else.
The Alex-Claire scenes were boring after we realized Claire was just being an overprotective parent again. Yawn.
The Jay-Mitchell unfulfilled relationship has been done too many times. We’re sick of it now, but don’t want to see the cheesiness that happens when father and son get their feelings out. Something new needs to happen in that relationship.
The Gloria-Cam scene seemed to be filler and without purpose. So much more could have been done to distract Gloria from her house, and so much that could have been funny. Instead, Cam just took her to the back of the house.
The Manny-Luke segment alone was on-par: It had fresh humor, a good metaphor and epitomized that the boys are both growing closer and growing up.
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