Modern Family handles its main plot well, but continues to struggle with Gloria’s pregnancy.
“I’m not proud of what I did. But I’m not comfortable squashing people’s dreams. I’m a cheerleader. I’m the guy on top of the pyramid shouting, ‘Go, dreams, go!’ You know what’s not a cheer? ‘2, 4, 6, 8, you are going to fail at this, and lose everything we’ve worked for, Claire!’”
– Phil Dunphy
It only makes sense that the new great American T.V. show takes a crack at the great American pastime. Thinking back on it, you gotta wonder why Modern Family hasn’t had a baseball episode yet. There are so many openings for all the characters to display their quirks on the baseball diamond. That’s why the entirety of “Diamond in the Rough” had a Field of Dreams element to it, tying together the element of families having each others’ backs.
Claire is feeling mopey about not working. She and Cameron find a house for sale and decide to buy it, renovate it and then sell it. They try to convince Phil and Mitchell to let them go in on it – and both of them think it’s a horrible idea – but Phil lets Mitchell break the bad news because he’s always the cheerleader. Then Mitchell sets Phil up so Claire knows he didn’t believe in her, but it all works out when Claire and Cam successfully finish converting an open field into a baseball field for Luke and Manny’s team.
Gloria keeps singing and Jay keeps getting tired of hearing her. They make a pact to stop fighting in front of the unborn baby and then Jay breaks the news he’s waited years to tell Gloria: she’s a horrible singer. However, he notes as she sings the National Anthem solo at the boys’ baseball game, she does have great self-confidence.
The episode had great moments between Mitch and Phil that are often unseen on the show. In very dramatically-charged moments – such as Mitchell stroking his cat while blackmailing Phil on the phone – the relationship that’s often left unexplored between the two characters is finally looked into. The result? The characters work very well with each other – often a quick give-and-take of one-liners – and seeing the snarky side of Phil is always fun.
Every episode reveals the writers seem to be running out of plotlines for Jay and Gloria to explore. The singing plotline was one that’s been overused in past seasons. It’s possible the writers just wanted something thematically related to the main storyline to tie to; in any case, their relationship is becoming static and uninteresting. There’s no point in continuing to beat the “I’m going to be an old dad” drum from Jay or the “I’m the most annoying pregnant woman” one for Gloria.
Luke’s character also needs further development, as was evident in this episode. His dumb nature did not work well in sports – an area in which he had an affinity and his counterpart Manny did not – since their relationship is usually that Manny is the aficionado. Luke is no longer a dumb but endearing kid – he’s becoming a teenager and his old creative, innocent and imaginative personality needs to shine through as a young adult. His character’s condescending one-liners simply weren’t funny when the show revolved around Manny’s plotline of wanting to hit a home run.
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