S8E17 "Pig Moon Rising"
The Dunphys (sans Alex) prepare for the moment when Luke gets accepted into college, but the college he receives a response from rejects him. The joke made here, of Haley not getting that "we regret to inform you" means bad news is coming, has been done before, in season 3's "Election Day", when Haley was rejected from her first college. Phil and Claire go to Phil's alma mater when Luke doesn't get in, and has to reveal a magic trick to the dean to get Luke in. This story was both unfunny and lacking, and could have been traded for a deeper story about Luke's next step in life. Meanwhile, Manny and Gloria deal with how they will be separated soon due to college, but this lacks in both story and jokes even more than the story about Luke and college.
Mitch swaps out ashes of an important pig to Cam, Cam realizes he lost a finger painting Lily made, and Jay attempts to buy tickets for Gloria, but messes that up. This leads to a chain of getting people to do things for each other to keep people happy. This also includes Haley, who, due to many unpaid parking tickets, has "the barnacle" put on her car. She is quite bratty this week, continuing to throw out her previous character development, but Mitch being her eyes was fairly entertaining. In the end, everyone's secrets are exposed, but it doesn't really feel like much of a resolution. Also, Mitch's part in the episode felt quite similar to his story in season 3's "Lifetime Supply".
Modern Family can sometimes create great episodes while a lot is going on. Look at "A Stereotypical Day", for example. However, other times it can result in stories that feel like they are lacking any substance. That is what happened this week, and what made it even worse is that there were very few funny moments, though the episode got one big laugh from me with Jay's line about Luke's age when he drew something.
Score: 2.5/10
What did you think of "Pig Moon Rising"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!