S9E13 "In Your Head"
Jay and Claire's part of the episode seems to be the one part that the writers actually cared about. However, it ends up feeling like many previous Modern Family stories, where a misunderstanding ends up ruining everything. Claire bonds with the daughter of Jay's now-deceased rival, but when it appears that she has used the information that Claire shared against her, Jay and Claire plot against her. In the end, it turns out that this was just a misunderstanding, and Jay got into Claire's head. At the very end, Jay goes to spread his rival's ashes, and discovers a note from him, declaring victory. It's very unclear what this story was trying to say, it felt very convoluted, and wasn't funny.
Manny, Phil, and Gloria spend their part of the episode looking for Luke. Manny was with him the night before, but hasn't seen him since he went off with a girl. For most of the time, Phil is convinced that Luke is fine, but then becomes seriously worried when he discovers that Luke walked away from a beautiful girl. Not only does there seem to be no point to this story (like Phil cares about his son, did we not know that before?), and it wasn't funny. It just seemed like a way to waste some minutes of the show and use up the characters.
Cam and Mitch's story (was it a story though?) also just seemed like a way to use up their characters. Luckily this one didn't take up as much time, but it also wasn't even a real story. The two have a guest in their house that they met on a vacation they were on. When he opens their nice wine that they have been saving, they try to learn not to wait for good things but enjoy them in the present. This ends up leading to them trying something new, which they hate. At least this gave me the one funny moment in the episode, referring to Lily as the mean Asian lady down the hall.
Finally, Alex and Haley, at her most unbearable yet, occupy the rest of the episode's time. Haley is completely obnoxious when she interrupts Alex's class, and Alex is the one that actually shows that she knows how to behave when interacting with others, while Haley doesn't. The way that Alex's professor insists that he and Haley are meant to be together ends up inspiring Haley in her weird job interview with the celebrity founder (who is like a character in a SNL sketch) of a bizarre company. Everything about this story is just too strange, and Haley is unbearable.
This was the worst episode that Modern Family has given us yet. There was only one moment that I found funny in the entire episode (and it wasn't very funny), and each story had its issues. Whether it was convoluted, pointless, lacking, or too strange, this episode exhibited the worst of Modern Family as of late.
Score: 1.5/10
What did you think of "In Your Head"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!