Modern Family Season 9 Finale Review

It's been a tough season of Modern Family to get through, as the aging series gave its weakest batch of episodes yet. But, here we are, at the end, and hopefully a year away from the end of the series as a whole.


S9E22 "Clash of Swords"

Mitch and Phil get to nerd out this week, which they have done before, to very funny results. This time isn't as entertaining though. At a convention that they go to, Phil knocks over a sword that, in the series they watch, would cause him to say dumb things. He ends up doing so, making many fans angry. This is a ridiculous story, though Ty Burrell's likability makes it not so bad. Mitch ends up fitting in really well, and ends up giving an extremely typical speech to defend Phil against those who want to take away his all-access pass. This was a story that I really could have done without.

Gloria is planning a birthday party for Joe, but everything goes wrong. The first issue is the haircut she gives him, but this is never brought up again after the scene where it happens. Then, the party ends up being very lame, and is upstaged by a similarly themed party going on next door. Jane Krakowski is under-utilized here, as the planner of the neighboring party. Cam attempts to help by calling some party planners he knows. The result is predictable, and something that I felt I've seen before, when the party is filled with Peter Pan themed male strippers. The party is an absolute disaster, and the story isn't any better.

Claire and Jay have get another closet business story when a group of young people want to buy out their company. Jay is extremely obnoxious here, as he refuses to even consider selling. When they discover that one of their employees was poached, the two head down to the young guys' company. The attempts at humor here don't really work, though Julie Bowen's delivery made me laugh at "But you're diabetic, and a grown-up." Claire ends up getting convinced that a merger is a good idea, but Jay won't listen. Eventually they talk, and they actually have a nice conversation, where Jay shares his fears about merging, even though he knows it's what they need to do. This is the highlight of the episode.

Manny is preparing to drive across the country, alone. However, he doesn't want to go alone. This ties into the episode's theme of fears, but it feels forced. Also, the attempts at humor are weak. Manny attempting to drag Haley to the car when they hug is more strange and awkward than funny. It seemed like there was some sort of attempt at humor in his scene with Alex, but whatever it was, it didn't work. In the end, Manny ends up facing his fears, though we don't really get much build-up to that.

Additionally, at the beginning of the episode, it is revealed that Mitch and Cam are temporarily taking care of their nephew. The jokes about this nephew are way over-the-top, as he easily tackles Mitch and Cam when trying to give them a hug, and he apparently gnaws through food with great ease despite not having many teeth. Also, he is huge for his age. At the end of the episode, Cam says that his parents weren't the best when he was really little, and the nephew gives a regular hug, which prompts Mitch and Cam to decide to take care of this nephew. This decision is extremely sudden, and the nephew felt very forced into the story.


This was Modern Family's most disappointing finale yet, and one of the show's most disappointing episodes of all time. While I liked that there was an overarching theme of fears, the show has dealt with this theme a lot, and it is pretty much the only positive thing I can say about the episode. Also, it is just insane that the show didn't include Luke or Lily in the season finale. I have decided not to return to this show in the fall, so this will be my final review. I hope for those of you that continue watching that the show improves for its tenth and potentially final season.

Score: 2/10

What did you think of "Clash of Swords"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Share this

Related Posts

Previous
Next Post »