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!

Modern Family S9E21 Review

Haley's ex-boyfriends Dylan, Andy, and Rainer return this week on Modern Family. Also, this episode introduces us to Jay's sister, as the family goes to visit her.


S9E21 "The Escape"

Jay, Gloria, Claire, Phil, Mitch, and Cam visit Jay's sister Becky after she has had a stroke. The stroke has impacted her memory, and now she doesn't remember that Mitch is gay, or that Claire gave her the necklace she is wearing. There are also a couple of jokes about things she can't remember, when Jay freaks out that she can't remember Pritchett's Closets, and when she refers to Gloria as Dede. The three of Jay, Claire, and Mitch try to manipulate Becky's memory, Jay so he can make her think that her fishing cabin is his, Claire so Becky will remember that she got the necklace from her, and Mitch so that he can come out to her again.

Putting these three motivations up against each other has their flaws, as Jay and Claire are being selfish, especially Jay, who is trying to get his sister to believe a lie, while Mitch is dealing with something important to him. In the end, it turns out that Becky was faking the memory loss, which I guess fits with how they established that the character is mean. Still, it seems pointless. There was a good funny moment in the tag though, where it is like an action movie when Claire and Phil steal the necklace.

When Gloria, Phil, and Cam don't like what is going on with their spouses, they decide to go to the escape room across the street. However, they end up getting trapped in the basement of the nursing home instead. While the escape room plot is overdone, this is a clever twist on it. It is also very funny and clever when the steps the group takes to get out is what they can hear their spouses saying in their head. I had a good laugh at "They can never know how much smarter they are than us."

Haley actually puts some effort in when she is meeting her boyfriend Arvin's parents. Things are not made any better when Arvin lies about her to his parents to make her seem more impressive than she is. This causes Haley to leave the restaurant, but when she passes out due to a weird sticker she has to wear for her boss (whose appearance in the episode was thankfully short), her emergency contact is contacted, which turns out to be Andy. He has some funny lines, and reminded me just how likable he was.

The appearances of Dylan and Rainer don't really add much (and Rainer also hardly appeared, which I am also glad about, as that is another character I am not fond of), but the whole thing leads to Haley realizing how much she likes Arvin, which the events of the episode don't do anything to support.


The escape room parts of the episode were easily the strongest, as it was a clever, funny story. The others lacked, though they weren't unfunny.

Score: 5/10

What did you think of "The Escape"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Modern Family S9E20 Review

Shelley Long returns as Claire and Mitch's crazy mother Dede. How with this family survive her visit this time?


S9E20 "Mother!"

Mitch and Cam are excited to have the house to theirselves when Lily is away, but things go wrong when their naked breakfast is interrupted by Dede showing up. Their leaving the room after she shows up is very funny. However, the story here ends up contradicting what we have learned in the past. Cam has never been a fan of Dede, but according to this episode they keep in touch regularly and are now quite close.

It turns out that Dede has been influencing Mitch and Cam's decisions by talking Cam into things and using reverse psychology on Mitch. This contradicts what we have learned about Mitch and Cam's respective relationships with her, as Mitch used to be very close with her, and Cam didn't like her influence on Mitch. Mitch and Cam push against Dede's influence, which results in Mitch wearing an awful suit and Cam going extreme with an accent.

With Claire at the spa, the rest of the Dunphy family prepares to give her bad news when she gets home because Claire will be in such a good mood. However, the arrival of Dede threatens to ruin the mood. The family's attempt to hide Dede is quite funny, and they almost succeed in getting Claire to accept what they are telling her. However, the fight to go second among Haley, Phil, and Luke causes Claire to catch on.

Manny and Jay are working together on a horror film. Manny created it for a class, and when Jay got a look at the script he decided to contribute. They feel that everything is going well, until Joe points out the similarities between the noise the monster makes in the film and Gloria's yelling. They need to figure out a way to distract Gloria when the film plays, and they get their solution in Dede. Also, there is a really funny joke throughout this where Gloria needs the help of a friend of Manny's, addressing him as "nerd."

Once the whole family comes together, tension comes to the surface, as it does often in this show. Surprisingly, the three mothers come together and the end of the episode, despite their differences in the past. Unlike everything with Dede, Mitch, and Cam, this actually makes sense because of what happened in the episode. The three make their family realize what they do for them. It's a nice ending to the episode.


There were quite a few funny moments here, and a nice ending, though I was very bothered by the show redefining the relationships that Dede has with Mitch and with Cam. This wasn't an outstanding episode, but it was a stronger one for season nine, helped by the guest appearance.

Score: 7/10

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

Modern Family S9E19 Review

Haley's work, with her crazy boss who was like a SNL character rather than a realistic one in her first appearance, and Gloria's salsa intersect this week on Modern Family.


S9E19 "CHiPs and Salsa"

The episode begins with Haley at work, and luckily the way that her boss is portrayed this time isn't quite as extreme as the first time. She is still, however, incredibly dumb, but this time this leads to some genuine laughs, which, while not that great, are better than being completely repulsed by this character. Haley's boss is currently interested in peppers, and Haley brings up the peppers Gloria uses in her salsa. Haley and Jay try to convince Gloria to sell her salsa, and she reluctantly goes to a meeting. Gloria ends up convincing Jay that they shouldn't sell it, but this turns out to be unintentional, as Gloria actually wanted to sell the salsa. The fact that Gloria wouldn't tell the others of her change of heart seems unrealistic, and in the end another layer is added onto the story which ends up being completely unnecessary, as Haley's boss gets a rash on her face from the salsa.

It turns out that Phil has not stopped bringing up his victory over Claire in the early first season episode "Run for Your Wife", and Claire has finally had enough. This story concept screams that the writers have run short on ideas, so they are revisiting old episodes' concepts. Not only is this revisited, but the idea behind this season premiere is as well, the idea that Claire and Phil are not as young as they once were. It's a good thing that Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen are naturally so funny, otherwise this story would come off as extremely stale. This time, it is taken farther than last time, as Phil and Claire accept that this is where their lives are headed. Also, as this goes on, Luke decides that he wants to goes to college, which feels like the show is backtracking on what it decided on last season, and makes fun of community college along the way.

When Mitch is trying to be convinced to become a prosecutor (which seems completely unrealistic, considering that this isn't anything like the type of law he practiced), he gets to give Cam an opportunity that he always wanted, to be on a ride-along. Everything in this story seems like a stretch, from Mitch considering becoming a prosecutor, to Mitch having Cam get in the back of the police car even though this ride-along is supposed to be for him, to Cam getting the opportunity to interrogate Mitch about the job opportunity in an interrogation room. Everything just feels manufactured for Cam's comedic moments, which, to be fair, were decent. For the most part, however, this story seems pointless.


This wasn't a terrible episode, but it wasn't very good either. It had some good funny moments, but each story also had its issues, whether it was lacking in believability or originality.

Score: 5/10

What did you think of "CHiPs and Salsa"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Modern Family S9E18 Review

Yes, this episode of Modern Family is called "Daddy Issues." The writers really did think that was a good idea. But these are the same people that have been writing for this season of Modern Family, so I shouldn't be surprised.


S9E18 "Daddy Issues"

It's Phil and Claire's anniversary again (even though it was in the fall one season and in the winter in another), and this time it's Phil struggling when it comes to an anniversary gift, not Claire. After an unsuccessful mall trip, Phil tries to get Joe to figure out what Claire got him, and there is a hilarious moment where Claire blew an air horn at the phone strapped to Joe, and he shouts "Why would you do that? My ears are still developing!" Joe has been the biggest delight recently, impressing while other parts of the show have been disappointing. There was also a funny moment where Phil answers the phone while it's still strapped to Joe.

The gift that Claire has for Phil turns out to be a night in their old apartment. It's really nice to see something that was important to their life in the past, and it's great to see Claire excited about getting Phil such a good gift. In the end, Phil does get to help, as when things begin to go very wrong, he cleans it up. It was a sweet moment for the two of them, both contributing to a wonderful night. There was also a funny joke in the tag where the mop that Phil got can do everything, except mop.

After an initial scene that doesn't do a very good job of introducing viewers to the story with Mitch, Cam, and Lily this week, a meeting with a teacher at Lily's school causes Mitch and Cam to realize how puberty is affecting Lily, and how they are not totally prepared to handle that. This is an interesting topic for Modern Family to explore, Lily going through puberty when she has two dads. Mitch and Cam worry that straight parents have strengths that they do not, but there is a funny twist here when Lily's friends turn out to be interested when the two provide advice on how to get a boy's interest.

When a former boyfriend of Gloria's visits who she was seeing while she was with Javier, Jay notices that he looks a lot like Manny. When Alex stops by the house, she makes the same observation, but neither Manny nor the ex seem to notice. Gloria gets home, and she mistakes her ex for Manny. Jay and Gloria talk about the possibility of this man being Manny's father, and Alex shows up with test results that show that he is. In a twist, it turns out that this was all an April Fool's joke planned by Gloria. I don't believe that the show has every done April Fool's before, so I liked that they did it here, and it was believable that Gloria would go to great lengths for a joke. The best part here though was everyone else's reaction to how far Gloria took the joke.


Nothing about this episode completely stood out, but each story had its enjoyable moments. An interesting topic was explored with Mitch and Cam, and April Fool's was a funny thing for the show to explore, even if the story wasn't that interesting leading up to that.

Score: 7/10

What did you think of "Daddy Issues"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Modern Family S9E17 Review

Intelligence is a theme for the Dunphy family in this week's Modern Family when Haley brings her professor boyfriend home.


S9E17 "Royal Visit"

As Phil and Claire prepare for lunch with Haley and her boyfriend, they express their surprise at Haley's improved intelligence, which is hilarious, and Claire ends up commenting how she and Phil are of different intelligence levels and work. She has a hilarious response when Phil asks who she thinks is smarter: "I think I'm smart enough to not have this conversation." There are some funny moments as the lunch happens, but the highlight of this story is after, when Haley causes Alex to realize how she treats attractive, dumb people, prompting Alex to be nicer to her new boyfriend.

Jay and Gloria go to a birthday party for one of Joe's friends, and become jealous of the parents. It's obvious where the episode is going when the mom is introduced, yet the show goes to lengths to prove the point. This then somehow leads to Gloria refusing to pull over for a police officer, and instead speeding and hiding in a parking garage. The connection here is a stretch, and so is the ending, where they decide to teach Joe that being cool isn't important, and then Jay doesn't confess like he said he would.

In this edition of Mitch and Cam are selfish people that can't get along, Cam finds out on a yoga retreat that the Kansas City Royals are playing Spring Training games right next door, so he sneaks away and lies to Mitch. Mitch obviously finds out, and the two continue to fight as they go into a silent meditation. The resolution here is weak, as both Mitch and Cam believe that the other accepted responsibility for the fight, and then undermined when Cam discovers that Mitch wrote an extra message on the ball that Cam got signed.


One very strong story couldn't save this episode weighed down by two weak ones. The Dunphys were easily the highlight of this week's episode, as they were the funniest and their story made sense. The other stories had occasional funny moments saving them from being complete disasters, but I was still not a fan of either at all.

Score: 5/10

What did you think of "Royal Visit"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Modern Family S9E16 Review

In unlikely storylines this week, Haley's new boss lets Haley and her family stay in her country house, and Gloria and Mitch get invited to a party at Oprah's, but can't bring anyone else. Yes, things are getting completely unrealistic when the family goes on a wine weekend.


S9E16 "Wine Weekend"

The six parents, along with Haley and Manny, go on a vacation together, as Haley's boss is letting them use a house of hers. Haley's boss letting them use the house feels far-fetched, but how they are able to stay in the house isn't really focused on. The episode mostly relies on secrets, Claire and Jay are each keeping secrets from their spouses, Claire getting rid of things of Phil's that she doesn't like and Jay has brought Stella along. Mitch and Gloria are invited to a party at Oprah's, but keep it a secret because they can't bring anyone. Phil and Cam decide to become a hip hop dance duo. Meanwhile, Manny is disappointed that he doesn't get to participate in wine tasting, and was brought along to be a designated driver.

Claire's getting rid of Phil's things on vacation seems a bit harsh, but Jay is the focus of their part of the episode. Jay's obsession with Stella is usually really funny, but I found it to be a bit too much in this episode. I found the fact that Gloria and Mitch would be able to go Oprah's very unrealistic, and Mitch stealing something seemed very bizarre. Phil and Cam is the part here that the writers obviously thought would be very funny, but as a result it feels like they put little effort into it, causing it to fall fairly flat.

Haley discovers that the tiara that no one was supposed to touch has been cracked, and all of the adults had touched it. Manny decides to investigate, to prove that he is believable as an investigator, after he got poor reviews playing an investigator in a play. Everything about Manny in this is fairly annoying, and it is strange that Haley seems smarter than him here, but the investigation is fairly entertaining, as the family members try to cover up what their night has consisted of. The reveal that Haley cracked the tiara was a fairly clever twist to add at the end.


The idea that the episode tried to pull off was an interesting one, it was just not very funny, and Manny was fairly annoying throughout the whole episode. The cracked tiara plot devise worked, but the rest of the episode didn't really.

Score: 5/10

What did you think of "Wine Weekend"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Modern Family S9E15 Review

Honestly, I have been dreading this episode. The two plots of the episode mentioned in the press release sounded like the show at its worst. But, I'm watching and reviewing anyway.


S9E15 "Spanks for the Memories"

I don't even want to recap the beginning of Jay and Gloria's story in much detail. Basically, Jay overhears a conversation Gloria has and believes it is in a different context, and when he makes a move based on this, things go poorly. For some reason, Jay decides his daughter is the right place to go after an issue in the bedroom, and this conversation is incredibly uncomfortable. At least the show is aware of that, and has Claire express it. Gloria, meanwhile, turns to Mitch and Cam. Their advice leads to a scene that's just as cringe-inducing as the earlier one, as Gloria decides to return the favor. In the end, Jay and Gloria decide to actually talk instead of just trying to guess at what the other wants, and, as always in sitcoms, that's the happy ending.

Mitch has a new job, so he and Cam decide to brag about it to their friends. Luckily, this story isn't obnoxious like it seemed like it would be. When Mitch finds out that the company he just got hired by is going down the drain, which the show made obvious was coming, he tries to keep his friends from finding out about that. Their attempts to hide this are pretty funny, and in the end their friends don't pity them in the way that they were expecting.

Phil and Alex have a nice story this week, as Alex thinks that she has to look out for Phil, but it turns out that Phil is still parenting her. Alex stops by Phil's magic shop, and ends up taking his place in a board game against the person who works a board game shop next to his. There are some funny moments here, as Phil isn't very competitive, but Alex easily brings him from doing poorly to almost winning. But, Phil's philosophy actually starts to make some sense to Alex, as she realizes that maybe she doesn't need to take part in a stressful internship, and can take a summer to herself. It's a sweet ending, as Phil proves to have some wisdom, even if he isn't smart like Alex.


This episode wasn't bad like I was expecting. While Jay and Gloria's part of the episode was exactly like I was expecting it to be, Mitch and Cam were better than I expected, and Phil and Alex's story, which ABC didn't reveal anything about before the episode, was really delightful. This was an episode with some really good parts and some really bad parts.

Score: 5.5/10

What did you think of "Spanks for the Memories"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Modern Family S9E14 Review

One problem that the Olympics cause for shows is that they can't air Valentine's Day episodes close to the holiday. Modern Family ends up airing one this year anyway, just two weeks after the day.


S9E14 "Written in the Stars"

At the start of the episode, Jay is about to put his Valentine's Day into action, but it's lame so Claire and Phil stop him. He ends up taking a page out of their book, and the two have a roleplaying evening. Gloria is very over-the-top as she explains her background to a bartender, and it is very funny. The two run into an issue when someone who works at the hotel thinks that Gloria is a prostitute, which leads to a funny scene where Jay and Gloria prove that they are married.

Phil and Claire's Valentine's Day leads them to watching Joe for Jay and Gloria, which leads to some creepy moments, as Joe wants Claire to be his Valentine. While I did not like the idea for this story, especially considering how Manny has also been quite creepy before, the young actor Jeremy Maguire was actually funny. He has really gotten a lot better this season, with many enjoyable moments. The way that Phil convinced him to not go after Claire was a really sweet scene though, so this story wasn't as bad as I was dreading it would be.

Mitch and Cam unintentionally end up ruining Luke's Valentine's Day, as the badmouth him in front of his date. It's enjoyable as Mitch and Cam express how they don't want to spend their Valentine's Day around Luke, and then realize what they did. The best part, however, is when they take Luke to convince the girl to give him a chance, and their intensity ends up scaring him off. This story felt a little bit typical for a Modern Family story, but it was still really enjoyable.

The weakest parts of the episode dealt with Haley's date for Valentine's. The date goes to the obvious places, as the professor realizes they might not be right for each other considering their differences, and she realizes how much more he has done with his life than she has with hers. However, these things end up not really mattering to them in the end. I'm sure they will at some point in the (hopefully very) near future, but not today. Meanwhile, Alex interprets a phone call from her professor as him asking her to come, and is disappointed when she sees that Haley returned to him. That layer to the story seems unnecessary, and is just sad for Alex.


Two of the stories tonight were really good, and not just season 9 level, but actually very enjoyable and funny. While creepy Joe and the Dunphy daughters weren't as good, at least the former story had its moments, and the latter wasn't awful. All together, I would say this is one of the better season 9 episodes, and I actually enjoyed it.

Score: 7/10

What did you think of "Written in the Stars"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Modern Family S9E13 Review

This week's episode of Modern Family includes a closet rivalry, a lost Luke, a guest at Cam and Mitch's house, and a job interview for Haley. That's pretty much all that happens, but it turns out that's all that's necessary for an episode of Modern Family in season nine.


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!

Modern Family S9E12 Review

The 200th episode of Modern Family has a theme of death after Phil has to go to the hospital. While Claire searches for an important teddy bear for Phil, the other two stories of the episode talk about death.


S9E12 "Dear Beloved Family"

The episode begins with Phil having stomach pain. He is taken to the hospital, and the entire family comes to the hospital to comfort him. However, they don't stay for long, as it seems the whole point of that for most of the family was to cause conflicts. Mitch and Cam end up talking about if one of them would get remarried if the other one died, and Joe asks his parents about death.

Claire spends the episode searching for a bear that Phil won after a lot of trying that members of the family have with them during surgeries. There are some funny moments here, such as the joke about Claire looking through Luke's drawers, and when she believes that the bear is in the pile of bears that Joe has. The highlights here though are the sincere moments. When Claire arrives at Manny's dorm, she reflects on how fearless Phil is, and when she returns to the hospital, Phil reveals that he had her search for the bear to get her mind off of his surgery. However, that seems strange considering Phil's condition when he mentioned the bear.

The set-up for Mitch and Cam's conflict is obvious. I'm sure any regular Modern Family viewer knew as soon as Cam responded to Mitch's comment about Claire moving on if Phil dies that this would be what the two talked about throughout the episode. Cam pries out of Mitch who he would be interested on dating if he died, and then invites that guy over. It's a typical instance of Cam overreacting to something, and seemingly intentionally making the situation worse.

When Joe asks Jay and Gloria about death, Jay insists that he take the question since Gloria is too blunt when it comes to death. However, both of them end up being too far in either direction. Jay says that they might never die due to scientific advancements, which causes Joe to be careless. Then, Gloria says that there are plenty of ways that Joe could end up dying, which leads to a depressing party, which is the funniest part of this story. I also really liked the ending, how Joe said he didn't know if he'd ever laugh again, and then laughed at Manny's hair when he entered.


Claire's part of the episode was the highlight, with great moments both funny and sincere. Jay, Gloria, and Joe were also enjoyable. Mitch and Cam easily had the weakest part of the episode, bringing down what was an otherwise perfectly solid episode.

Score: 7/10

What did you think of "Dear Beloved Family"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Modern Family S9E11 Review

In this week's episode, Claire wants to put a she shed in her backyard, Cam finds out something that he didn't know about his family, and Joe turns out to be great at golfing.


S9E11 "He Said, She Shed"

Claire wants to put a she shed in the backyard, but the homeowners association turns her down. This makes Claire angry, and she goes pretty crazy, as she sometimes does, though it is a bit over-the-top. Luke reveals to Phil that he is responsible for the rejection, and it's funny when he reveals that he thinks that he and Phil have a signal. Phil tries to stop Claire before she embarrasses herself, which I feel like he has done before, but he is too late. Phil runs home, and it's pretty funny when he thinks that Claire is right behind him. Luke covers for Phil, which also feels like something that has been done before, but it works, and in the end the guys get the batting cage they wanted, but Claire uses it a lot.

Cam discovers that his childhood wasn't as perfect as he remembers it to be while he is preparing to have a bunch of girls that Lily is trying to impress over. The whole salon part of the story is pointless. It leads to a couple of joke opportunities, but story-wise there was no need for it. Mitch takes Cam to his therapist, but there Cam works out his issues without needing any help. This is unrealistic, but it's funny when Mitch gets annoyed by this.

Jay decides to have Joe try golf, and he turns out to be great at it. As Jay would, he pushes Joe, and puts him in a competition. There are also some funny moments where he tells Manny not to eat or drink certain things because they are for Joe. In a lot of ways, this reminds me of the season one episode "En Garde" when Jay was excited about how good Manny was at fencing. However, this story is different enough that it doesn't feel like it's copying that episode, it just feels true to Jay's character. In the end, the pressure ends up being too much for Joe and he lashes out. This conclusion is quite funny, and I really like how entertaining Joe is being now.


Jay and Joe had the best story of the night, and while the other stories had issues, they weren't anything too severe, and they had their funny moments. For a Modern Family season 9 episode, this was a stronger one.

Score: 7/10

What did you think of "He Said, She Shed"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Modern Family S9E10 Review

This week on Modern Family, James Van Der Beek guest stars as Pam's ex-boyfriend Bo.


S9E10 "No Small Feet"

Claire and Jay are both very excited when Pritchett's Closets gets some recognition, but they both consider it to be just their accomplishments, not the other person's. Jay is completely obnoxious about this, and it's unbearable. Meanwhile, Luke and Alex are selling Alex's used shoes online to, as they put it, "feet freaks." When Claire and Jay discover that they are using the company's shipping for that, the two argue about who is responsible for their company's success by arguing about who is responsible for Luke and Alex's success, though the comparison is obviously flawed.

Pam's ex-boyfriend Bo, who is also the father of her baby, shows up. Mitch and Cam are overwhelmed by Bo's looks, and encourage Pam to give him a second chance. I find it hard to believe that they would be so overwhelmed by his looks, but it doesn't last for too long, once Mitch is reminded how horrible Bo is when he discovers that Bo has had a girl waiting for him in the car the whole time. This story doesn't really have much of a point, and it makes the characters seem very shallow.

Phil needs to make a sale, but the woman he is trying to sell a house to senses a bad spirit in the house. So, Phil recruits Gloria to get rid of the spirits. This should lead to some comedic opportunities, but instead it leads to a bland story. Nothing interesting really happens here, and the resolution doesn't really wrap up the story, with Phil and Gloria discovering that there aren't spirits in the walls, but bees.


This episode of Modern Family failed in many ways. First, it felt uncomfortable for a Modern Family episode. Alex and Luke's story didn't feel like territory that Modern Family would go into, and Mitch and Cam's random horny moments when dealing with their cat were very unusual. In addition to that, Jay and Claire, particularly Jay, went beyond their usual obnoxiousness, while Mitch and Cam were unusually shallow. Finally, Phil and Gloria's story was just plain uninteresting.

Score: 2.5/10

What did you think of "No Small Feet"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Modern Family S9E9 Review

In this week's Modern Family, Phil takes on the outdoors, Manny brings a girl home that Gloria isn't happy about, and Cam tries to make a difference while being acting vice principal.


S9E9 "Tough Love"

Phil has decided to spend a week in the wild for reasons that don't make any sense, and I don't even believe that they would make sense to Phil. Phil, however, discovers that the wild is more challenging than he thought it would be. Also, Claire drives a truck when she ends up down a driver, which never really serves much of a purpose. Phil reveals to Claire that he didn't choose to leave the people he was working with, but he was asked to resign. There wasn't really a coherent story here, and it wasn't even funny either. It relied to much on Phil in the wild, which didn't wasn't as entertaining as the show thought it would be.

Manny brings a teacher from his school home because apparently that's the kind of thing that Manny does now. I wouldn't have believed that this is something that Manny would do, but it fits into his behavior this season, which has made him a less interesting and likable of a character. Gloria is convinced that this isn't a romantic thing, but she eventually must realize that it is. The ending of this story comes out of the blue, when Gloria discovers that Manny isn't all grown up when she sees him sleeping next to Joe.

Early in the episode, Mitch points out to Cam how gullible he is, though Cam refuses to see that. When a kid in detention films Cam and posts it online, the kid convinces Cam that he's a narc and did it to fit in. It's hilarious when Cam tells Mitch about it and is very dramatic about it. In the end, Cam discovers that the kid was actually telling the truth, an ending that's really similar to Mitch and Jay's story in "Fifteen Percent". Also, throughout this, there's some mildly funny moments when Mitch intends to have Lily watch a doll, but it gets swapped with Pam's baby, though the fact that this would happen could totally be seen coming at at the beginning of the scene where it happened.


Mitch and Cam's parts of the episode were enjoyable, so it's really too bad that the episode was dragged down by the other parts of it, which weren't funny or coherent stories.

Score: 3/10

What did you think of "Tough Love"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Modern Family S9E8 Review

Celebrity encounters is the topic of this week's Modern Family, as the family members remember when they met various celebrities.


S9E8 "Brushes With Celebrity"

Phil gets to show a house to Chris Martin of Coldplay, which he is of course very excited about. However, he starts having groin pain, which disrupts his showing of the house. He tries to ignore it, but ends up passing out. At the hospital, Phil discovers that Chris Martin is still there, which he likes at first, but he soon starts to become annoyed with the lack of privacy he now has. But things become alright for Phil when Chris Martin sings the song that Phil wrote. There is also a very funny ending, where the doctors and nurses ignore patients.

Mitch and Cam see the host of a gardening show that they watch, and they try to get him to offer to improve their backyard. They remember that couples on the show often have conflict, but they suddenly can't stop agreeing, which serves as a funny commentary on how often Mitch and Cam bicker on the show. Their obvious staged conflict is funny, and it's great that it goes further, with Cam actually ending up offended then the couple having a sincere moment. The end of the story is also great when they confront him, and at the end get mad at him, when he doesn't say yes when they ask him if he would pick them if he still had the show. This was a great story to bring Mitch and Cam together for a common goal, and it had funny moments.

Jay quickly goes from trying to get out of jury duty to embracing it when a football player he really likes joins the jury. This contrast is great, but the story gets better. Jay behaves like a schoolgirl with a crush, which is very entertaining and different than how we usually see Jay behave. Of course, his obsession leads to him offending the football player, and later he gets removed from the jury. However, things weren't all bad for Jay, as the restraining order he is given has the football player's signature on it, which is very excited about.

While Manny and Gloria are at a diner, Manny sees a playwright that he is a huge fan of. He goes to the playwright's table, but he is rude to him. This obviously angers Gloria. Manny tries to keep her from confronting her, but he ends up being unsuccessful, which is very funny. There is an ironic ending, when Manny and Gloria realize how the playwright must feel when people approach him, but aside from this and Gloria distracting Manny, there isn't that much that's entertaining about this story.


While certainly not one of Modern Family's strongest episodes, it is one of the show's strongest recent episodes. I haven't been that impressed with the show as of late, but, while this episode wasn't outstanding, it entertained throughout. Manny and Phil's stories were okay, but Jay and Mitch and Cam's stronger two stories made up for it.

Score: 7.5/10

What did you think of "Brushes With Celebrity"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Modern Family S9E7 Review

It's Thanksgiving again on Modern Family, and this year the family members have secrets that they are keeping from the rest of the family.


S9E7 "Winner Winner Turkey Dinner"

The episode begins on Thanksgiving dinner, with Jay congratulating his family on their successes. However, the looks on their faces reveal that there is obviously more to the story, and the episode flashes back to show what those stories are.

Cam won an important football game, but he was only able to do so because he overheard the other team's coach on his walkie-talkie. Phil is too afraid to be able to do his magic trick that he planned to use to promote his new magic shop. Claire came in first place in a race, but took an accidental shortcut. Mitch claimed to have fought off an intruder, but really just had an unfortunate incident with nun-chucks.

These four aren't the only family members with secrets. Luke, trying to cover up not supervising Joe while babysitting him, claims to be good at photoshop, and has to have Manny photoshop things for him. Jay is also hiding something from the family, he caused Joe to get expelled. Finally, Gloria didn't really reach the step goal that she claimed to.

With the amount of things that the episode has going on, only one story gets further developed. Phil's victory in the end was a nice way to end the episode, though it was weird that he was the only one not deceiving everyone. Also, there was a moment of obvious product placement when  Gloria asks a Google Home device how long it is until the turkey is ready. Can't shows be more subtle with this? There were some funny moments in the episode, but not that many.


This was a fairly weak episode of Modern Family, but it wasn't too bad, it wasn't completely unfunny and the characters weren't obnoxious in ways that they sometimes are.

Score: 5/10

What did you think of "Winner Winner Turkey Dinner"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Modern Family S9E6 Review

This week on Modern Family it's Jay and Gloria's ten year wedding anniversary, and the whole family is celebrating it.


S9E6 "Ten Years Later"

Phil is preparing a magic trick for the Jay and Gloria's tenth anniversary party, and in his preparation he discovers that he was supposed to be offered a magic shop fifteen years earlier, but it was given to someone else because he never returned their call. It's funny when he gets dramatic when he discovers that Jay got the call and Claire decided not to tell him. In the end, Claire gets him the magic shop, which seems like too easy of a solution. This story is fairly simplistic, and doesn't really resolve anything, as Phil doesn't see how childish he is being and that Claire was focused on the big picture.

Gloria is upset that she no longer fits into her wedding dress, which is part of Phil's magic trick. Jay doesn't know why she is upset, and thinks it's because Manny isn't attending, which is because he told Manny to stay away from the house and spend time at college. Jay's attempts to make Gloria happy are funny, and Joe gets some good moments here, as he has been this season. Manny, however, I'm not really enjoying at college. His behavior is getting strange. The end of the episode, where Jay finds out why Gloria is upset, leads to a sweet moment where Jay tells her that she doesn't have to keep up with these high standards she is holding herself to.

Cam, being the attention-seeking and approval-craving person that he is, plans to perform with Mitch at the party, but Mitch doesn't want to. Cam gets Lily to be Mitch's replacement in order to get Mitch on board, since Lily is such a bad singer. It seems really petty for Cam to use Lily's lack of talent like that, but Mitch agrees. At the party, Mitch refuses to give Cam a drum solo, which makes Cam upset. It's hilarious when, while Mitch tries to comfort Cam, a few of Gloria's relatives act as Cam's studio audience. Mitch tells Cam that he wouldn't have been able to do what he did without Cam pushing him to do it, so the applause was for him too. I don't really get what this story is trying to communicate, and Cam's behavior throughout it is very annoying.


Jay, Gloria, and Joe were the highlight of this episode, as they were able to be funny without being obnoxious. Phil and Cam both got a bit that way, especially Cam. Also, what is with how Modern Family likes to have most of the kids appear in an episode but not really do anything? Luke and Alex made brief appearances, and Haley was absent this week.

Score: 5/10

What did you think of "Ten Years Later"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Modern Family S9E5 Review

This Halloween episode of Modern Family is really only a Halloween episode for Claire and Phil, because they are the two that actually care about Halloween apparently (though the rest of the family cared last year).


S9E5 "It's the Great Pumpkin, Phil Dunphy"

Phil and Claire are the ones in the Halloween spirit this week, with Phil engaging in a prank war with two young neighbors, and Claire bringing Halloween to the office, though the mother of the two kids is obviously opposed to the prank war, and Claire's employees reveal that they were not fans of Claire's Halloween enthusiasm. Phil and Claire talk, and they realize that they don't care what everyone thinks, they will celebrate Halloween. This story stayed true to their characters, but was not funny.

While Jay works on their kitchen, Mitch and Cam are staying with Jay and Gloria. I don't see the purpose of this, other than for them to annoy each other, which of course they do. This, however, is exactly what happened in the season three episode "Me? Jealous?" Gloria and Joe are frustrated with Cam's behavior, which is obnoxious beyond what I would expect from Cam, and Mitch is irritated by how long Jay is taking to complete the kitchen. After the kitchen is completed, it burns down again, which makes this all feel pointless. This story wasn't all bad though. There were funny moments, like the fact that Cam thinks Gloria's hometown stories seem made-up, and that Gloria thinks her accent is almost completely gone.

The Dunphy children have their own embarrassing days. Haley auditions to perform on a cruise ship, which is a very random thing for her to do. Luke has been seeing two different girls and loses both of them (are we supposed to feel bad for him, because I don't think that anyone does). Alex breaks up with Ben (which has obviously been coming, but is treated like a minor plot point, when they have been together for a little while), and discovers that he cheated on her. Thank God the two of them are over, they were so uninteresting, and Ben was an annoying character.


The fact that Claire and Phil were the only ones celebrating Halloween was odd, and it's not like the writers didn't do Halloween stories for the rest of the family because they came up with better ones. Gloria and Cam's part of the episode was unoriginal, Jay and Mitch's was pointless, and the Dunphy kid mini-stories weren't any good. There was also very few funny moments in the episode. I would say that this is actually Modern Family's worst episode yet.

Score: 2.5/10

What did you think of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Phil Dunphy"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Modern Family S9E3 Review

In this week's episode, Phil is sure he's going to have a bad day, Gloria refuses to admit she's been in an accident, and Mitch wants a say in the kitchen remodel.


S9E3 "Catch of the Day"

Phil is convinced that he is going to have a bad day due to a superstition that he has. It seems weird that we would never know about this superstition until now, but this is the kind of thing sitcoms often introduce in their later years. Claire is in denial about this superstition carrying any weight, though enough coincidences convince her. The whole point of this story seems to be for Ty Burrell physical comedy opportunities, which can be very funny, but a story definitely needs more than that.

Jay believes that Gloria has been in an accident, but she refuses to admit it. It's funny when he tries to bribe Joe to get information, and even funnier when Gloria uses nonsense logic to try to prove that a picture on her phone doesn't prove anything. Jay goes to talk to Manny, who tells him that as long as Gloria doesn't admit she's been in an accident, he knows that's the worst thing she has done. When Jay returns home, however, Gloria admits that she got in an accident.

Mitch and Cam are continuing to disagree about things in the kitchen remodel. Mitch also feels like he is being treated like a trophy wife, which he doesn't like. While most of this story isn't that great, it has an ending that has both a sweet part and a funny one, where Cam agrees to something Mitch wanted, and the construction worker calls Cam "boss" because he forgot his name, and it turns out that they have been calling him by the wrong name.

There are also two smaller stories this week. The first involves Haley, who Claire and Phil are trying to teach responsibility to. It's really sad and annoying that Haley has become even more irresponsible recently, rather than growing up, like she was for a while. Without her phone, Haley drastically changes, which is typical of a show to do and unrealistic, but funny. The second of these stories has to do with Cam eavesdropping on his sister. This story doesn't seem to have much of a point in the episode, aside from making fun of their Missouri upbringing and Cam's protectiveness in largely unfunny ways.


A big problem with this episode were stories that felt pointless. That would be Phil and Claire, and both of the smaller stories. Luckily, there were better parts of the episode, such as the ending of Mitch and Cam's story, and some great scenes in Jay's story, such as the one with Joe and the ice cream, and the one where Gloria remains in denial despite the picture. However, these good moments can't save the whole episode, which put a lot of the show's flaws in its old age on display.

Score: 4/10

What did you think of "Catch of the Day"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Modern Family S9E2 Review

Modern Family will have two kids off at college this year, and this episode sees both of them at college, one for the first time, and the other causing her parents to realize how much she has grown up.


S9E2 "The Long Goodbye"

Manny is going off to college, and he wants to avoid a goodbye that's too emotional. Gloria reluctantly agrees, and they succeed at first, but things get more complicated when Manny has to run home to get something, and then when Jay and Gloria both individually return to Manny's dorm with things. The ending here is really sweet, whenever Jay gets emotional it's always a great moment. It's also funny when each of Manny's roommates end up going elsewhere.

Kids growing up is also the theme of Alex, Claire, and Phil's story. Phil and Claire visit her because they are concerned, but discover that they are concerned about the wrong things. Phil playing rock-paper-scissors with the robot is hilarious, and both Claire and Phil get some solid physical comedy in when they have to go through an air shower to get to the room that Alex is in.

Haley is now working with, or technically for, Luke at the country club, but she ends up meeting someone who she sees as her future self, played wonderfully by Vanessa Williams. The scene where Haley has to decide between Luke and her is set up in a clever way, where the two serve as an angel and devil on each shoulder, though the show has done this joke before.

After a fire in their kitchen, Mitch and Cam have to remodel the room. Mitch is convinced that Cam is responsible for the fire, intentionally setting it, either consciously or subconsciously, because he wanted to remodel it. However, Mitch ends up discovering that he is responsible. There are some funny moments here, such as when Mitch asks "Which is it, fun or like camping?" but the story feels like one the show has done before.


Manny's story was the highlight of this week's episode for me, though it was closely followed by Alex's, primarily because of Ty Burrell's performance. Haley's was enjoyable as well, with its strongest part being Vanessa Williams, and Mitch and Cam's was okay.

Score: 8/10

What did you think of "The Long Goodbye"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!