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!