Modern Family Season Two, See You Next Fall (episode 23)

Modern Family Season Two, See You Next Fall

            Modern Family continues to prove itself as one of the last family friendly comedies left on T.V. This episode gives each character a chance to shine, well maybe Manny didn’t have his normal sophisticated presence while drinking cups of coffee, but that can be over looked for now.

·         Jay dealt with a botched botox injection that left Manny and Gloria thinking that Jay had a stroke. Jay did this because he felt like the 40 year old inside of him was being trapped by his outer, older self.

·         Gloria had to deal with having large, ummmm, I mean God gifted assets in her life that prevented her from riding a crazy tandem bike.

·         Phil was worried because Claire normally freaks out during large events in her kids’ lives, in which the episode revolved around. So Phil was trying to have her meltdown today so he can go to Vagus with his cheerleading buddies from college.

·         Claire had to worry about Alex growing up and going to high school, the point in Haley’s life where she stopped being their little girl and started to rebel.

·         Luke thought he could move things with his mind. Classic Luke.

·         Alex was nervous about giving the speech as the Valedictorian of her middle school class. (Do middle schools’ really wear robes to their graduations?)

·         Haley fought with Alex over the content of the speech Alex was planning on giving because it bashed Alex’s classmates.

·         Cam and Mitchell dealt with their problems, as normal. Mitchell would laugh at the physical hijinks Cam would do (falling, etc). This one had the laughs but lacked something else. Bonus points for Cam calling it out when Phil and Claire fell down the hill during Alex’s speech)

At the heart of the episode was the family dealing with growing older. The subplot of jay getting botox to feel younger was discouraged by Gloria because she loves the man she married, not a younger version of him. Haley tried and succeeded in getting Alex to change the speech so that Alex could enjoy high school as part of the crowd rather than an outsider. But the main couple that this theme was present in was Clair and Phil, having to deal with another one of their kids growing up and being in high school. They were afraid of losing their little girl, remembering how Haley changed when she got into high school (and the stories they told each other about how Haley would come home and greet Phil was heartwarming and breaking at the same time). A nice blend of humor and heart at the same time.

Rating: Watch