Modern Family, "Come Fly With Me": Play it again, Cam

Quick spoilers for last night's "Modern Family" coming up just as soon as I buy a diaper shed...

"Come Fly With Me" wasn't as laugh-out-loud funny as the first two episodes, though it had its moments, particularly Mitchell's rapidly-developing love of CostCo ("Cam, what is this place?") and a milk-mustachioed Manny turning out to be such a good listener for Claire's problems.

But in many ways, I enjoyed it just as much as the first two, even if the humor was gentler (other than, of course, Phil taking an airplane to the face). Where the first two episodes largely kept the three families separate(*), this one showed that there are many potentially amusing combinations they can do with these characters. So it's not just going to be Claire being impatient with Phil every week, or Jay not understanding how to talk to Manny; here we see that you can put Gloria with Alex, or Jay with Phil, and there's a distinct relationship, and good jokes to tell, etc. For the show to work long-term, that's very important. I look forward to seeing Cameron and Mitchell worked in more with the other families in the coming weeks, as they were mostly on their own (and without the baby) here.

(*) The pilot did so because the creators wanted it to be a surprise that the three families were related. Then ABC marketing decided the show would be an easier sell if they could explain that part. And as someone who figured out the "twist" a few minutes into the pilot, I was relieved when everyone said it was okay for critics to mention it in their initial reviews, because it was going to be awkward to write around.

Also, even though the series has developed a bit of a formula where each episode ends on Jay doing or saying something heartwarming about his family, I like that both the pilot and this episode laced it with humor. Jay's making nice with Phil, and then Cam, as a favor to his kids, but he's obviously going through the motions - yet to Claire, and then Mitchell, it's the token effort that matters. So it works on both the sweet and comic level at once.

What did everybody else think?