A review of last night's "Modern Family" coming up just as soon as I recreate a faux pas... "Truth Be Told" probably had too much going on, in that I didn't feel either of the Dunphy storylines so much came to an end as they ran out of time. (The Luke/Alex subplot in particular.) But it was still very funny, and a nice reminder that sometimes the singer matters more than the song, in that all of the stories were the kind I've seen a million times on other sitcoms, but worked due to the execution(*).
(*) And due to the format, of course. The pet funeral on a stage in front of a studio audience would have been painful, I think, but the quietness of it made it work.
With the show averaging 3-4 stories an episode, I tend to have my favorites, but this was the rare occasion where I felt all the plots were on par in terms of making me laugh. Just when I thought the Mitchell plot was lagging behind (since Mitchell is by design the straight man in that duo), we got the hilarious moment at the stoplight with Cam tricking Mitchell into doing the call-and-response from "Shout." Manny's story provided one great pet name after another (Shel Turtlestein is an awesome name), and another old-beyond-his-years moment for Manny as he stage-managed a dramatic confrontation with Jay in his bedroom, complete with interrogation lamp. (This was also a very good Gloria episode, between her knowing a faked crime scene when she saw one and the mourning head dress she wore to the funeral.)
Judy Greer was playing very much to type as Phil's crazy ex-girlfriend Denise, but of course she keeps getting these parts because she plays them so well, and I loved the running gag about reading Facebook messages in a sexy voice. And Alex's revenge prank on Luke was as funny as it was cruel. Poor, poor kid.
We've now had a few strong episodes in a row with the families largely separate, so hopefully I can retire that complaint. (Though I'm still looking forward to more intermingling in the future.)
What did everybody else think?
No comments:
Post a Comment