Modern Family: The Old Wagon

Posted by: Diana Prano  •  September 24, 2010 @ 11:15am

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

The number one show on Wednesday night according to Variety! Still a great show, just not as remarkable as Season 1. Why? It's like falling in love. You can never recapture that first rush of surprise, happiness and novelty. If you're lucky though, it'll morph into something warm, reliable, comfortable and, dare I say, predictable?

There were no surprises, just a continuation of the lives of this family that I wish I was related to. As usual, for me, Eric Stonestreet (who won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series), who plays Cam, continues to be the icing on the cake. The cast is super, but he is superb! Once again, we have the perfect mix of incredible writing and amazing actors but (so far) without the element of surprise. On a negative note, the character of Jay was underutilized in this episode and the character of Gloria was too over the top. The writers need to be just a tad careful. There's a thin line between quirky and caricature.

That said, there is something to be said for predictability. Who doesn't love an old pair of broken in slippers or the lasagna your mother makes for Christmas? Ahhh... The comfort, the joy. Give me Modern Family any day -- as I said in last season's initial review, it's become an instant classic in my house.

In this episode, Phil finally agrees to sell the old station wagon that's been cluttering up the garage for years, but only after a trip down memory lane with the whole family; Cameron asks Jay for help when Mitchell decides to build a life-size princess castle for Lily (in the hopes that he can distract Mitchell with sorting nails and gluing, while he and Jay do the manly work); and Gloria is feeling squeezed out of Manny's life as he gets older and is getting even more interested in the ladies. He's like a mini Fernando Lamas circa Billy Crystal on SNL: "You look mahvelous, dahling!"

The best line in this episode is when Cam is telling the cameraman about his past experiences in trying to build something with Mitchell. "If an accident does happen, I hope he kills me. Because I don't think I would be a very inspiring disabled person." It's really not the line, it's the delivery. You've gotta see it. There's a reason it won all those Emmys last season.

Enjoy!

Tags: Modern Family, Comedy, Eric Stonestreet, Emmy

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Original Comments Posted (1)

crimson says...

Welcome back, Diana.

Sep 24, 2010 3:13pm

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