For those who didn’t hear the unsurprising news, Modern Family got renewed this week for a second season, which means that we’re guaranteed at least one more season of dog butlers, gardener weddings, and inappropriate pictures. If you missed last night or haven’t seen the show, that sentence probably made little sense.
In “Not In My House,” we saw all three family units in conflict over, well, what can happen in their house. In the Dunphy house, Claire was raising hell over a picture of a topless woman on a tractor she found on the family computer, which she assumed belonged to Luke. Phil, however, had gotten the picture from a friend at work and let his youngest child take the brunt of Claire’s wrath. He pretends to talk to Luke about it and tells Claire not to bring it up so as not to be awkward. Meanwhile, Hailey is upset that Alex read her journal (kids really still write journals?), when it was in fact Luke. This led to perhaps the funniest moment of the episode, when Claire and Luke have a conversation, which Claire thinks is about internet porn, and Luke thinks is about reading his sister’s journal. In the end, Phil get’s busted and Luke gets let off the hook.
Meanwhile, Mitchell was bothered by the fact that Cam is “too nice.” When they saw their gardener crying outside, Mitchell wanted to bolt to go see marionettes, but Cam, doing the right thing, let’s him in and mistakenly tells him in Spanish he can basically lock himself in their bedroom. Things escalate and finally, there is a Mexican wedding in Cam and Mitchell’s house.
Jay got the best sight gags of the night, thanks to a statue of a dog butler he bought with casino winnings. Gloria hated the thing, and as Jay moved it throughout the house and repaired it, Gloria walked in to find him first holding its hand (excuse me, his hand) while talking about loving it and then holding its hand while standing with a priest after the wedding. His obliviousness to what he was doing (he was actually gluing on the hand and talking about her, holding the hand to steady it while setting it up) made a really goofy, minor story line one of the funniest parts of the episode.
All in all, “Not In My House” wasn’t exactly an episode rich with story, but was an extremely well crafted, funny episode. I go back and forth between Modern Family and Parks and Recreation as my favorite comedy, and what frequently sways me towards Modern Family is the genuine sweetness the show conveys. “Not In My House” was full of that, which made it stand out from the many other stock family comedies that have been on TV over the years. I think that, in addition to the crisp writing and comic timing, have made Modern Family such a hit. Now that we know there’s going to be a season 2 for sure, it’s good to know that we’ll be getting many more episodes like “Not In My House.”
Other Notes:
I can’t write this review without mentioning the hilarious ending over the credits, with Cam voicing the dog voice. Absolutely hysterical.
Michael’s Score: 95
Tangled Up In Wires Grade: A
Michael
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