Quick Take: Modern Family, “After the Fire”
“It just slipped out. Those are the worst three words I could say to Phil.” – Jay
Review: Modern Family, “After the Fire”
(S0308) When their neighbors lose their home in a fire, Claire rallies her family together to organize a relief effort for them. The family bonds over their different efforts (perhaps a little too deeply), but everyone takes the opportunity to prove themselves – or prove their points – to each other.
Before things really get rolling, however, Jay pulls his back lifting boxes, giving Cam the chance to show-off his alleged driving skills with a moving truck and leaving Jay to be rehabilitated by Phil’s magical massaging hands.
Claire is left behind at the house with Mitchell and Gloria, but she feels like the chemistry is missing between her and her brother. She learns that Mitchell has been having coffee with their technical step-mother, and she feels like that relationship is overshadowing what she and her brother used to have. She runs off to Jay to whine, but quickly realizes that she might be displacing her own insecurities onto Mitchell, thinking that Gloria favours him. Which she would be correct in assuming, as she discovers.
Phil’s massage, meanwhile, leads Jay to prematurely emasculate himself by letting an “I love you” slip, which he thinks Phil is about to blow out of proportion when he hurriedly leaves the room. Phil has bigger fish to fry, however, as he’s been offered a partnership at the new business his former colleagues are heading up. He turns to Jay for advice, but still manages to make the conversation a little awkward for him.
Luke and Manny are destined for at least one epic shenanigan before the season’s end; Luke’s influence brings out the best of Manny’s Colombian side, which he uses to keep Luke in tow while they try and track down a toy helicopter they took from the donation box. The helicopter is literally held over Luke and Manny’s heads, giving Alex the chance to show off to Hayley that, despite her sister’s qualms, there are those who find her “nerd” hot.
Beforehand, Alex and Haley tag along with Cam while he retrieves Jay’s truck, but they’re hesitant to admit that he’s a good driver. Cam thinks that their tentativeness stems from deep-seated discriminatory attitudes, but for once, he should have just taken their reactions personally. We’re also treated to a couple brief glimpses of Fizzbo, Cam’s clown-counterpart, as a result of his “sleep-clowning.”
Phil seems about ready to jump into his new career opportunity, but he doesn’t make good choices under pressure. I really hope that his alpaca purchase wasn’t a cheap one-off gag, but more Fizzbo wouldn’t be objected to either. As guest-star heavy as the first part of the season has been, Modern Family proves that they don’t need the extra support comedic support – we’re just supremely lucky when they treat us to familiar faces.
I can see that Modern Family will be on TV for many years judging by its success which must be a relief for the actors and crew. I love this show though and found out that my extended family loves it too when we went on our annual camping trip in Southern California. I was the hero of the trip when I unveiled my DISH Network employee Tailgaiter portable dish and TV. We all watched some great shows and bonded over talking about the plot like here with Jay and Phil.