Modern Family: “Airport 2010” (1.22)
One thing that Modern Family does extremely well is take universal human experiences and throw them at the show’s characters. This can lead to somewhat dull plots at times, but conversely it leads to more “I know exactly how s/he feels” moments than any other show out there, which I think is part of its charm. As the title implies, “Airport 2010” is an episode entirely revolving around the airport experience and the boredom, frustration and annoyance flying causes in all of our lives. It’s why they’re so inspirational to bad stand-up routines and a constant source of discussion at holiday gatherings.
That said, the show skipped out on easy jokes about security lines or peanuts and instead made the subject entirely its own. For Jay’s birthday, Gloria is taking him to Hawaii. Not only that, as a surprise she’s taking Jay’s whole family with him so that all three parts of the show’s cast can follow along. He’s less than thrilled about this development but there’s not much he can do about it. Still, his frustration ends up being one source of entirely realistic entertainment for the episode, and the impetus for the whole event.
Due to either Mitchell not asking Cam help pack or, alternately, Cam not listening to Mitchell that he should help pack, Mitchelll forgets his wallet. Phil offers to rush him back to the house to grab it before the plane leaves, though apparently Phil is the slowest driver in the universe. They have to break into Mitchell’s house because he left his keys with Cam at the airport but make it back in the nick of time. This may seem pointless, but it’s actually thematically relevant and is about drawing parallels between the two Pritchard siblings and their spouses. It’s not the subtlest of plots, but it works out well and leads to some funny moments.
Phil being off on this journey causes Claire to freak out. Well, freak out more than she would otherwise, because she has a crushing fear of flying. Phil not being around leads to her confessing issues about her worries that he doesn’t listen to her or care about her, but really it’s just that he’s extremely unobservant. He’s, for better or worse, Phil. Since she’s alone, Claire has to come up with her own solution to this problem: drinking.
Then there’s Hailey, who’s spending her time in the airport pining after a random guy she spies. When she’s finally gotten up the nerve to approach him, it turns out he’s 14. In her flirting, she’s also neglected Dylan, who spent the night sleeping next to her bed (which I find pretty silly, though I understand why they have to do this) and ends up locked in the house. I wish more was done with his situation, but as it stands this mini-plot offers the biggest laughs of the episode.
And as if there wasn’t enough going on, Manny gets questioned for his name because there’s someone on the no-fly list who’s also a Manny Delgado. Gloria heads over to help him out with this problem, and not much comes of it, but it offers some amusing if easy jokes about the state of immigrants flying in America. Plus, for some reason this subplot involves Manny dressing like he’s a dapper 60-year-old—who doesn’t want that?
This is the most well-put together episode of Modern Family we’ve had in months, with no lazy plots or parts thrown in just because. Every character was used well, right down to Lilly, and for once it felt like the actors weren’t having to carry the writing, they were just coasting along with the episode with the rest of us. This is the Modern Family I hope to see every week, one of the ones that makes the show’s occasional dips in quality look so jarring in comparison. I guess all it took was sweeps to bring it out.
Stray Observations:
“I wanted to hang out with Gloria and read my Robert Ludlum novels”—this is pretty much a description of my dad’s ideal vacation. It’s so spot-on it almost hurts.
“Jasper is a legacy at Happy Time Pre-School.” – Jasper wins a best new character award. I’m kind of hoping he never shows up but remains referenced.
“He’s out of your league: he’s reading a book.”
“At the end of the day it is still a building, on its side, being thrown from one place to another.”
“Since you’re leaving for a week I wanted to stare at you as long as I could.”
Phil: “I’m completely cluess” – groan
Manny, explaining why he’s dressed like that: “I”m just a boy trying to bring style back to travel.”
“Soo… airports, huh?” – And a sublime pick-up line courtesy of Hailey
“Ok, where does everybody think Gloria’s money comes from?”