BWW Recap: Jay (and Phil and Luke) Suffer Separation Anxiety on MODERN FAMILY

Hey, all. Hope you enjoyed your short, mid-winter hiatus, and now the TV gods have rewarded our suffering by giving us a full month of new episodes! That's right, new episodes - one every week this month! Let the rejoicing begin! Here we go with the first one up:

After Gloria (and the allergist) suspects Joe's allergic to Stella, she's sent away to live with Mitch and Cam for a week, much to Jay's chagrin. He's overly attached to the dog, and feels like he's lost her to Cam. (Some fantastic one-liners in their conversation while Cam's at the dog park, though they may not have had to do with the dog - haha!) Jay tries to win her back in several ways, one being the check-up in the aforementioned phone call, the other being a particularly hilarious scene where he cooks his baby a steak dinner - "You don't know what I'm competing with over there. Cameron's wooing her with belly rubs, jewelry, kisses on the mouth..." See, I know Jay's over-affection for the dog (especially over his family) may seem a bit - nay, a lot - irrational, but Ed O'Neill plays this irrationality so well that you laugh at what he says rather than reprimand what he does.

It gets worse when Joe's rash disappears, and Jay's forced to give up the dog for good. But things take a turn when Joe's rash appears again after the dog appears - and Gloria's face cream is revealed to, in fact, be the culprit of the reaction! I chuckled when Gloria tried to fight for herself against Jay; it's such a role reversal when naggy Gloria has to defend her material belongings. I always love the dynamic between these two characters... always at each other's throats in a friendly, loving manner... and it speaks volumes to how Vergara and O'Neill relate to each other as actors. Though the plot line may not have been as fully fleshed out as it could have been, the Gloria/Jay nagging relationship coming to a head as only the MODERN FAMILY can have it do so, is, for me, this episode's saving grace.

In other news, Phil's also feeling a little bit of separation anxiety, when Luke opts to spend time with his friends over his father. Some good one liners here, but I think this plot suffered from being a victim of too many plots in one episode, and was skimmed over too quickly as a result. In my opinion, the switch to Luke feeling left out happened too fast - I would have also LOVED to have seen a scene with Phil and Andy at the mall. However, the following scene where Luke sabotages the fake open house, because he's secretly harboring the feeling that he misses his dad, was pretty adorable, despite the fact that it may have seen inappropriate given Luke's age difference from the earlier seasons. On that note, I only wonder if Luke's now a little too old to be acting out that drastically (like, maybe this would have been a better plot for S3), but on the other hand, I guess that's the point - that you're never too old to not hang out with your dad. Be right back. I'm giving mine a hug right now.

Alex is prepping for a college interview, and Haley intervenes being... Haley. The dynamic between the two sisters, as we know, couldn't be more opposite, and that's on full display as they wait outside the COFFEE SHOP for Alex to go into the interview. The difference here, however, is that instead of the typical Haley-makes-fun-of-Alex-for-being-nerdy, Alex stands up for herself: Ariel Winter does a fantastic job here - I can totally see how Alex feels that Haley doesn't understand her because she didn't take college as seriously, but still wants that respect and courtesy. Brilliant portrayal! Additionally, that's the most explosive I think I've ever seen Alex - "Can you please just. Shut. Up." Another A+ for character development. It's nice to see Alex sticking up for herself rather than being the butt of the jokes (see S6, E1; S6, E11). Regardless, the interviewer not liking the "debate team, orchestra, APs, GPA"-type, and Alex using Haley's story for her interview was an awesome, surprising twist. I just wish we had seen a resolution after the "You know it, slut!" remark. It's just not typical Alex, and I'd like to have seen a wrap-up rather than just end it there.

In Mitchell's plot, he's taking some time off from work to do freelancing work for Jay, and trying on a new persona for size while he's there. However, this new persona upsets Claire, who's the uptight, un-fun Dunphy in her , having to do all the grunt work Jay throws on her, which results in her looking like the bad guy. So, for me, the idea that Claire would turn out to be the one who was naggy, bossy, and uptight, was predictable from the beginning, I'll admit - but I still think this pairing is one of the best (as I've spoken about ad nauseam), and the one-liners were pretty spot-on: "You could call it being a 'franager.'" "But I don't have to, right?" My only complaint is that this plot, too, went by quickly, another victim of too-many-plots-in-one-episode-syndrome, but was spared by the way it ended, with Mitch stepping in for Claire as bad guy. I'll leave it to you guys to decide how funny it actually was, but let me say it showed that Mitch puts family before business or likeability - something that I'm really glad this show still pushes forward six seasons in. And bonus points for the dialogue that wove Jay's plot with Stella into the work plot with Claire and Mitch! This old one-foot-in-two-plots situation harkened back to the old days!

And, all in all, a fair outing for MODERN FAMILY this week. Looking forward to more fun in the weeks to come....

SOME FAVORITE QUOTES

- Gloria: (to Jay, re: face cream) Do you know how much this costs?

Jay: No, how much?

Gloria: DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT!

- Jay: (to Manny) You were stuffy long before Stella. Do you not remember scolding that waiter from Chuck E. Cheese for serving you from the right?

- Claire: (to Mitchell) Watch and learn. Lucy's about to get "franaged."

Mitchell: Oh, good. It's a verb, too.

- Mitchell: You know, it is really nice to be liked for who you are pretending to be.

- Jay: (re: the photo Cam sent) What the hell am I looking at?

Cam: Oh, God. Wh.. what... what did I send you?

- Phil: (to Luke, who opens the door) You're not Andy.

Luke: Sorry to disappoint you.

- Phil: How diverse is the neighborhood? I only ask because I'm married to a beautiful African-American woman. I can't say who, but you may know her from AVATAR.

- Gloria: Aww, you're cooking us a steak dinner? How sweet!

Jay: Yeah, I came home from work early to cook us dinner. That's crazy! This is for Stella!

- Jay: (re: Joe's rash) A lot of things cause rashes. Maybe he's less stressed this week than last.

- Jay: You took a three-hour nap yesterday.

Manny: I was tired from the marathon.

Jay: The DOWNTON ABBEY marathon?!

Manny: That family is exhausting.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS

- Andy's back (!!!!), and making progress with Phil. But how come we didn't see where he started?

Photo Credit: Twitter / ABC

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