BWW Recap: The Honeymoon's Over on MODERN FAMILY

Yes, as this article's title states, the honeymoon's over, and in more ways than one for every sub-family within our favorite MODERN FAMILY clan. The literal honeymoon is over for Mitch & Cam, though Cam might not think so, based on his valiant efforts to continue his and Mitchell's romance. It's clear the honeymoon phase is also over for Jay & Gloria, when the latter declares to the former: "[Lately], you don't make an effort to look good for me, and I'm always making an effort to look my best for you." And the Dunphys' perfect "honeymoon" of a summer is squashed when Alex returns from a humanitarian trip, and it is implied that she is the reason the Dunphys are so uptight.

I enjoyed the episode, and each storyline had its moments that gave me the good minute-long belly laugh - I still can't say enough about this show's writing; this episode had some fantastic one-liners (see below). I will say, however, while the Dunphy storyline was funny, the constant Alex-leaving-and-then-things-immediately-getting better, felt forced and (for me) was a bit - to borrow from Mitch and Cam's storyline - excessive.

What brought the episode together, as MODFAM episodes always do, is the message at its heart, which I thought was expressed perfectly by Cam in he and Mitchell's scenario: they feel that "if we lose this"-be it their love for each other, their sexiness and beauty, or their perfect, idyllic summer-"we'll never get it back." And although Cam may have stated it the most outwardly, each subplot dealt with this issue, and resolved it in the end-with the perfect pinch of humor.

On the whole, I feel like this episode was solid, and shows signs that this season may be the best yet. Why? After five years, I think the cast and crew and writers, et. al are feeling comfortable enough with this characters to let us settle in and really enjoy them. We've done five seasons of various getting-to-know-you episodes, Mitch & Cam are now married - I feel like it's time to say, we know them and now we can just watch them live. That's the vibe I got from this episode, particularly in Gloria's case, where we got to see her in a different light to humorous effect, after not only seeing her as a voluptuous beauty but having others comment on that voluptuous beauty many times over - now was time for something new. Of note, too, was the webcam tag scene; I feel like that was the creators' way of saying we know you know these characters well enough, that it's okay that we take them here now.

I always feel when watching this show that I could be part of this family. And I honestly feel like that's the way I should feel at this point in the game. We've gotten to know them, we feel like they're our own and that we belong with them. Considering all this, now we can sit back and just watch them live their lives.

That's what I did during the sixth season premiere, and I'm looking forward to doing it again with this tremendously hilarious family every week this season. A happy half-hour indeed.

Some Favorite Quotes:

Phil: (to Claire, re: magic) I don't care if it's the middle of the day. I just want to put you in a box and stick swords in you.

Gloria: (to Manny) It's Aunt Rosario's 82nd birthday today. That's why all the goats are wearing the party hats.

Mitchell: (to the Dunphys, who are happy) There's no easy way to ask this, but are you all high?

Gloria: (to Jay) A lot of people assume that I married you because of your money. And that's only a very, very small part of it.

Mitchell: (to Cam) If I was the man of your dreams, wouldn't you have to be the one sleeping?

Stray Observations:

- I've been watching a lot of the older episodes lately, and I've noticed the cast in the later episodes doesn't do as much of the subtle glances TO the camera anymore. No complaints... just an observation.

- What happened to the Haley/Andy storyline??? Hope they bring this back soon! This was one of the best parts of last season's finale and showed HUGE growth for Haley's character.

- Gloria's "I win!" is back!! Yay for the continuity!

- Where was Joe this episode?

Photo Credit: Tony Rivetti