Modern Family Review - 3.13 'Little Bo Bleep'
Posted by Michael Adams on 01.27.2012
It's bad girl week on Modern Family. Claire is preparing for her debate with Councilman, Duane Bailey. Gloria is being blamed by Jay for Stela's bad behavior. And the storyline that's making national news, Lily says her first curse word right before she's supposed to be a flower-girl and her dads handle it just like you'd expect them to! All this on this week's Modern Family!
**This is the review for last weeks episode, but due to a mix up, it never made it to the site. Hopefully you can remember what happened well enough to make this relevant!**
Let me start by congratulating "America's Funniest Family" for their Best Television Series – Comedy Or Musical Golden Globe. Well deserved!
The Dunphys…
After the local newspaper calls Claire “Angry and unlikeable”, the Dunphys try to help her prepare for her upcoming debate with Councilman Duane Bailey. In what is perhaps the funniest scene of this season of Modern Family, the Dunphys hold a mock debate and point out Claire’s “flaws” so that she will not lose her control during the debate. There are just too many different scenarios to list, but it is truly this show at it’s finest. The family arrives at the debate and when Claire finds out it’s going to be aired on TV, she flips; Alex, however, is there to calm her mom down and give her the encouragement she needs. The debate begins and Claire is on a roll, until Duane brings up the fact that last year, Phil was caught posing naked in a woman’s hotel room. Ah yes, the second appearance of Clive Bixby, when Phil took the wrong room key and scared an old lady with his nakedness. At this point, Claire’s flaws begin to appear, so Phil tries to rescue her, but in true Phil fashion, he makes it worse, much worse. Claire and Phil were auto-tuned and put on YouTube. At the wedding, Alex tells Claire that she’s proud of her mom.
The Pritchetts…
Jay comes home looking for Stella, only to find her in the pool, which is bad because she can’t swim. Jay is determined to teach Stella how to swim so that nothing happens to his darling dog. Jay brings Stella to Claire’s debate because he fears that Stella is contemplating doggy suicide, which Gloria scoffs at. Duane Bailey interjects and says that doggy suicide is real and it could be because Stella senses Gloria’s dislike for her. Later that evening, right before the wedding, Gloria sees Stella by the pool and tries “talking her off the ledge”, but it’s no use…Stella jumps. With no one else around, Gloria jumps in to get her out. Jay solves the problem by getting Stella a life-vest, but once in the pool, Stella swims to the filter. Manny reaches in and pools out a doggy toy.
The Tucker-Pritchetts…
Lily is going to be the flower girl at a wedding this evening and the whole family will be there, so it’s important that she does her best. While Cam is showing Lily the proper way to throw the flowers, Lily drops the F-BOMB! Where most parents would be shocked or mad, Cam is laughing hysterically. The boys think they should just let it go, but Lily is saying it far too much for any 3yr old, so Cam and Mitchell sit their daughter down and tell her it’s bad. Lily reveals that she only says it because it makes Cam laugh. At the wedding, Lily is on “verbal lockdown” so that she doesn’t slip, and she’s doing quite well. However, as Cam sees the bride walking down the aisle, he begins to tear up. Lily comes to daddy’s rescue by repeatedly saying the naughty word, in church, in front of everyone, while using other variations of the word. Cam grabs Lily and is out the door.
Award Worthy?...
Up until tonight, I thought that Express Christmas was the best episode of season 3, but this one proved me wrong! I loved it. I laughed until I cried and thought that every character was used properly and brought something to the table. I thought David Cross was used appropriately again as Duane Bailey and hope we see him again this season. I thought the Dunphy kids were used well also, especially Alex. It’s hard when you have Luke and Hailey who are both funny in their own right, and then Alex, who is hard to find something for because she’s a normal, brainy kid. Tonight’s episode really focused on her strengths and helped further the Claire story.
As I was going into tonight’s episode, I was reading all the crap that people were saying about this episode, how we should boycott it and write letters to ABC telling them how wrong it is, and to those people I say fudge you(which is what Lily really was saying). The wonderful thing about this show is that it’s creators take from actual life experiences, be it their own or people they know. All parents threaten to take away Christmas, all parents try to bring that spark back to their intimacy, and all parents have to deal with their kids cursing. These things happen, and as the episode showed, you just have to deal with it the best you can. A few years ago, my 5yr old niece said to her sister “put your effin flip flops on!”. All her mother could do was turn and laugh, and she’s never said the word again. You just go with it, which is how this episode dealt with Lily. So be mad or angry or offended all you want, but look at it this way…at least they finally gave that little girl some effin dialogue!
This Week’s Top Quotes… Phil: And now, the Weekly Saver says that some voters find Claire “angry and unlikeable” and to those voters I say “Wait ‘til she sees this!”
Luke: I think it’s the yelling. I would tone down the yelling. Claire: Honey, I don’t yell for no reason. Luke: You yelled at my teacher for calling me special. Claire: Honey, that was not a compliment.
Hailey: I couldn’t hear it because you were showing me the bad side of your face. Claire:I have a bad side? Hailey: Yea, it’s the left. Phil: No, it’s the right. Hailey: Dad, it’s totally the left. I mean, look at it. Phil: Sweetheart, why do you think I chose my side of the bed?
Mitchell: I cannot believe you laughed! Cam: I’m sorry, but you know I have two weaknesses, children cursing and old people rapping.
Claire: How did you get so smart? Alex: I’ve always assumed adoption or baby switch.
Duane: I’m afraid doggy suicide is all too real. It’s just the mainstream media doesn’t report on it because it’s not as sexy as feline AIDS.
Gloria:(watching Claire’s debate) It’s the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Phil:(standing up and coming to Claire’s defense) Excuse me! Jay: Stand by…
Character of the Week…
I am torn between 2 characters this week, but seeing as how this is my review, there’s no one to say that I can’t pick 2 Characters of the week! So that’s what I am going to do.
Character of the Week #1 – Claire! What an awesome job she did this week at trying to contain all of the flaws that her family pointed out to her and still be a worthy adversary to Duane Bailey. All of the physicality that she did to control herself during the debate was hilarious.
Character of the Week #2 – Cameron! If there were to ever be a Modern Family spin-off, I feel like it would be Cam going to Hollywood to try and make it big! He gets funnier and funnier every week! Every time he laughed at Lily, I thought “that’s what I’ll do when my kid curses.”
The 411: In the previous reviews, when I gave the rating, it was based upon how much I liked the episode. If I loved it, it got a 10. If I thought it was alright, it got a 7, and so on and so forth. There wasn't too much of a science to the rating...until now! Every week, the review will be based on 5 categories: 1/2/3 are the 3 different story lines, 4 is the writing and 5 is how the episode fits in with the rest of the season. They will each get a score from 1-10, and the week's rating will be the average. So let's get to it...The Dunphy Story Line: 9/ The Pritchett Story Line: 8/ The Tucker-Pritchett Story Line: 10/ The Writing: 10/ Season Continuity:8
