Modern Family – Recap & Review – Manny Get Your Gun

photo: abc

Modern Family
Manny Get Your Gun

Original Air Date: Nov 17, 2010

Karen Belgrad – Associate Staff Writer
karenbelgrad@
thetwocentscorp.com

Sometimes so much happens in a half hour of television that you find yourself dizzy and short of breath just trying to keep up. Such was tonight’s Modern Family.

Five different stories intertwined to culminate together. Each got ample screen time. Each was equally as humorous, if not side splittingly laugh out loud funny. As we all take a deep breath, let’s dive in…

Tonight was Manny’s birthday dinner at Maggiano’s Little Italy. (I wonder how much was paid for that product placement!) Manny begins his birthday speech, but nobody is smiling… As we wonder why, we cut back to thirty minutes earlier. Yes, this episode played out in almost real time.

30 Minutes Earlier…

Claire, Mitchell, and Jay are all shrilling to get their family members to dinner. Claire and Jay employ the “Let’s Go” (x5) method, while Mitchell is trying to hurry Cam up at the mall. Luke’s ready first, except for his shoes.

Jay prides himself on punctuality, but Gloria is habitually late and searching for her keys. Jay gives his Manny his gift of a BB gun with nary a mention of shooting his eye out. While waiting, he makes mention to Manny that the youngster was born 16. This bothers the mature Manny and he begins to feel as if he’s missed out on his childhood.

While the great key search continues, with Gloria getting more frantic, Manny attempts to relive his childhood. That apparently includes crank phone calls (Seymour Butts) and mixing sodas together (ew!). During all of this, Jay realizes the keys are in his coat. He stealthy puts them in Gloria purse, and she immediately calls him out on the deception. Manny is sulking on a raft in the pool, but Gloria puts an end to the dawdling with a BB gun shot to the raft.

Cam and Mitchell are at the mall to buy a last minute birthday gift for Manny. Cam takes his sweet time, but an anxious Mitchell is rushing him around. Cam stops to make friends along the way, including trying to help an elderly couple rekindle their love. Unfortunately, they turn out to be the most adult adulterers ever!

Mitchell continually pushes Cam along until they suddenly stop at the center of the mall. Strains of En Vogue’s “Free Your Mind” begin to play and a flash mob forms to begin a choreographed routine. Shockingly it bears little resemblance to the Dancing With The Stars pasodobles that have been sent to the same song! Cam is in the middle of telling Mitchell to enjoy life and be spontaneous, when Mitchell joins in the flash mob and has his moves down pat. It turns out Mitchell has been practicing after work and it’s his love letter to Cam (awww!). Cam sees it differently and accuses him of cheating with choreography!

Back at Claire and Phil’s, a debate begins over who can get to the restaurant first. Both are sure of their routes, so they decide to race there (once Phil puts his shoes on). Luke, upon hearing his parents are “splitting up” opts to go with Phil. In the car, Claire straightens out Luke’s confusion, but then pulls over and hones in on his opting to go with Phil. There’s back and forth over Phil being the fun one and Claire trying to say she’s fun, but realizing all the fun is Phil. She tries to ration that two fun parents is a carnival, but begins to cry. Luke explains that he thinks his dad would need him more, but he and Claire could win the race. They take off, speeding to the restaurant,

Meanwhile, in Phil’s car, he’s happily rambling about Family Camp to Alex and Haley. Phil takes camp seriously, having won the dirty dance contest and color war. He was on Team White (not blue-ser) and a slew of racial jokes ensue. The girls aren’t having it and tell him they don’t want to go. He sobs that the girls have outgrown him and soon the whole car is crying. While he’s bemoaning missing out on the lead in Pippen, the girls see their mom’s car and tell him to gun it, he needs the win.

With screeching tires, the whole family avoids near crashing and arrives at the same time. Manny, surveying his sulking, immature family, realizes he still has plenty of time to have a childhood. Everyone ends their squabbling, except for Phil and Claire who vow to race home after dinner.

This was a hard episode to do just with a recap. Every story inter-cut and zipped back and forth seamlessly. I love how Claire and Mitchell are just like Jay, truly his offspring with type-A personalities. In the same aspect, Luke is a chip off of Phil’s block. Even with all their eccentricities, this is a family unit that functions while disfunctioning together! And I think family camp sounds like fun!

Well, those are my TwoCents! What are your TwoCents! Share your comments and feedback below!