Modern Family – Recap & Review – Princess Party

photo: abc

Modern Family
Princess Party

Original Air Date: Feb 16, 2011

Karen Belgrad- Associate Editor
Karenbelgrad
@thetwocentscorp.com

Once upon a time, in the land of ABC, there were five child actors who rarely appeared within the same half hour of television.  But, on a magical night in February 2011, all of the children did appear… and even spoke (well, except Lily, but she’s a baby, so that doesn’t count).

Yes, on this new episode we had all the main and supporting and guest actors together for Lily’s birthday party.  Guest star Shelley Long returned as DeDe, Claire and Mitchell’s nutty and snide mother.  Matt Dillon shows up as Claire’s teenage boyfriend. This can’t end well, can it?

Cam is determined to perform as Fizbo the Clown, last seen in last season’s stellar Fizbo episode.  Mitchell, however, does make some valid points: It’s a princess party and Cam should be there as Lily’s dad, not the entertainment. Mitchell tells him he’s not respecting the party theme (cue gasp!) and if the shoe fits…  Cam counters, pouting, that the shoe doesn’t fit, and it’s comically large.

Claire is on edge because DeDe is coming to visit.  Phil rallies the kids to keep her from acting psycho, scary, and drunk. Luke offers to be cute, using lisping words (ps’ghetti) and large lollipops. As Alex practices the Jaws theme on her cello, DeDe arrives and immediately goes for the not so subtle digs on Claire’s cooking, age, and marriage.  She also drops the bomb that she ran into Claire’s old boyfriend Robbie Sullivan at the airport.

Now, I must confess that Matt Dillon in the early 80’s made my heart go a-flutter, but nowadays, not so much.  It’s not that he’s not attractive, he just seems like he’s been playing dumb well past its prime and charm.  As Robbie, he shows up for dinner (DeDe’s invite) with fuzzy navel wine coolers to loosen her up (sure used to!).  Dinner is wholly inappropriate, with DeDe and Robbie joking about Claire’s sex escapades during her teen years.  Haley is clearly taking mental notes to use against her mother at a later date.

Robbie thinks he’s still a stud, with his hair, abs, and limo driver job.  Claire is repulsed and glad when he leaves, especially after he gives Claire and Phil extra-long hugs goodnight. Phil thinks DeDe brought Robbie for Claire because she doesn’t like him, but that theory is squashed pretty quickly when he and Claire see DeDe and Robbie macking in the driveway.

Gloria, Manny, and Phil are making one of those record-yourself story books for Lily’s party.  Gloria’s bear voice is not pretty.  Manny’s bothered that he voiced a girl baby bear.  Jay thinks the whole thing is dumb.  But Gloria tells Jay that she doesn’t feel comfortable going to the party with DeDe there.  Jay’s all for her not going, thinking he can get out of events he doesn’t want to attend, but it backfires and Gloria insists she’ll go to the party and be there for him at other events.  (Yes, it was a weak subplot, so it doesn’t get a lot of detail.)

And the next day it’s princess party time!  Cam berates the princess-for-hire (played by Kate Reinders) until she breaks character.  He tells her that when he performed, his shoe caught fire, another clown tried to put it out with flammable confetti, and in the ambulance he was still making balloon animals. Mitchell nearly hurts himself rolling his eyes.

Gloria shows up to the party, slurring from a Xanax and tequila combo.  DeDe arrives with Robbie in tow.  Claire, Phil, and Jay are aghast that she brought him, each assuming that she’s trying to spite them.  But when Robbie tells Claire that he always had the hots for her mom, even when they were dating, Claire has had enough and it doesn’t get better when Robbie proclaims that Claire still wants him.  Phil and Jay both demand he leave (even if the princess might be hot for him).

Claire goes off on DeDe, wondering why she can’t be a normal mom and tells her that she wins, Claire is screaming at a princess party.  Mitchell tells Cam that everyone is traumatized and invites Fizbo to bring life to the party. Jay sits down with DeDe and they talk about how she left to find herself, but is still looking. She doesn’t like seeing her family and being judged.  She knows the real problem and declares it’s… Gloria.  She lunges for her and starts wrestling her on the ground.  Claire and Mitchell are pleased to know it’s not about theselves.  Phil hilariously dives onto the ground to rescue Gloria.

So… hmmm…. The original Fizbo and the chaos at Luke’s birthday party was one of my favorite episodes last season.  I even asked TV Claus to bring Fizbo back. Back this episode just felt a little off. I wanted to see the kick-butt Fizbo we saw last time.  It was like they were trying too hard with the Robbie character, but it came across as typical sitcom, and I expect more from Modern Family.

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