TVSquad

(S01E05) I'm glad this issue was finally addressed. No matter what you see on the surface, if your older father marries a stunningly beautiful piece of... well, you know... like Gloria, then you're going to have some concerns. Especially if the old man looks like Ed O'Neill. Let's not mince words here, I love O'Neill but he's no Cameron!

As usual, there was a lot going on in this episode, but still plenty of rooms for laughs. We're five episodes in now, and Modern Family hasn't laid an egg yet. That's a pretty impressive performance out of the gate for any show. This week, we got the extended family together again, where they could work out some of those unresolved issues.



It also allowed the show to continue bucking stereotypes at every turn. The most stereotyped minority group on television these days has to be the gay community, and while Mitchell and Cameron do flesh out some of those perceptions, there was a very nice turnabout this week with Cam.

Just looking at Cameron, it should come as no surprise that he might have played a little football in his day. But I loved how passionate he still is about it, to the ongoing dismay of the prissy Mitchell. I love that it's Mitchell who's a snobby elitist about everything. It makes him such a great counterpart for Cam, who's usually game for pretty much anything.

Loved the line when Cameron poked his head out of the bathroom half-painted for the big game. "Am I straight?" he asked Mitchell. Mitchell's response: "I don't know what you are right now." I'm glad to see this couple like any other straight couple TV likes to give us. They have different interests and passions (scrapbooking, Mitchell? Really?), but they love one another unconditionally.

Speaking of love, I really enjoy the layers Ty Burrell is giving to the character of Phil. I have a feeling that at some point the show is going to have to address his unhealthy obsession with Gloria. He's always wanting hugs and misunderstanding her accent in the worst possible ways. He does it right in front of his wife, too, which is just incredibly awkward.

But he does love his wife and he cares for the right reasons, as shown by him going up to talk to Gloria on Claire's behalf regarding the "golddigger" comment from a year prior. In that same scene, we got to see the layers that Sofia Vergara is giving to the Gloria character. It would be so easy to just be the hot, foreign younger wife, but there's a lot more to Gloria than that. For whatever her reasons, she loves Jay and Jay loves her. They're good together; we can see that already.

They got a lot of laughs out of Gloria wanting to give back all the nice things Jay has given her over the years. Claire opening the door to see Phil sitting there covered in Gloria's underwear, and then the call back later about all the colors she has for Jay. You know Jay is loving every minute of this marriage, God bless him.

There were so many funny moments in this episode, as there are every episode. I'm going to let you fill the comments with yours, but I'll just say that I had to rewind and watch twice the scene where Cameron chastises Mitchell one last time by holding Lily through the doorway. Lilly looks toward Mitchell at just the right moment. Classic stuff!

[You can check out clips and full episodes of Modern Family at SlashControl.]