What’s The Plan MaGayver?

I can’t wait for The Office and Parks and Rec finales tonight. You can look forward to those reviews tomorrow. In the mean time, here’s last night’s Modern and Family and Cougar Town to tide you over.

Spoilers.

Modern Family – “See You Next Fall” (A-)

“See You Next Fall” was exactly the kind of episode that won Modern Family that Emmy for best comedy last year. Well, you know... that or voting politics. The point is this week’s episode was a good one. It was sentimental without being overly sentimental, it featured the whole cast as an ensemble, and most importantly, it was really, really funny.

Claire and Phil led the way with several of my favourite moments from the episode. I loved all of Phil’s attempts to set off an emotional reaction from Claire before Alex’s graduation so he could go to Vegas the next day. His little aside to the camera about what it would be like to tell his male cheerleader friends he can’t come to Vegas had to be the funniest line in the episode.

I also loved the scene where Claire professed to Phil her fear of losing Alex just like she did Hayley. It managed to be touching and hilarious all at the same time, and it set up a pretty great ending. Watching Claire and Phil lock Haley in the middle of a group hug was a heck of a way to cap off the episode.

I think the real heart of this episode though was the excellent side story between Alex and Haley. Not only was it quite funny, but it really did a great job of framing the episode thematically. Obviously my favourite scene, probably of the entire episode, was Haley’s passionate speech about everybody having their “stuff”, or in other words insecurities. It was a very thoughtful, sincere speech and I love how it showed us some of the different layers of Haley’s character. Both Sarah Hyland and Ariel Winter deserve a ton of praise for this episode.

I was also quite happy with Mitchell and Cameron’s story this week. I went off on them a little in my last review, but I really liked what the writers did with them here. They gave them a great side plot while still allowing them to interact with the entire ensemble. Plus they let Eric Stonestreet go nuts with the physical comedy. I’m definitely a Pritchett because watching Cam twice walk into the screen door was absolutely hilarious.

The only story thread I was a little torn on was Jay’s Botox. It set Gloria up for a few good punchlines, and they used his facial disfigurement for some pretty solid gags (I love how repulsed Alex was when she first saw his face) but Jay’s never really struck me as the Botox type and in the end it felt a little contrived. Still, it did tie in nicely with the theme of everybody having their own insecurities, so perhaps I’m just splitting hairs.

My favourite quotes:

PHIL: It’s happening people; our hubris will be our undoing.

ALEX: So what? Mohandas Ghandi went on a hunger strike for what he believed in.
HALEY: That’s ‘cause no one would eat with him in the cafeteria.

MANNY: Do you realize in two years you and I will be graduating.
LUKE: Not now, I think I’m moving the ball with my mind.
MANNY: Well, I’ll be graduating.

LUKE: I think I’ve got a good idea.
PHIL: We don’t have time to build a rocket buddy.
LUKE: Never mind.

PHIL: Stop leading. Do you want to drive?
CLAIRE: I do.
PHIL: Tough, I called it.

CLAIRE: And Alex, my god. If we miss this speech... honey, she’s middle child. She’ll never forgive us.

And line of the night:

PHIL: Trust me, that is not a phone call you want to make to a bunch of ex-college male cheerleaders. They will mock you with a hurtful rhythmic taunt.

Cougar Town – “Free Fallin’” (B+)

Can I just say what a huge Busy Philipps fan I’ve become. Laurie is definitely my favourite character on this show now. She just took that mantel. And I know, I’ll probably say the same thing about somebody else next week, but at least for now I really mean it. Busy Philipps knocks pretty much every line they give her right out of the park. She’s got chemistry with every actor on the show. Seriously, she’s hilarious.

Just look at her in this episode. She was paired up with Andy and Bobby, who already have great chemistry with each other, and she fit in with the two of them perfectly. Each character took a turn being the straight man for the other two, and the whole thing turned into a virtual Ferris wheel of comedy. And the storyline between them was great. I love what an existential crisis it was for Bobby to sell out Penny Can. He’s fine with being known as the “wrong ball” guy, but this he takes a stand on.

I was also happy to have Tom back on the show this week. I always love the Tom episodes, and while the crew wasn’t as mean to him as they normally are the storyline was still great. Man those chalk children were creepy. I think my favourite part of the entire episode was their second chalk drawing. You know, the one with Grayson and Ellie’s houses on fire and their bodies burning beside them. The whole thing was just so ridiculous you couldn’t help but laugh.

And then we had Jules and Trav. We’ve always known Jules has an unhealthily clingy relationship to her son – it’s one of the better recurring jokes on this show – but with Travis still reeling from his break up with Kirsten it was up to Jules to figure out how to get him out of the house and back into college. I really liked how the writers handled this storyline. They gave us a few great jokes about Jules’ smothering nature with Trav (and one incredibly weird one where she made out with a Trav impersonating Grayson) and then ultimately had her confront him. The best of both worlds really.

In the end though Travis didn’t go back to college, instead moving into Bobby’s newly vacated boat. I’m sure this whole Trav mess will be resolved eventually in next week’s season finale. What I’m really worried about is this boat business. If Bobby has an apartment now does that mean we’ve seen the end of Bobby’s hilarious parking lot living? I guess it’s probably good that they’re developing Bobby’s character, but if he does end up ditching the boat permanently I just want to pay my respects to one of the best sitcom living arrangements I have ever seen. To Bobby’s boat!

Now for the quotes:

ANDY: I’ve been trying to help them make smart financial choices.
BOBBY: Yeah, I want to stop working out of my boat and build a giant can shaped office.
ANDY: It’s not an easy job.

JULES: What are you doing?!?
TRAVIS: I’m going to eat some chips.
JULES: Put those down... they’re stale. I’ll get a fresh bag.

TOM: Chalk children aren’t like other kids. They’re dark... well not physically but... emotionless... they’re homeschooled.

ELLIE: Are those all our houses?
GRAYSON: Mmm, and that’s us there, burning alive. You don’t even have a head. Wait no, there it is.
ELLIE: Why is my severed head still screaming?
TOM: Because they draw what they dream.

ELLIE: What do you want him to do? Live here until he’s 60 so you two can spend every second of your lives together.
JULES: Oh my god, that would be amazing.
GRAYSON: Pushed the wrong button there.

BOBBY: Hey guys, I’ve been looking all over for you.
LAURIE: Really, because if you had signed the contract you could of spotted us from your helicopter and thrown handfuls of gold on us to get our attention.
ANDY: I’m not sure you know how far $20,000 goes.
LAURIE: Didn’t say it was a new helicopter.

GRAYSON: I don’t like drawing myself burning alive.
ELLIE: Well you’re supposed to be drawing me.
GRAYSON: Oh I’m cool with that.

And line of the episode:

LAURIE: It’s like when you hook up with a dude and you wake up the next morning and he’s gone and there’s just a note on your pillow that says “last night was fun, call me next time you’re in Tampa”, and you’re like wha... I’m in Tampa?