Turn off the Lights

Modern Family – Caught in the Act

Caught in the Act is a conflicted episode divided into two distinct plot threads. The Dunphy-Pritchett storyline is great and on par with the best of the series, while Cam and Mitchell’s portion of the show comes off a bit flat. The episode jumps back and forth between the two threads and this distinctly shows their difference in quality even more. While the second storyline causes a few laughs, it mainly comes off as a distraction.

The kids walk in on Claire and Phil doing it. That in itself is pretty funny cause I believe we have all been there. The three children are the best part of this episode and the juxtaposition between their reaction and their parents reaction are great. I started laughing when Phil started eating the food off the floor while Claire was worried about the effect it would have on their children. The difference in philosophy between Phil and Claire has always been one of the driving forces of the show and they nailed it perfectly, once again. In the end they talk to their kids, but in that conversation I don’t think anyone was a winner.


Jay and Gloria are taking a trip to Vegas with Manny out of town with his father. Or at least Jay is trying to take a trip. Gloria inadvertently sends Claire a brutally honest email and she can’t leave until they talk. They get caught up in the whole sex storyline and it leads to some of the best lines of the episode. Once again Phil stole the show with his reactions to the misunderstanding. Well lets be fair, it sounded as if Gloria was coming onto Claire and was inviting Phil to tag along. You can see how he might be a bit overwhelmed. Jay took the bullet for Gloria saying that the email Claire hadn’t checked yet was a naked picture of Gloria, which was another thing that overwhelmed Phil. While it did seem a bit too easy, it worked and allowed Gloria the peace of mind to go on the trip. Throughout the episode Phil wanted to get back to it….you know what I mean, and Claire wasn’t having any of that talk, she seems to have been scared just as much as the kids.

Cam and Mitchell are tired of eating at bad restaurants and when a fancy upscale one moves into town they want to find an in. The owner happens to be a mother of a boy in Lily’s class, so they arrange a play date to maneuver their way in. That’s a good enough setup, but their portion of the show never really evolves and even when Cam ruins a fifty thousand dollar rug it never seems as though they had a plan. I will say that at the end they strike that difficult balance between humor and being uncomfortable that two characters plot usually strives for. However, the end felt rushed, and the part that would have been the most interesting to see was glossed over. It is a good episode of a great show, but it is just sad to see a potentially good storyline fail while a great storyline succeeded. Was it not for the miss on the Cam and Mitchell end this would have been one of the best episodes.  

Rating
8.0

Comments

Meet the Author

About / Bio
I am the Co-Founder and CTO of Entertainment Fuse. Thank you for viewing my profile. If you have any questions, comments or if you found any bugs with the website, contact me anytime. I love chatting with our community!

Follow Us