Jay and Gloria are asleep, but there is a sound somewhere in the house. Manny bolts upright between his parents. "Yeah, we gotta fix this," Jay notes. Later, Mitchell is at the club. Jay
asks him about the large sweater he's wearing, "Is it a gay thing?" "No, Dad, it's for Pepper's party...yeah, it's a gay thing," Mitchell concedes. Claire and Phil are there, too. Claire suggests they stay for just a bit, because Scout doesn't like being alone for too long. "You love the dog," Phil teases his wife. "No, it's just that he was eying the couch like a large sausage before we left," Claire responds. Frank approaches, and tells Phil that he's going to be leaving in the morning. Phil asks if he's heading home, but Frank says no -- he's just going to drive on and see where life takes him. Frank leaves. "I always felt bad for people with emotionally unavailable fathers, but I am one," Phil tells Claire. "It's a wonder I didn't turn out to be a stripper." Dylan's band begins to play, with Dylan singing and Cameron (wearing a t-shirt with Lily's picture on it) tearing up the drums. "Our boyfriends totally rock," Haley says to her uncle. Mitchell agrees. Over Cameron's drum solo, Mitchell confides that he was only going to stay for ten minutes before heading out to Pepper's party, but Cameron was so great, how could he leave? Cameron was having his moment. "And his moment went on...for a really long time," Mitchell notes as everyone in the club starts to be come very uncomfortable with the length of the drum solo.
Returning home from Cameron's gig, Jay send Manny up to bed. He asks to watch a little TV, so Gloria gives him ten minutes. Jay and Gloria go into the kitchen and listen to their phone messages. There is a message from Ben: he's going to swing by the house tonight to help Jay out with Manny. Jay explains to Gloria that he invited Ben over to show Manny that the movie is just pretend. Ben is even going to bring the fake, rubber machete used in the movie. Ben arrives at the house and rings the doorbell, but since Jay ripped it out of the wall, it doesn't work. He sees a light on in the window so he walks through the bushes, stands over an eerie yellow light, and presses himself up against the glass. Seeing Manny on the couch inside, he says, "Hey you, Manny. I'm here for you." Manny is frozen. Ben then shows Manny the machete and smiles. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" cries Manny, bolting upstairs. Gloria and Jay rush into the living room and see Ben in the window. "We're going to need a bigger bed," notes Gloria.
Mitchell and Haley meet Cameron, Dylan and the band behind the club after the gig. Cameron tells Mitchell how great it felt to be up there, and he can't wait to really learn the songs for next time. Next time? Mitchell thought this was going to be a one-time thing. As Cameron begins to protest, the band's original drummer walks up. It turns out his parents broke up again, so he's not moving. Cameron, trying to defend his new turf, sidles up next to the rest of the band and says, "Well, this is awkward." Everyone looks at him, not having to say the obvious. "For me," Cameron says, realizing he's the odd man out. Cameron walks away with Mitchell, yelling back after him, "Good luck following that, Ringo."
The next morning, Frank is departing. Phil asks if they can talk for a minute before he leaves. He tells his father that he's not being honest with Phil. "What's up?" he asks Frank. "Well, my boxers are riding a little high," Frank jokes. "No, Dad. No jokes, although you nailed that one," Phil replies. He wants to know if there's something wrong with Frank and Phil's mother. Frank admits: he's in love. "What's her name?" Phil asks. "Well, she's a he," Frank answers. Caught by surprise at first by the implications of Frank's pronoun correction, Phil notices that Frank is staring at the dog. "Scout? You don't want to leave the dog?" Phil asks. Frank explains that he's had such a great time traveling with Scout that he is sad to leave him. Luke pipes up that he doesn't want the dog if it's going to make his grandfather sad, so the kids offer to give Scout back. Claire hesitates, though. Does Frank really want the dog back? Isn't Phil's mother allergic to dogs? Phil says his mom can take allergy medicine, and hands the leash back to his father. Claire is distraught. "Thanks, son, for poking through my armor," Frank tells Phil. "You're poking through your armor down there!" Phil replies. As Frank checks his fly, Phil says, "Made you look!" Frank loads Scout into the RV, but Claire stops him. She wistfully unfolds the purple bra and hands it to Frank to give to Scout. It's his favorite. As Frank pulls out of the driveway, Claire says to Phil, sadly, "I can't believe he took my dog." Frank starts down the road, and Luke runs after the RV. "Bye, Grandpa, Bye!" Luke shouts, as he chases the car. "Luke! Stay! Stay, Luke! Stay!!" Phil and Claire yell after their son (Loud guffaw #3).
In the episode tag, Jay and Frank run into each other at Cameron's gig, with Jay noting he didn't expect to see Frank at the club. "When my granddaughter's boyfriend's band plays an under-21 club with my daughter-in-law's brother's gay partner, I show up. That's how I was raised," Frank explains. Jay introduces Frank to Gloria. "It's a pleasure," Frank says to Gloria as he kisses her hand. "You must be Frank," Gloria replies. "OK, you're hotter than a Las Vegas sidewalk on the Fourth of July," Frank responds. Seeing Gloria and Jay a bit shocked, Frank asks Jay, "Did I go too far?" "No, not you, Frank," Jay answers.
Commentary
We are at that stage in the brilliance of Modern Family that no matter the actual quality of a given episode (and the quality is never "Low"), I'm more than happy to spend a half-hour with these characters. "Travels with Scout" wasn't the best episode of the series, nor did I find it as funny as the iPad/Phil's birthday episode ("Game Changer"); however, as is evident by my three "loud guffaws," I still really enjoyed the episode very much. There are always going to be really funny lines and situations on the show, as the writers and cast are just top-notch, so there has been no such thing as a "bad" episode. It's just that sometimes the stories meld better than others. For example, in this episode, the Jay/Manny story seemed to be a "Break in Case of Emergency" plot -- one in which the writers had tucked away just in case they couldn't come up with a storyline that merged well with the others. This is not a problem, overall. It's very hard to find three different plots that can all be sewn together seamlessly, especially if the show wants to avoid the opposite problem of always finding some false reason to have the whole family together every week, which would be unbelievable. Further, the plot itself was fine, and had a nice payoff at the end with Ben in the window scaring Manny (remember, despite the way he speaks and acts, Manny is only 11 years old). I'm just of the opinion that the "better" episodes of Modern Family do, in fact, have the three plots blend or center around the same theme, and that wasn't the case in "Travels with Scout."
There were some great things in the episode, too. First, casting Fred Willard as Phil's dad is just genius. Beside bearing a physical resemblance to each other, their comedic resemblance was obvious as well. I can only imagine what a great time the two of them had working together. Second, the "Luke is more like a dog than Scout is" jokes were brilliantly written and played. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: how great are the kid actors on this show? Third, any time Dylan is in an episode, it's awesome. I only wish the song he was singing had some interesting lyrics the one he wrote for Haley earlier in the season. Lastly, the "de-cartooning" of Phil happily continues. Like in "Game Changer," we were able to see a more serious side of Phil, one where he is disappointed. In "Game Changer," he was disappointed in his family regarding the iPad and his birthday celebration. That was more of a child's disappointment, but disappointment nonetheless. In this week's episode, we saw Phil have a more adult disappointment in himself for not being able to talk to his father. Of course, the entire time he was being funny as well, but the different emotions Ty Burrell is having the opportunity to play are providing some nice shading around a character that started as "Michael Scott with Kids." Good work by the writers and Burrell.
That's what I have for this week. How did "Travels with Scout" stack up for you? Did you enjoy the Luke-as-dog stuff as much as I did? What did you think of Fred Willard as Frank? Does it matter to you if the plots are more expertly merged? Does it change your enjoyment of the episode? Please leave your comments and questions below. Also, be sure to check back at TVOvermind over the next week for photos and sneak peeks of next week's episode. Until then, I'm off to fall into some Gruyere.
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[...] line from the previous night’s TV. The other candidate for Thursday morning would have been Mitchell from Modern Family, in response to Cameron saying how normal their family is, “That’s what the disabled [...]