Claire is informed by Haley of some iPads left at the Apple Store at The Grove, so she runs over to the store, losing her shoes in the process (I guess this settles that they live in
California). She gets in line and receives a call from Luke. Fork in hand, he tells her that Phil's cake has been delivered, but with a piece missing. Exasperated, she asks him if he actually ate piece of the cake. When he denies it, she tells him, again, to stop lying. Luke ignores his mother's plea and asks her if it is OK that he paid the delivery guy with her credit card. Yes, that's fine. That's why she left her wallet at home so the cake could be paid...for.... Claire left her wallet at home! How is she going to pay for the iPad?!? "With all this running around," she tells her son, "your father is going to think no one cares about his birthday." Well, at least one person does: at the batting cage party, "Little Phil" asks "Big Phil" if he wants another piece of cake. "Why not, Little Phil? I have nowhere else to go," Phil laments.
Cameron, now on his mission to save Jake's marriage, and with Lily in her stroller, chases down the neighborhood mailman (a mail carrier working on a Saturday? Not for long!). Knowing that the mailman has sworn an oath to not reveal the residents of each home, Cameron wonders if they can work out a signal whereby the mailman can show Cameron in which house Jake and Debbie live. Maybe he can pull his left ear if they live..."They live right there," the mailman says, pointing at the next house. In the meantime, Cameron's better half joins his sister in line at the Apple Store, bringing his credit card along with him. While Claire thanks Mitchell for rushing over, a guy cuts in front of them in line. Mitchell is incredulous, earning a "Calm down, Gingerbread," from the line-cutter. The siblings try to get the guy to move again, but he stands firm. So, wanting to use his newly-learned skills, Mitchell tries to put the guy in the sleeper hold...unsuccessfully. Despite his demands that the guy "Go to sleep!", Mitchell accomplishes nothing but invoking the attention of the store's security. They order that all three of them leave the premises. Claire tries to lie, saying that she doesn't know Mitchell, but is discovered immediately when she has to grab his credit card to actually make the purchase. Despite her attempt to rush past the guards, Claire is picked up and taken away.
Phil confides that "the key to a good birthday, is low expectations." He was wrong about getting an iPad, and wrong about the surprise party. "When it comes down to it, maybe we're all just Jeff Sweeney taking a ball to the plums." Phil enters his house with a look of bemusement at his ruined birthday. Alexinforms him that his cake fell off the counter, but Cameron is trying to fix it. "He won't," Phil replies. Luke tells his father that the pizzas they ordered never came. "They won't," Phil says in his dazed/depressed state. Even his balloons are sagging with a loss of helium! Gloria, Jay and Manny arrive for the party, but Jay wants to settle their score now, and orders Manny to unwrap Phil's chess set. "Oh, a chess set," Phil says, the surprise of his present now ruined. As Gloria and Jay run off for the show down, Manny eagerly asks Phil, "Is that Claire's baked brie I smell?" "No, no it's not," Phil tells his young stepbrother-in-law with a pat on the head. Next, Mitchell enters, happily telling Cameron that..."Oh, Happy Birthday, Phil!"...he got in trouble for fighting today. Cameron tells Mitchell that he and Lily saved a marriage today. "This is the best day ever!" Mitchell celebrates, with Phil sinking deeper into his bemused depression on the couch.
Over the chess board, Gloria and Jay exchange moves, before Gloria rages, "If I lose, I will burn this house down!" She grabs a piece to make her next move, but Jay grabs her hand. This fight is ridiculous -- they don't need to play to prove anything. Gloria, in agreement, knocks all of the pieces off the board. "And now my gift is on the floor," Phil says to himself. Jay confides to the camera that he stopped her because he knew she had him beat; it's a good thing Gloria didn't know. "Two moves!" Gloria herself tells the camera, knowing she was about to win. "I am a great chess player, but I guess I'm a better wife."
Claire eventually gets home, and asks Haley how Phil is. "Weird...er," she replies. Phil greets Claire in the foyer, mustering only, "Hello...wife." Luke comes halfway down the stairs lugging a bag, calling "Mom." "Not now, Luke!" she responds. "Don't worry, I don't feel things anymore," Phil says as he makes his way for the door. When Claire asks where he's going, Phil replies, "I'm going to the yard to get a shovel for my cake." He leaves, and Luke tries to get his mother's attention. He tells her that he went on the computer and got in touch with his father's "geek friends," told them that Phil was dying, and that his last wish was to have an iPad. Claire admonishes her son for lying, again. But Luke continues, showing her the iPad one of the friends sent over because he had two. Elated, Clarie grabs her son in a huge hug, "Oh, thank you my beautiful, little liar!"
Phil stares out the window to the backyard as the lights dim, and Claire asks if Phil wants some cake. Turning around, Phil replies, "I used to, but I don't have a desire to eat anymore." He is actually cut off as he sees his wife entering the room holding the iPad with a birthday cake image displayed on it. There are even candles burning on the screen. The family sings "Happy Birthday," and Claire tells Phil to blow out the candles. Phil bends over the iPad and blows on the screen. The candles extinguish (and a couple million people at home go on apple.com to order one)! Phil takes the device in his hands and asks, "OK, who's ready for the first day of the rest of their lives?" The family gathers around to see the iPad. Gloria asks if she can touch it. Phil answers, "Yes...but not very hard. You can touch it, but not touch it," as he shields it from the grubby hands of his family.
In the episode tag, Mitchell and Cameron are in their pajamas, sipping tea and listening to the baby monitor. They hears Jake and Debbie thank the fact that "that guy" came over to set them straight. "What was his name?" Jake asks. "He didn't say, but he must be an angel," Debbie replies. Cameron smile broadly as Jake continues. "Or some creepy perv." "Yeah, how'd he know?" Debbie wonders. "Maybe I should call the police," Jake posits. Cameron has heard enough, so he gets up and turns off the monitor. As he leaves, Mitchell calls after his partner, "But Cam...that's my, my program!" Back at the Dunphy house, Phil gazes longingly at his iPad. "I love you," he tells it. "I love you too, honey," Claire responds, having walked in behind Phil and not seeing the true focus of his love. Phil hides the iPad and replies, "Oh...OK." When Claire leaves, Phil remains on the couch, slowly scrolling the iPad's screen.
Commentary
I thought "Game Changer" was right on target. The episode unified the three plots with the recurring lies (and attempts at lies), but thankfully lacked one of Modern Family's traditional summary voiceovers on the subject. I usually don't mind the voiceovers (not that they are the greatest things in the world), but I think one on how lying never prospers, even with good intentions, would have been too heavy-handed at the end of a pretty darn funny episode. There wasn't a lot of blatant physical comedy (the two uses of the sleeper hold and Claire losing her shoes being the only examples), but watching Ty Burrell do his slow burn into birthday mishap madness was absolutely hysterical. The creators and Burrell could have played this episode much broader, but the understated take was a nice contrast to some of Phil's, equally funny, physical mayhem in other episodes (like "The Bicycle Thief" and "Fizbo"). If there is anything that Modern Family has done right in its debut season, and it has done almost everything right, its balance of physical, verbal and mental comedy has been superb -- not only within each episode itself, but from episode to episode, too. Having the series at the same ratio of the different types of comedy week after to week would get boring and predictable. Changing it up to a point where we move from Jay forging a turtle murder crime scene ("Truth Be Told") to Mitchell in a dress ("Starry Night") to Phil's slow burn ("Game Changer") in three successive weeks, the audience never knows what kind of comedy they are going to get. All we know is that it's going to be funny; exactly what a sit-com should do.
On another note, as I mentioned at the top, this was probably the best use of product placement I have ever seen on television. The whole Dunphy plot centered on the iPad, but here's the thing: it felt natural. I completely buy that Phil would be gaga over an iPad, and would want it on its launch date. So, the plot being centered on the gadget felt real to me. Secondly, the use of the "birthday cake" feature was so perfectly integrated that I bet there were millions of viewers seriously impressed when Phil "blew out" the candles. Usually, product placement is so ridiculously blatant that the show, and the product, earn nothing but mocking and scorn (see: the Ford videos on American Idol;computer logos on any spy/cop/lawyer show; the Palm Pre debacle on Survivor: Samoa). Further, a viewer can't think of anything buthow lame the placement is every time the product is talked about or shows up on screen. Here, though, I noticed the placement the first time Phil mentioned it at the top, but afterwords, it was just part of the plot. There is a certain synergy between Apple and ABC (ABC is owned by Disney, which purchased Pixar Animation Studios from Apple in 2006. The companies remain aligned on Pixar films) which also made the placement better integrated. All in all, this was very well done.
So, what did you think of "Game Changer"? Where does it rank versus other Modern Family episodes? Did you enjoy Phil's descent into birthday depression as much as I did? How did you feel about the iPad integration into the story? Please leave your comments, thoughts and questions below. Be sure to continue to check out TVOverMind for news, promos, photos and recaps for Modern Family and all of your favorite shows. Modern Family is off next week, so I'll be back in two weeks with another recap. Until then, I'm off to prepare for a dance fight.
UPDATE: Evidently, the show's use of the iPad was NOT product placement. The series didn't receive a dime from Apple. Consider me bewildered.
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Dude – you really need to get a life. This is just sad!
Johnny's right – you need to get out more. Saddo.
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