Modern Family

Recap - Modern Family 1.24 "Family Portrait"

Written By Michael Salerno on May 20th, 2010 at 9:14 am

They end up at Jay's house for the portrait shoot. Claire wonders where the basketball contingent is; the game went into overtime, so they should be back soon. Luke enters with Haley, complaining that it is hard to breathe -- Claire has Saran Wrapped Luke to keep his white clothes white. Phil, Gloria, Alex and Manny return home. Upon seeing Claire, Phil immediately exclaims, "There's my beautiful wife!" He continues, "I know you're mad and that a foam finger can't make up for everything...," giving her the novelty item. Claire cuts him off, telling him to just get changed and they can talk later. With Haley helping Luke to lay down on the couch in the background (this was such a small sight gag, out of focus, in the back, but I laughed hysterically), Jay tells Phil that Gloria said they had a good time. "Not really. God, I love your daughter," Phil nervously replies. He tries to escape upstairs, but trips over and breaks a step. "I'll come by and kiss that step. Uh...fix that step," Phil bumbles. Cameron enters, having just changed clothes at home. He says to Mitchell that, somehow, all of the items smashed were things Cameron's mother gave them. "Yes, while fighting the bird, I took time to destroy the kitschiest objects," Mitchell sarcastically responds. This never would have happened if Mitchell had just gone to the wedding, Cameron notes. The two bicker, with Cameron stating that being scared of birds and small talk, Mitchell is lucky the pigeon didn't want to chit-chat about the weather.

Phil comes back downstairs in his white shirt and tight white pants. "You look like the guy from Dance Fever," Claire worries. "Oh, thank you!" Phil replies, oblivious to the insult. Haley tells her mom that they can't take the picture becuase she has a pimple that's getting worse. "Oh, I'm sorry honey. Can you stand?" Claire asks. "Yes," Haley responds. "Good, then you're taking the picture," Claire orders. "It's all anybody's going to see!" Haley whines, as Gloria comes downstairs in a very tight, very cleavage-revealing dress. "I wouldn't be so sure about that," Claire remarks upon seeing Gloria. As Gloria passes by, Claire whispers to Phil, "Did you get a look at her dress?!?" "Why would I do that? I love you!" Phil replies. As they make their way outside, Jay warns them that he just stained the patio furniture. "Is there anything else?" Claire, now exasperated, asks, "Are your neighbors having a paintball fight?"

When the family gets outside, Claire points them to the grasssy backyard, but the sprinklers turn on. Jay asks Gloria how to turn them off. "Of course youa sk me because I'm Latina and know everything about gardening and sprinklers!" she exclaims. "You were here when they installed them," Jay says. "Oh yeah," Gloria replies, "The switch is across the yard." No one can go across because they will all ruin their white clothes. Well, not everyone. Phil notices that they haven't "unwrapped" Luke yet. Phil places a flower basket on his son's head, and tells Luke that, Hurt Locker-style, Luke needs to cross the yard and turn off the sprinklers. "Put the 'he' in 'hero,' son," Phil encourages. As Luke crosses the yard, Cameron jokes, "Hurt Locker? More like Squirt Locker." When no one laughs, he comments in a huff, "Really? Not funny? I actually pity you guys."

With the water now off, Claire organizes everyone for the picture. Phil tries to apologize for the kiss, but Claire says they'll talk about what he did later. "I didn't do anything. She kissed me!" Phil explains. "What?!?" Claire asks. "It was the Kiss Cam," Phil replies. "Why did you kiss, Cam?" Jay asks Gloria about Cameron. "Phil told me I had to," she tells Jay. "Was it before or after I called you?" Claire asks her husband. "You saw that too?!" Phil asks. With the photographer having to run to a bar mitzvah, Claire orders that they just take the picture. As the photographer clicks the camera, Cameron admits to Mitchell that he ismad at him. Mitchell freaks out and the two start bickering again. Claire asks if they can just have their hissy fit later. Maybe they shouldn't take the picture today, Mitchell remarks to his sister; the sentiment is seconded by Haley. Cameron tells Claire that you just can't tell Mitchell to do something he doesn't want to do. "Oh, shut up, Cam," Mitchell fires back. Cameron responds with bird noises that freak Mitchell out again. Claire says she is going to get this picture taken, and asks if Mitchell if they can act lie a normal family for a tenth of a second. "Make me!" Mitchell yells at his sister. Claire tries as end up in a slap fight.

Jay puts and end to the fighting, saying they are both uptight about everything. He tells Mitchell that small talk was how he met Gloria, and the Claire would be happier if she didn't always try to make everything perfect. Why are they all wearing white? They look like a cricket team. "You think I like acting like this?" Claire asks. "If you have a solution, just give it to me right now." With that, Jay picks up a heap of mud and slams it right into Claire's chest, all over her white shirt. "This is for 'kitschy,'" Cameron says as he slams Mitchell with mud. "Mud fight!!" Luke exclaims as the family does just that. The photographer interrupts them, "Are we doing this?" "No," Claire replies, seeing that Gloria is still perfectly white. Claire gabs mud and smears Gloria's dress, "Now we are."

Jay, in his house, says that in 1968, he was sweeping hair, dreaming of having a perfect wife, with perfect children. He didn't get that; he got this sorry bunch instead. But he's thankful for that every day...well, most days. The camera pulls back to reveal he was talking to Luke. "I think I'm going to go with the Elvis stuff," Luke says. "Yeah, I would," Jay replies.

In the episode tag, Claire is advising Phil as he hangs the family portrait. To the right, now a "scoche" to the left. Not that it matters anyway because they are just going to have to take it down so Claire can paint the wall. Hearing this, Phil gives the camera a sideways glance. "Kill me now," Phil mutters. "What did you say?" Claire asks. "I...don't know how...I got so lucky!" he replies, putting his arm around her as they look at the photo. "I love that picture," Claire says, but then looks closer at the portrait. "Is that a chip on the frame?" Phil immediately grabs Claire in a bear hug and turns her away from the portrait. "No! No! No! Honey!" Phil exclaims as Claire tries to find the flaws.

Commentary

As I first watched "Family Portrait," I thought that "Hawaii" may have been a better episode on which to end the season, as I felt "Hawaii" was an amazing episode. I had one major problem with "Family Portrait" (more on that in a second), but as I rewatched the episode when my wife came home from work, I realized that while it was not a perfect episode (like I thought "Hawaii" was), it was a nice bookend to the season because of what Jay said at the end. This "family" isn't perfect (what family, or show, is?), but I'm thankful every week that I get to spend time with them.

"Family Portrait" just went out and out funny, without really trying to develop the characters any more. I am fine with this, because at this point in the season, we've seen so much growth, and have learned so much about the characters, that it is sufficient to take a break from all that, and just be reminded how freaking funny the show is so we'll come back in the fall. Again, there was a great diversity fo comedy from the slapstick (mud fight), to the situational (the kids' text messages), to the witty (the Latina/language/gardener jokes). The only part that really fell flat for me, was Mitchell and the pigeon. Yes, I know there needed to be something for Mitchell and Cameron to fight over, but Jesse Ferguson's performance was so over the top, that I had to imagine he was directed that way, because he is usually such a fine actor. I'm not the first to say it (Alan Sepinwall of HitFix.com has mentioned it, for example), but the creators of Modern Family have been running the risk of Mitchell and Cameron become too much like caricatures. I recognize that they are the funny gay couple, and I think it is wonderfulthat two gay dads are being portrayed positively on network TV, but with every over the top, shrieking hissy fit they have, the pair move closer and closer to being stereotypical "queens." I do not want to see this because 1) I don't think that is the creators' intention; and 2) the actors are too good for that. I hope that come the fall, the characters will be toned down a little and we can see that they are just like everyone else. The show has managed to tone down Phil's bumble-headedness without losing the funny, so there's no reason they couldn't do it with Mitchell and Cameron, too. I say all of this, though, still absolutely loving the episode, and, of course, loving the series. It will be a long summer with out the Dunphy, Pritchett, and Pritchett-Tucker clans.

So, what did you think of "Family Portrait?" Was it a good summer send-off for the series? How do you feel Cameron and Mitchell have been written and played recently? Anything else you'd like to see the creators change or modify for next season? Please leave your questions and comments below, and be sure to check out TVOvermind all summer long for the latest TV news. If there are any Modern Family developments over the summer, I'll have them for you. Until then, I'm off to have chocolate and fruit, but not together.

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