Modern Family – Great Expectations – Recap

Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 10:58 PM | TV
Tags: Edward Norton, Elizabeth Banks, Great Expectations, Modern Family, Recap

(Here’s Desi’s recap of tonight’s episode of Modern Family: Great Expectations)

Modern Family returns this week after a hiatus for last week’s Country Music Awards, and we get a Very Special Episode with not one, but two guest stars: Elizabeth Banks and Edward Norton.

It’s Phil and Claire’s anniversary, and I think we should just start calling them Phlaire. They can be the Mavid of ABC comedy night. Phil wakes her up and immediately gives her gifts: a Viewmaster that projects images of the two of them and a bracelet. Claire…gives him coupons. In Phil’s interview, he lists things he’d rather have gotten, including a yogurt maker. I don’t even think that’s a real thing.

Mitchell and Cameron are fussing over Lily’s diaper, unsure of whether it needs to be changed or not due to triple-leak-guard protection. They realize that their adult conversation is about their child’s diaper and realize they need a night out, and so resolve to call their old friend Sal. They meet Banks’ character at the bar and I’m pretty sure that she’s me in ten years. She reveals a boob job that the gays, of course, love.

Since Phlaire had an anniversary to celebrate and the gays were having a night out, Jay and Gloria have all the grandkids over for “Jay’s Night.” Haley wants to go out to a party instead and tries to sneak out, but Jay catches her. He steals her shoes (“I took your freedom”) and eventually goes outside to invite Dylan in the house, since he was hiding in a bush. Instead of going to the party, though, he wants to eat Sloppy Jays and watch Westerns with the other cousins.

Throughout the day, Claire continued to receive gifts like flowers and balloons… and more flowers. She realizes that her coupons seem like a joke, so in an effort to make up for it, she finds the singer and guitarist from the band who played the song the couple first danced to, played by Norton. But Izzy Fontaine is not the guitarist (he plays bass) or the singer (he sang backup.) Claire has brought him in to play an in-house private concert for the couple. When he asks Phil for requests and he’s unable to come up with any song titles, Izzy figures out that Phil isn’t a fan. Not only can Phil not pronounce the band’s name correctly, he reminds Claire that they danced to a completely different song and that the bass player in their living room has no importance to their lives.

At the bar, Sal keeps making snarky remarks about Lily when Cameron realizes that Sal’s jealousy is coming from “first child syndrome.” She refers to the baby as Yoko “because she’s Asian and she broke up our group,” and says that she is jealous because she spends less time with the pair since Lily was born. Mitchell reassures her that she can call them whenever she needs to, and Sal passes out on his shoulder. They take her over to Jay’s to meet Lily.

The episode was pretty cute, but all the irritation I used to feel toward Jay’s character is now pushed on Phil. I don’t feel like his character is necessary for reasons other than so Claire has a husband. And stylists: BRING BACK THE PLAID!

3 Comments for Modern Family – Great Expectations – Recap

1

What is that song they dance to the end

Tee tee on November 18, 2009 at 11:15 pm
2

True by Spandau Ballet

Rickey on November 18, 2009 at 11:24 pm
3

Thank you it was driving me crazy now I can sleep

Tee tee on November 18, 2009 at 11:58 pm