Modern Family: Lifetime Supply

What Happened, Yo!:

-Phil visits the doctor who checks out a tender spot on his arm and says he will call if anything's wrong.

-The next day, Phil misses a call from his doctor who leaves a message saying to get back to him quickly, but when he calls the doctor back, he learns the doctor has just gotten on a plane to London.

-While Phil tries to assure himself he'll be fine (He takes Claire not being worried as a good sign), things such as his lifetime supply of razors running out and Gloria panicking because she saw a black mouse in her dream (An omen in Columbia) keep him freaked out throughout the day.

-Meanwhile, Manny's father Javier has come to town to take Manny to the racetracks for a belated birthday present. Jay is forced to tag along, because Gloria doesn't like leaving Manny alone with Javier (Who once took Manny to a "stripper club" with the name "Petting Zoo").

-At the race, Javier wins every race he bets on, crediting it to a connection with the souls of the horses. On the race that Jay's horse wins, an inquiry is made and the results are overturned so Jay loses.

-Jay later apologizes to Javier for being hard on him, and admits to the cameras that he has a good thing going with Manny and doesn't like being reminded that Manny isn't his son.

-Also meanwhile, Mitchell wins an environmental award (Which is basically the Oscar for Environmental Lawyers) and proudly displays it on the mantle. But when Cam puts up a trophy he won for fishing, Mitchell begins to suspect Cam is jealous. He decides Cam must be jealous for sure when the next morning, he finds Cam has added a piece to his trophy, making it bigger than Mitchell's.

-Mitchell and Cam have an argument, but after talking with Alex who admits she feels jealous when Claire praises over her siblings lesser accomplishments, Mitchell realizes he's been acting like a 14-year-old girl.

-Mitchell looks in the garage and finds that Cam has hidden tons of trophies from him to protect his feeling. He decides to make a big display of the trophies as a surprise, but accidentally drops the box when he sees a black mouse in there, just as Cam and Lily get home. Cam gets upset and walks off.

-Later, everyone shows up at the Dunphy household, when Gloria tells the whole family Phil is expecting bad news. This panics Claire, which causes Phil to really panic when the doctor calls. It turns out he was just calling to ask about a real estate listing, much to the annoyance of Phil.

I Liked This: I got both seasons of Modern Family over the holidays, so I was pretty psyched for this show to return. And it did not disappoint with Lifetime Supply. All the stories were funny, and felt fresh, rather than being rehashes of previous stories and themes. Phil is my favorite character of the show, and it was great to watch him get more and more worried over the course of the day, with his chances of survival apparently decreasing (He goes from saying there's a 60% chance he's going to die to saying there's a 5% chance he'll make it). I like Benjamin Bratt as Manny's father, and he was great here, spouting off philisophical nonsense to Manny, which seems to actually work. And the moment where Jay admits he doesn't like being reminded he's not Manny's father was a nice bit of sentiment for the show.

But...: Cam and Mitchell probably had the weakest story tonight, though it still had it's moments (Particularly the pay-off).

The Bottom Line: Lifetime Supply is a very solid start to 2012 for Modern Family. Very solid indeed.

Grade: Totally Awesome! (Great)

Memorable Moments

-Luke's elderly friend Walt returned this week to play videogames with Luke, which was also funny. Luke learns a lot from him including the phrase "See you in hell, Klaus!"
-Alex: "I wouldn't get out of bed in the morning for a trophy that small".
-Young Phil won a lifetime supply of razors on a quiz show. "Two blades? It'll never get better than this".
-Claire: Claire: "Maybe Luke hit you with his broomstick when you guys were playing Quidditch." Phil: "I'm way too fast, he never touched me."
-Cam signed autographs after winning his fishing award. "Best fishes, Cameron Tucker".
-Jay bought a coffee cake, but Javier brought it in from the car so he gets the credit.
-Lily continues to show off her ability to talk, sending Phil over the edge with "Are you going to die?"
-Phil sees Claire as a flight attendant. So when she gets worried...: "Oh boy. The plane's in trouble. You've put away the drink cart and you're strapping in."
-Javier gets the attention of both Claire and Cam, to the point where Mitchell has to say "Stop staring".
-On the game show, Phil references both the eternal love of Jay and DeeDee Pritchett, and his friend who's about to test his homemade helicopter.