Modern Family “The One That Got Away” S2 E24 Review + Recap

The season finale of Modern Family was disappointing, especially in comparison to last week’s episode.

Last week, I questioned the wisdom of placing “See You Next Fall” before the season finale. “See You Next Fall” was so primed for finale-hood, with its heartwearming, integrated storyline. The graduation theme felt like a perfect way to mark the passage of time and the start of a summer break for the characters and the show itself.

In contrast, “The One That Got Away” was funny, but a little flat and disjointed. 

Modern Family “See You Next Fall” S2 E23 Review + Recap

Despite the title, “See You Next Fall” is not the season finale of Modern Family. However, it does everything a good season finale should.

The episode brought the entire cast together, while still allowing every character to shine. While the adults on this show have always been funny, the kids have really grown up as this show has matured. Specifically, the interplay between Luke (Nolan Gould) and Manny (Rico Rodriguez) has been fine-tuned to perfection.

While I can’t exactly say the same for the dynamic between the two girls, I did appreciate that the show has been bringing some more serious storylines into its half-hours.

Modern Family “Good Cop Bad Dog” S2 E22 Review + Recap

“Good Cop Bad Dog” was the first Modern Family episode directed by Fred Savage. Unfortunately, it was also the first Modern Family episode in 2011 that I genuinely disliked.

The writing didn’t help. The Jay (Ed O’Neill) and Gloria (Sofia Vergara) storyline was fairly pointless.All it did was provide an entertaining Lin-Manuel Miranda cameo and introduce a dog to the Pritchett family. Both the Dunphy and Tucker-Pritchett narratives portrayed Claire (Julie Bowen) and Mitch (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) in extremely negative lights.

Critics often laud the talented cast of Modern Family. In this episode, the actors tried admirably, but ultimately even Ty Burrell and the increasingly agile child actors couldn’t save the show.

Modern Family “Mother’s Day” S2 E21 Review + Recap

As expected, Modern Family‘s “Mother’s Day” episode was saccharine in tone. Unexpectedly, it skirted some important issues, but ultimately ignored them in order to focus on some mediocre laughs.

I like Modern Family best when the stories from each of the families intersect in an organic manner. Too often, the show just has everyone meet at dinner to close the episode with all the characters together. This happens at the end of “Mother’s Day.”

This episode included three main stories, that did at least shake up some of the usual character groupings. Unfortunately, the gay couple still did not interact with the other families until the end.* In fact, I have a lot to say about the Tucker-Pritchett story in this episode.