Modern Family 2.13 “Caught in the Act” Review

Should you have missed last week’s very funny episode, “Our Children, Ourselves,” catch up with my review here.

This week’s hysterical episode, “Caught in the Act,” was about the different impressions people make. Each of the family units was faced with the fallout arising from their mistaken actions: Mitchell and Cameron try to impress the restaurateur parent of one of Lily’s classmates and ruin her expensive home decor; Gloria tries to recover a harshly worded email she accidentally sent to Claire; and Claire and Phil try to make amends after their children catch them having sex. None of these plots are particularly novel (I think sitcom kids have been walking in on their parents having sex since TV shows started showing married couples sleeping in the same bad), but the skill with which the plots were executed proves yet again that Modern Family is one of, if not the, top comedy currently on television.

Anyone who reads my Modern Family reviews on any sort of regular basis knows that I almost always find the core elements of the show to be of the highest order. Unsurprisingly, these elements were in top form again this week. From the superb dialogue (the whole scene between Jay, Gloria and the kids by the front door) to the slapstick (Mitchell knocking the vase over; the lock sound in the episode’s tag) to the emotional resonance (Jay taking a hit for Gloria by saying the email contained a naked picture of Gloria he requested), this episode was again superlative where it has to be to be a winning sitcom. So, instead of rehashing the excellence of those elements, I want to point out a couple small things that more deeply illustrate, at least to me, what makes the show so successful.

First is something rather simple: car scenes where the actors are actually driving the car. I know this seems like something small, but nothing destroys the “reality” created in a television show (or movie for that matter) more than a really shoddy blue/green screen depicting the city or town whizzing by characters supposedly driving. Of course, I understand why most shows use the blue screen: it’s very expensive to rig cars with cameras, close down streets and hope for a nice weather day, let alone hope that your actors can drive and recite lines without getting into an accident. But sometimes, the use of blue screen totally baffles me. For example, in Hawaii Five-O, whenever McGarrett and Danno drive anywhere, there is an oddly blurred scene of a generic Hawaiian town passing in the background. They are shooting in Hawaii!! It is one of the most beautiful places on Earth, with a wholly unique look, yet they’re faking the scenery. It’s not as if they are filming in L.A. and it’s really supposed to be Cleveland. This makes no sense to me. Fortunately, Modern Family doesn’t do this (or at least not that I’ve ever noticed). Watch the scene with Jay and Gloria in the car again. It’s relatively subtle, but watch the sun move on the window sill behind Gloria. The reflection moves like it does in the real world. Shadows pass over the car naturally. Again, this is something small, but it helps hammer home the “reality” of the show, allowing it to strike a deeper chord with the audience.

I next wanted to note the general madcap nature of the show. More specifically, the way the show can push the madness of a given scene, but yet still have it resonate as something honest and based in reality. In this week’s episode, the Mitchell/Cameron plot climaxed with Amelia pinning her son to the ground, shouting and attempting to plunge an epinephrine shot into his arm to counteract a potentially lethal allergic reaction based on a lie by the couple trying to shift blame for the cause of a juice stain. Just typing that last sentence seemed utterly absurd, yet, when performed, even in all of its hysteria, the scene felt like it could actually happen that way. Many comedies try to ratchet up the “humor” by creating outlandish situations, and then amplifying them to ridiculous ends (see: any scene on Outsourced that involves the American eating Indian food….oh, that’s right, that is every joke on the show). When these occur, it is as if the audience can see the man behind the curtain trying to elicit humor from places it doesn’t exist. On Modern Family, however, even when Cameron or Phil or Gloria is at his or her most cartoonish, the scene still feels grounded in reality. This is a testament to all involved, but it is a refreshing and essential element of the show’s success to date.

(Related side note: I give a lot of praise to the writers and actors, but it should be mentioned that the directors of Modern Family have been cranking out some absolutely great work. Every scene always seems to have the right camera angles, the pacing is always pitch-perfect, and the actor coaching (the way the director elicits the performances he wants from the actors) is always top-notch. Look no further than the fantastic performances being pulled from the children on the show. So, kudos to the directors. I will try to highlight more of their work specifically in coming weeks.)

Last, I would like to point out the scene of the kids at the gas station. As far as I can recall, this is by far the longest scene featuring only the children ever during the series. For a good three or four minutes (a lifetime on a 22-minute sitcom) these great actors carried the show by themselves. I can’t think of another network show in the recent past that has given that long of a scene to two twelve year olds and a twenty year old. Not only were they on the screen together for that long, but they were actually having a relatively deep conversation. Of course, the scene was marked with jokes (my favorite being Luke playing with a lighter at a gas station. *Kids reading this: don’t do that.*), but the siblings needed to negotiate important questions regarding their respective knowledge of sex, divorce, and the role of sex in marriage. The fact that Modern Family trusts its child actors to faithfully execute a scene of this length and material (and the fact that their child actors are actually that talented) further proves the overall excellence of the series.

As I just mentioned the material the actors have to work with, let’s take a look at some of the best lines of the episode:

Gloria: Manny is with his father for the weekend, so Jay and I are flying to Vegas.
Jay: I’m a little torn because I want alone time with Gloria, but I also like rubbing Manny’s head for good luck.

Mitchell (to the camera): Then a miracle happened. The hottest new restaurant in the city opened two blocks away, Amelia’s.
Cameron (to the camera): But there was a problem.
Mitchell: They can take us at 5:15…
Cameron: What are we, 80?
Mitchell: …or 10:45.
Cameron: What are we, 20?

Phil: It’s OK. Maybe they didn’t see anything.
Claire: Sweetie, they screamed, dropped a tray, and ran out of here like they were on fire.
Phil: You were on fire, lady.
Claire: Really? You’re still going.
Phil: Forgive me for thinking your zesty performance deserves some praise.

Luke: What were they doing?
Alex: Nothing.
Luke: Whatever it was, it looked like Dad was winning.
Haley: It! They were doing It!!
Alex: He has no idea what you’re talking about.
Luke: Sex?
Haley: Yeah!
Luke: I know what sex is, Alex. It’s when a man and a woman take off their underpants and then get into the bath…
Alex: Stop talking!

Gloria: Tell me exactly what she said.
Luke: I don’t know. There was just a lot of screaming.
Jay: Where was your father when all of this was going on?
Luke: He was right behind her (Luke grimaces)

Then of course there was the whole scene where Gloria talks to Jay and Claire, culminating in Gloria telling them that it “happened to [her] with another woman,” and Phil replying, “I may pass out.”

So, that’s what I have for “Caught in the Act.” All in all, for me, this was definitely one of the best episodes of the series, and maybe the best of this second season. What did you think? Have any of you walked in on your parents having sex? I remember being a child and hearing my parents laughing, a lot, and them telling me that my dad just told a very funny joke. Though I’m not so sure. (*shudder*) Where do you think this episode ranks this season and within the series as a whole? Please leave your comments below. Modern Family is in repeats for the next couple weeks, but when it returns, so will I with another review. Until then, I’m off to have sex ruined for me…and boots.

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