Modern Family Review: Grab It (Season 8 Episode 6)

Ugh, well that was awful. Modern Family has had a good run lately with funny episodes, but Modern Family Season 8 Episode 6, “Grab It,” just fell completely flat. It is hard to even elicit a smile or giggle. Laughter was needed on Wednesday night, but Modern Family did not deliver.

“Grab It” refers to the name of a Lean In type book that Alex is obsessed with and makes her consider pursuing business as well. Claire thinks that Alex really looks up to her, as she’s a successful CEO, but just doesn’t want to express her feelings.

The whole scene with Claire and Alex at the book event is just dreadful because it’s contrived; however, the Alex/Claire plot is actually quite good. Alex finally gets a storyline that doesn’t revolve around her having mono or snapping at her family.

It’s nice to see Claire actually take advice from Gloria about how parents don’t get credit, but they still influence their kids. This is evident when Alex decides to take a job as a barista “to get her hands dirty” just as Claire suggests earlier in the episode.

Unfortunately, the rest of the episode goes downhill from there. Modern Family recycles the Jay and Phil storyline where Jay doesn’t want Phil involved with his life because he’s embarrassed of him, only to have Phil rise to the occasion. They have a heart to heart, and then do it all again some episodes down the line.

When a plot is done time and time again, it’s not funny or progressive for either of the characters.  This time, Jay doesn’t want Phil to become a member at his country club.

Oh, Luke works there, by the way. It would have been funnier to see Phil and Luke partner up to embarrass Jay instead.

Jay later tells Phil that he just wants a place of his own, but it’s hard to feel sorry for Jay here. Maybe because the country club he belongs to is just a Good Ol’ Boys Club who have slurs for every ethnicity (even Norwegians!), and I just wasn’t in the mood for that type of “comedy.”

Regardless, at the point where Jay and Phil are supposed to have their tender moment, it is cheapened because we have seen it all before. Sometimes it works, but otherwise, we become desensitized to it.  Both Jay and Phil are better than the same old storyline.

Gloria’s plot isn’t much better.  She’s looking forward to a nice bath and a glass of wine, but both Manny and Joe ruin her plans.

Manny comes home early after a truly embarrassing incident at a party. We had a really great moment with Manny in the previous episode with the girl dressed as Dorothy Parker. In “Grab It,” Manny is back to being a loner. What happened to the girl? It would have been nice to have a follow-up.

The best part of Gloria’s story is seeing her sit down and talk with Claire about parenting. They are two characters that aren’t alone together often, so it is refreshing to see them together and not have Claire make snide remarks.

Lastly, Cam takes Mitch to an interactive play about a super cliché high school reunion. The play is terrible, and, of course, Mitch is the one selected to take part as an audience member. The whole thing is not funny and feels forced. However, Mitch’s reactions are great, and, therefore, made this plot tolerable.

Overall, “Grab It” is a disappointing episode of Modern Family after the past few episodes. It consists of everything that’s wrong with Modern Family: contrived plots, overstuffed storylines, and lazy writing.

Hopefully, “Grab It” is just a blip, and the next episode will be up to par.

Last Bits:

• Manny wants “Netflix and Mom?” Ewww. Seriously, can Manny please get a girlfriend so that he can stop saying inappropriate things about family members?
• Seeing Joe struggle to drag Gloria behind him on “Santa’s Sleigh” is cruel but quite funny.
• I don’t think I ever want to go to an interactive play.

What did you think of this episode of Modern Family? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Modern Family airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on ABC.

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