Modern Family - Come Fly With Me - Recap

Here's the recap of tonight's episode of Modern Family from Desi:

Modern Family Wednesday! This week starts off with Jay wielding a model airplane. Though I am still bored of him and his storyline (say funnier things, please) this can probably only go well. Especially when son-in-law Phil shows up on the scene. The writers definitely had this right, though: fathers never want to hang out with their daughter's boyfriend/fiacee/husband. I can't imagine what they'd ever have to say to each other. Maybe that's why football was invented.

Cameron and Mitchell bring us back from commercial with a trip to Costco with some fierce argyle sweaters. This week, their confessional features a discussion on how the two met and began dating. Game night at the gay bar-- I was probably there when they met. Casablanca! It's Mitchell's first visit to Costco and his initial resistance pretty closely resembles my emotions the first time I visited the discount warehouse. (I was dating this guy from Flint and the downtown area is a little sketchy, trust.)

We return to Phil and Claire's house where Gloria is dropping off Manny to play with Luke, Claire's son. The women essentially switch children, with step-grandmother taking Alex out for an afternoon. They have a lunch conversation that would probably result in anyone else vomiting or at least storming from the table in awkwardness, but since the "grandmother" in question is in her 40's, it's somehow a little better. Claire and Manny realize that they are siblings and engage in some unorthodox brother-sister advice. (Luke keeps dropping his pants outside. I'm pretty sure he'll grow up to become the campus streaker at college.) He makes me want to be 10 again so I can have badass milk mustaches like the one he manages to pull off.

They revisit Jay and Phil, now out in a field flying the airplane. Jay suggests they "thread the needle" by navigating the plane through a hula-hoop, so Phil runs out and raises the hoop above his head. You can probably see where this is going. The airplane dips and hits Phil square in the chest and he faceplants right to the ground.

We revisit Costco, where a stop for cheap diapers has turned into Mitchell running all over the store, even finding his dream shredder. ("Streamers and confetti!") That's pretty much the last we see of them for the rest of the episode, which is awful. They're undeniably the best part of the show.

Jay manages to cart Phil back home and he crawls onto the couch, saying he needs to "rest his face." Claire tells her father that he either needs to tell her husband that he loves him or he has to leave the house. Jay walks back into the living room, sits on the couch by a bloody Phil, and tells him that he likes him. The two hug, later joined by Cameron and Manny as the women film and photograph the outpouring.

For me so far the show has been losing steam. I know it's only week three and I like that they're spreading the focus to the different families, but I think Mitchell and Cameron are the most entertaining. (And where was the baby this week?)

All I know is that if I have to keep seeing these horrible "laugh with America" commercials on ABC, I will frown every time I watch the network.

Rickey's Notes: I'm still loving this show. Though I agree that the patriarch of the family Jay -- the one that glues all these people together -- is the most uninteresting character here. We've seen the grumpy old man so many times -- we need a better spin.