Modern Family - Season 4 Episode 9 - Recap and Review - When a Tree Falls
Recap and review for Modern Family - Season 4 Episode 9 - When a Tree Falls
I spent an uncommon amount of time staring at the screen, trying to figure out what I could say about "When a Tree Falls", the latest in a long line of strong episodes for Modern Family. I had a hard time figuring out how I felt about the episode. It's definitely among the funniest of the season, but it felt different in a way I couldn't quite put my finger on. Ultimately, I came to the realization that it reminded me of one of my favorite episodes of another series, The Simpsons. "22 Short Films About Springfield" was an anthology episode that tracked various denizens of Springfield over the course of one day. The breezy nature of the narrative meant that the stories developed in unconventional ways, sometimes intersecting, yet more frequently remaining completely separate, left to their own quirky devices. This is largely the case here, as the stories are kind of loose in format. There is no A-plot, really, and each story seems to get an equal amount of screentime, despite the fact that not every storyline has the same kind of import as the others. It's a format that has big potential to flop, yet it doesn't, since the pacing is kept tight, and the jokes come at a faster pace than previous weeks, so that it's harder to really notice that they're all over the place with the story. It results in an episode that exemplifies why Modern Family is one of TV's strongest comedies.
Credit: ABC
Since there's no real hierarchy to the plots, I'll start with Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson). Cam learns that the city is planning on tearing down their favorite tree in the park (which they've named "Treeona Elmsley"). However, Cam, who's landed a role as understudy in a local production of Cats, abandons the sit-in when the lead in the production (Cam and Mitchell’s insurance guy, Kenny Van Effington) falls ill and has to sit out a matinee performance, leaving Mitchell holding the bag, yet again. There are a lot of laughs coming out of this plot, though my favorite was probably a throwaway line mentioning Joni Mitchell's 1970 hit, "Big Yellow Taxi", as Cam claims that the city is literally going to "chainsaw paradise and put up a parking lot." Music humor always gets me, I guess. But there are other decent bits too, from Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) struggling with a spatula while yelling "I can't live like this!" to the visual of Cam in his Cats outfit. There's also a meaningful character resolution, as Cam comes back to finish what he started, and the couple ends up saving the tree, in a welcome reversal of the "learning to let go" trope.
Credit: ABC
Meanwhile, Phil (Ty Burrell) learns to work out his issues with Jay (Ed O'Neill), who's insecure about his lack of common ground with the dads at a local kid's birthday party. Jay tells a bunch of embarrassing stories about Phil to get on their good side, which raises Phil's ire and culminates in the two men having it out in a large novelty boxing ring. This plot intersects with the story of Manny (Rico Rodriguez) looking to fit in at the boy's sports-themed party (named the "Doug-lympics", which Manny humorously observes would be accurate if the event took place every four years, or if the kid holding the event was named Al). Manny is invited merely as a formality, to represent Mexico in the annual games, despite the fact that he's neither Mexican nor actually from Mexico, though Luke (Nolan Gould), in another hilariously random bit of Libertarian rhetoric, wants to see a birth certificate. It's probably the weakest story of the episode, but I do enjoy the Phil/Jay end of things, as Phil is the one to help Jay through a bout of insecurity, for once, and it even provides a killer Jay line, as he states that he never thought he'd be more relieved boxing his daughter's husband than his son's.
Credit: ABC
Jay's story, however, also dovetails into Gloria's (Sofia Vergara), as he calls Claire (Julie Bowen) to do a CostCo run with his pregnant wife, since she's been afflicted with "pregnancy brain" and can't be trusted to do her own shopping. Not much of consequence happens until Claire accidentally leaves the store with a sweater and gets busted for shoplifting. Sofia Vergara hasn't had many opportunities to show her range as a comedic actress this season (which is not to say she hasn't been funny, as she's certainly had her moments), but the episode finally allows her to stretch her legs, so to speak, when she fakes her water breaking in order to get Claire out of a possible encounter with the cops, when the store manager (Paul Scheer) fails to understand that the "theft" was merely a misunderstanding. Sofia Vergara isn't subtle, but the broadness of her performance really suits the character well, and it generates some of the most successful moments of the episode, particularly when she continues to pretend at labor when a cop pursues Claire for running a red light.
The last of the myriad stories presented tonight is that of Alex (Ariel Winter), who is determined to take an embarrassing photo of Haley (Sarah Hyland), after we learn that Haley once took a humiliating pic of Alex in headgear and acne cream before bed and posted it to Facebook, where it received over 500 likes. Alex is convinced that she'll be able to get a satisfyingly humiliating picture of Haley during her community service picking up roadside trash (the result of having been caught drinking several episodes back). It's a great bit of escalating comedy, as circumstances keep making it harder and harder for Alex to get a picture good enough to humiliate Haley with, culminating in her ending up covered in mud and grime, which happens to be a perfect opportunity for Haley to take an embarrassing photo of her own - a photo that, once again, garners hundreds of likes. It's a simple storyline, and there's good material here, such as Haley's glamorous mugshots, or Alex's hope to have more friends in the future so that she doesn't have time for these sorts of ridiculous schemes.
"When a Tree Falls" is a strong episode from top to bottom. Though it plays with the episode structure a bit, which is initially jarring, it compensates by being just plain funny. When Modern Family concentrates on simply being a funny show, unencumbered by the dictates of precisely-structured storytelling, it's one of TV's funniest.