Modern Family Review: "Starry Night"

at .

I challenge anyone to sit down and watch an episode of Modern Family and not enjoy it.  Even when some of the plot lines are not laugh-out-loud hilarious, the show has such heart and the characters so developed, I just love watching them each week.

As usual, there were three different stories for the families in "Starry Night," this time with the Dunphy's getting their own standalone, and Mitchell and Cameron splitting up with Jay and Gloria respectively for theirs.

Meteor Shower Bonding

Normally we're a big fan of unique combination of the characters and the families, but this time the Dunphy's standalone was the strongest to us.  While too much physical comedy can be cheesy, some how Ty Burrell (Phil) has it down to a science between the infamous step and his entire garage scene.

In the past, we used to think of Luke as perhaps the weakest of this ridiculously talented ensemble cast of characters, but this week if anything the kid stole the show.  His misunderstanding of the noise cancellation headphones was great, but his best line came after the credits with, "My mouth is asleep like at the dentist."  Killed us.

And no, we don't care if plenty of other shows have done story lines about kids procrastinating school work.  Sure it was a generic sitcom plot, but it was used to show a fun turn of the tables in the Dunphy household.

In a rare combination, Gloria and Cameron hung out while their men were doing a father-and-son bonding trip.  Cameron's awkward foot-in-mouth moments were hilarious, but his story about Mitchell's Ivy League friends from Colombian and the Brown kid was perfection. 

It was cute to see the normally confident, boistrous Cameron so nervous.  They really should be besties and hope to see more plotlines with these two in the future.

For whatever reason, the Jay-Mitchell-Manny trip to view the meteor shower was the weakest of the three to us.  It had plenty of heart between Jay's speech to Mitchell, and Mitchell's to Manny.  However, when it came to laughs there were only a couple of lines delivered by Jay that had us laughing.

Overall, it was a great episode and you can catch up with our favorite Modern Family quotes from the episode below:

Mitchell: Tonight is the maginificent Lyrid meteor shower.
Cameron: It's where the planet geek passes through the nerdy way. | permalink
Cameron [about him and Gloria]: On paper we should be good friends, one spicy curvy diva.
Mitchell: And Gloria. | permalink
Cameron: I was nervous. There was a lot of different food on the menu, and on the floor and on the wall.
Mitchell: Are we sure we're not exaggerating just a little bit?
Cameron: Were you there, Mitchell? Because I think I would have recognized the only other white or gay person. | permalink
Claire [after eating Haley's cupcakes]: Do we still have the number for poison control?
Phil: I love you, Claire, I'll always love you!
Luke: My mouth is asleep like at the dentist. | permalink

Starry Night Review

Editor Rating: 3.7 / 5.0
  • 3.7 / 5.0
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
User Rating:

Rating: 4.6 / 5.0 (11 Votes)

Eric Hochberger is the programmer of TV Fanatic, so please forgive his mediocre writing. His programming is far better. Follow him on Twitter and/or email him. Just don't request threaded comments. They're coming.

Show Comments
Tags: ,

Modern Family Season 1 Episode 18 Quotes

Mitchell: Tonight is the maginificent Lyrid meteor shower.
Cameron: It's where the planet geek passes through the nerdy way.

Alex: Luke has ADHD.
Luke: No I don't... what is it?
Alex: I'd tell you, but you'd wander off before I get to the (Luke wanders off) H.