By Amy Van Veen (Staff Writer) – Email
Wednesday night’s Modern Family was all about the boys. Mitch and Cam are more than ready for a gay guys’ night out with their friends Pepper, ____ and ____ and although Cam would much rather have Alex babysit for them, Hailey volunteers for the job much to their dismay. Over at the Dunphys, the family is bonding by playing baseball in the backyard, until their only ball goes into mean Mr. Kleezak’s yard next door. Everyone is terrified of him, everyone but Luke, who obliviously goes over and makes a new friend with Walt. Claire and Phil hear about it, jump to conclusions because he’s weird, and ban Luke from seeing him; then, feeling bad, they go over to make amends only to find their old neighbour possibly dead. A word fight ensues, and the truth of Phil’s sexy dance with open blinds comes out. Gloria and Manny try to get Jay out of the house for a night of Vivaldi, but as an old man stuck in his ways, he digs in his heels and ends up running into Mitch and Cam’s little fiesta, drinks a lot, bonds and makes a date with Pepper, which he doesn’t remember. Gloria, he hopes, will get him out of it, but she doesn’t quite do that. She gets payback for him ditching her and Manny. She’s an evil genius. The Dunphys fears of Walt are put to rest and Cam catches Hailey with her boyfriend. Fun Modern Family fact! Luke, the supposed simpleton of the Dunphy family, is actually a kid genius and member of the intellectually elite Mensa club.
Matthew Perry, an avid tennis player, was particularly excited about this episode of Mr. Sunshine since it featured guest star Jimmy Connors. Who? Apparently he’s a tennis legend who came on as himself to participate in the Sunshine Center’s celebrity tennis match against Alonzo and his partner. Unfortunately, his tennis partner was recently hit by a car. Cue Crystal to enter as she’s so excited she learned the Twitter, which she updated when she hit the weatherman Alonzo was teamed up with. Ben obviously jumps at the opportunity to play against his hero, and Roman jumps, a little too ambitiously, at the opportunity to be the ball boy. Crystal, while still updating the Twitter and driving her decked out golf cart, hits her son and doesn’t quite know his allergies, thankfully Heather’s there to save him from death. She enlists her personal attorney to protect her against her son’s possible legal action and twists Ben’s admonition of her poor maternal skills into befriending her son to avoid being sued. The tennis celebrity match gets another guest of honour in Roman, and Jimmy Connors thinks he’s a jelly bones kid who the charity is for. Throughout all of this Crystal goodness, Ben doesn’t want Alice to tell Alonzo that she and him used to go out, especially after he hears all of the things she’s said to Alonzo about her “last boyfriend”. His mistake, though, is assuming she even considered him a boyfriend and the truth comes out and is then fixed with a quick pep talk by Ben and a quicker forgiveness by Alonzo. Before all that, though, is some good comedy around the dinner table and Roman’s choice of starch for dinner: macaroni, mashed potatoes and tater tots which is code for Alice, Alonzo and Ben. In the end, Cyrstal and Roman actually bond while the game is started with tennis legend Jimmy Connors and former boy actor Frank Savage against NBA legend Alonzo and his partner, that guy in the red shirt.
Another themed episode for Community which could have been even more appreciated if I had ever seen Pulp Fiction, or Dinner with Andre for that matter. It’s Abed’s birthday and Jeff has planned a Pulp Fiction party at the diner where Britta works and she’s responsible for it while her boss is gone, which is something she won’t let anyone forget. Meanwhile, at the fancy restaurant where Jeff meets Abed, he sees his TV loving friend in a very weird way. A very un-Abed weird. Abed tells a story to Jeff about how he visited the set of Cougar Town after the makers got in touch with him for creating such a huge fan following (preach it, Abed!) and the story ends in him realizing the character he got to play as an extra lived more than he could ever dream and then he pooped his pants. The only gift he wants, then, is a real conversation with Jeff. Jeff doesn’t believe in conversations. He thinks everyone lies. And then he gets real. Jeff real. Jeff as a child real. Jeff’s mom real. Real. At the diner, Troy really wants to open the briefcase Jeff got for Abed for his birthday to see if it’s a better gift than what he got him. Chang psyches him into it and Troy finds a certificate of authenticity as well as a light bulb, which quickly torches the gift. When everyone shows up at the restaurant, Abed’s waiter accidentally lets slip how he’s currently doing an homage of Dinner with Andre where a guy has dinner with the weird friend he’s been avoiding. Troy also has some no-no juice, aka wine. He’s the best part of any episode. He also knows how to properly wrap a toy helicopter. Jeff tells Abed to keep a “tight heavy lid” on his whole childhood story, to which Abed, as his old self, replies, “Cool, THL.” Troy and Abed are together for a great show ender with a dine and dash and sadly it looks like Troy is one of the only highlights. Come on, Community! No more themed episodes, unless that theme is the Muppets. They make everything better.
Next: The Office, Parks & Recreation, 30 Rock!
