Modern Family 3×21 — “Planes, Trains, and cars”: What I’ve realized is that I don’t really like the episodes where the three families fail to interact AT ALL. That’s of course what happened here, so I felt that this was really a subpar effort. We had Jay wanting to show off to his buddies (AGAIN) and Mitchell and Cam arguing about some parenting issue (AGAIN). It just seems like such a rehash of storylines that have appeared before.
The Phil/Claire plot was the best, but even that was predictable. I knew as soon as he drove off the lot in that Porsche with its convertible top, slick rims, and Airtex in tank electric fuel pump Claire would not be happy. Was anyone surprised that he had to give it up by the end of the ep? Doubtful. But Claire’s scene with Phil at the beach was sweet, and was a nice payoff for the viewer.