Modern Family: Season 3 Finale

Modern Family’s season finale was neither good nor bad, but disappointing. While season finales are probably some of the hardest episodes to write, we often leave our collective viewing expectations in the hands of what we hope are a room of writers who have a plan for how a season’s going to end. Sadly, the finale episode culminated in an emotionally forced and slapped together plotline that didn’t resonate emotionally and left me flipping channels afterward thinking, “Meh, what else is on.”

The episode’s inciting incident raises the stakes for the series, as Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cam (Eric Stonestreet) receive a phone call informing them that an adoptable child is being born in a neighboring town. When they discover the parents only speak Spanish, Mitchell decides to take Gloria (Sofia Vergara) with them. Mitchell and Cam skip their adopted daughter Lily’s (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) dance recital and leave her in the capable hands of Jay (Ed O’Neill) and Manny (Rico Rodriguez). Meanwhile, in the Dunphy household, Claire (Julie Bowen) and Phil (Ty Burrell) are preparing for youngest daughter Alex’s (Ariel Winter) prom and oldest daughter Haley’s (Sarah Hyland) college denial woes.

The real disappointment in the episode for me was the lack of continuity with previous episodes in the season. Modern Family at its core is a mockumentary comedy with heart. The finale had very little comedy, and the heart of the primary storyline was lackluster and forced. The “A” storyline of Cam and Mitchell going to adopt their new baby climaxes with a long scene filled with a literal Spanish soap opera confrontation between a priest, nurse, grandmother, and cowboy. The scene was a poor choice by the show’s writers and provided no laughs. The actors themselves even seemed to know the scenes they were in were going to fall flat, as it looked like they were phoning in all of their lines while waiting to jump to the next scene. The discovery that Cam and Mitchell would not be receiving a baby culminates in an over the top emotional scene in the middle of the field where both men lie down next to each other and cry upward into the stars. This scene probably could have hit home if the previous scene hadn’t been so ridiculously underwhelming.

Unfortunately, it seemed the writers had written themselves into a corner, as the “A” storyline should have been the “C” storyline. The much stronger “B” story of Haley’s dinner with her parents to explain her decision to move in with boyfriend Dylan (Reid Ewing) was far too short. Even the “C” story of Lily’s recital and Jay’s sweet connection to the spoiled girl dealing with stage fright was touching and deserved more screen time. Because the “bombshell” of Cam and Mitchell potentially receiving a new child was such a strong premise, the episode focused on a story that didn’t seem to have enough wind in its figurative sails.

All criticism of the finale aside, Modern Family is still one of the freshest and best shows on television. Without giving too much away, the episode’s conclusion reveals a nice setup for next season that will change the entire dynamic of the family trio. Unlike many comedies on television, Modern Family is constantly evolving. Between Haley going off to college, Alex growing up fast, Phil and Mitchell changing jobs, and the whole gang constantly bickering over life’s constant comic struggles, Modern Family looks to have a long and bright future ahead.