“It’s the eye of the tiger, it’s the thrill of the fight.” – Survivor
The gang goes to Hawaii. The whole gang. The scenario of the whole gang on a sitcom going off for a vacation is a fairly familiar one, with varying results. The most famous one is arguably The Brady Bunch’s ill-fated venture to Hawaii, and that’s where our Modern Family gang ends up as well. Like it does in many ways throughout its exceptional first season, Modern Family excels in making familiar territory – family, relationships, siblings, growing up, and in this case family vacations – feel fresh and funny and interesting.
And it adds a wonderfully peculiar twist to the cocktail as well. Case in point is when Phil (Ty Burrell, who grows on me more each week) says to his wife Claire (Julie Bowen), “There she is, the prettiest white lady on Maui.” It works so well because Phil has no clue how bizarre and borderline offensive that comes off as, and his intention comes from a goofy and absolutely sincere place. That same sensibility comes into play with Phil’s dead focus mission to convert his family vacation into the romantic honeymoon that they never had the first time around. “Turning a family vacation into a honeymoon takes commitment,” he intones. It’s really nice to see Claire be able to let her hair down for once and to see a non-harried couple be able to enjoy each other without the kids… if only but briefly. It’s hilarious, for instance, to see the parents ditch the kids at the entrance to the adults-only pool, akin to the hipsters in the group leaving their lessers behind at a club’s front entrance velvet rope.
Of course, reality comes calling when Haley (Sarah Hyland) goes and gets herself good and drunk. Again, a semi-familiar comic scenario but the great touch comes into play again when Claire responds “yes” after a beat when a hungover Haley asks, “Does this happen every time you drink?”
And as often is the case, Modern Family sneaks up on you at the end with a touching moment. In this case Phil pulls out one last move to up the romance factor and sets up a renewal of marriage vows ceremony. A Hawaiian musician serenades with “Eye of the Tiger,” by Survivor, a funny and ironic touch that rounds out Phil’s inexhaustible commitment to squeezing a romantic holiday into an extended family vacation.
There were other nice touches – Jay’s (Ed O’Neill) obsession with eating cheeseburgers in the sun in between worried about getting knocked out with a heart attack like his father was, Manny (Rico Rodriguez) and Luke’s (Nolan Gould) Odd Couple routine while sharing a hotel room, Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitch (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) losing Lilly continuously – particularly in a sugarcane field – but I enjoyed the spotlight most on Phil and Claire this week.
Other thoughts on “Hawaii”:
- “What’s this drink called?” – Mitch “Happiness.” – Cam
- “You’re not going to like this as much as I do, but she’s drunk.” – Alex (Ariel Winter)
- “I keep my phone in my front pocket, so that’s what that is.” – Phil to Jay
- Speaking of extended family vacations, you would need a relative as wealthy as Jay seems to be to take three full families to stay at the Four Seasons Maui!
From Around the Web: Modern Family, “Hawaii”
- Cultural Learnings: “Hawaii” was just really well executed, managing to make an episode feel different (or “special”) without feeling like they transformed characters into something different or creating high drama situations. By telling a restrained story within the vacation space, it leads to a much more subtle show than we’re used to seeing but one which earns its conclusion a bit more effectively while maintaining some great lines.
- IGN: Manny and Luke as roomies could have been a backdoor pilot. Their scenes as a vacationing Odd Couple were the highlights of the episode. The pair need to be thrown together more often.
Some stats and info about Modern Family, “Hawaii”
TV SHOW – Modern Family
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 3, Episode 23
AIRED ON – February 22nd, 2012
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – ABC
GENRE – Comedy, Relationship Shows
CREATED BY – Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd
CAST – Ed O’Neill, Sofia Vergara, Julie Bowen, Ty Burell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet, Rico Rodriguez, Nolan Gould, Sarah Hyland, Areil Winter, Aubrey Anderson-Emmons
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.