The Moth Chase

Episode 1

After last week’s great return, I have to say that this episode didn’t fully do it for me.  In some ways it felt a little forced (I found the whole lead up to the, “kiss your son, now kiss your lover” scene quite awkward…and not in that brilliant British Office kind of way).  To me, the pacing wasn’t quite right.  That being said, the payoff from the strange build up was quite lovely.  Jay’s kiss for Mitchell was actually sweet, and the immediacy with which it allowed a sweet kiss, almost off-frame, between Cam and Mitchell was also perfect.  And in a sense, it also felt like a significant television moment, in large part because of its insignificance.  I was watching a tv show on the history of same sex kisses on television the other day and was shocked to learn that there was a 9 year gap between the first girl-girl kiss and the first boy-boy one.  Even 5 years ago, two men kissing on television was radical – it required the gearing of an entire storyline toward it, and what mattered about it was the intensity of the kiss itself, not the narrative it unfolded.  But in this story, the kiss served the larger narrative arc – it told us stories of childhood, intimacy and care (and its trickle-down affect to Manny’s good-night and Alex’s own self-realizations was also beautiful).  It reminded us of how broken relationships can create further brokenness, but that healing can also self-perpetuate. But what made this kiss so lovely, in my view, was the preparation that happened for it in last week’s episode (not, quite clearly, the prep within its own arc).  I noticed immediately in the season opener that Cam and Mitchell were much more physically affectionate with each other…an absence I hadn’t noticed last season, but now realize was there.  These two actors continue to grow in their gorgeous ability to authentically portray a same-sex family (for which the show has been much lauded)…they remain my favourite, and most inspiring couple to watch in the whole Modern Family cast.

As the episode unfolded to reveal a theme of succeeding and failing to live up to expectations – Mitchell not living up to Cam’s affection, Claire presenting real and fake selves for her kids to emulate, Alex’s own expectations of what a romantic relationship should be – the one I found most intriguing was Gloria’s story.  Her hookwinking of Jay required his own sense of expectation – what a Colombian woman should be, how her culture should perform.  And in the most wonderful twist of insurgency, she used that expectation for his downfall.  Chicken slapping, shoes around the neck – what brilliant little pieces of cultural ritual that seem to believable but are gloriously bunk.   The old idea that forcing people into our own expectations for them is bad – simply from a moral point of view – was upended by Gloria’s games in such a brilliant way.  If forcing people into my expectations is bad, not just morally, but because it allows them to totally mess with me if they have the savvy and deviousness to do so…that might just be the best lesson of all!

What did you guys think?  Favourite lines?  Moments?

xoxo,
Natalie

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Episode 2

These are important questions, so I can’t resist beginning this post by writing a little about the theology of this episode!  Watching Manny try to choose between Gloria’s wrathful, terribly-rule-bound, sort of superstitious God and Jay’s wishy washy, hunch-filled, nonsensical vision was hilarious.  It is curious to me that we’ve never seen Gloria attend church or really, significantly heard God mentioned before, and now religion is all of a sudden at the center of her life.  But I’m willing to let that one go for the sake of getting to watch two equally nutty theological schemes work themselves out.  I love seeing what happens when we begin to question our assumptions about God…and how we quickly realize how easily some of our foundational beliefs can fall apart.  Gloria’s vindictive, punishing God needs to be balanced by a vision of Heaven with clouds like trampolines, sunshine and butterflies (or not) if God is still to be seen to be good.  And Jay’s vision of everyone getting into Heaven requires an answer to where do bad people end up…quickly reproducing a vision of Hell, but with better real estate, if it is to satisfy the needs that our visions of Heaven satisfy.  But somewhere in that mess of reasoning, Gloria came up with something beautifully true – that the church is made by the people who God made…and that’s what makes it worth attending on a Sunday morning.  And somewhere else in the midst of that mess of reasoning we saw all three members of the family come to the most faithful response of all – the ability to find God in the gifts of life, and to express gratitude for that finding.  Even if what is found is run over golf clubs, a beautiful morning on the green, or a pile of sugar in espresso.

How intriguing that Modern Family’s first real stab at religion came in an episode that framed the Dunphy’s dilemmas around a manipulation into Tolerance – or, at least, its museum.  Alex’s sneaky maneuvering of the family during crisis outdid even Phil’s.  And I, for one, was sad to see that step fixed, even for a few minutes.  I was quite relieved when the earthquake shook it loose! Best line of the Dunphy story – “We’re not playing good cop – mom”.  Phil gets me every time.

Cam and Mitchell were gorgeous as ever in this episode – I love the idea of owning an opera cape that basically pays for itself!  And Nathan Lane’s turn as Pepper was perfect.  But mostly I love this question of who cleans up what mess in a marriage.  It’s true that I too am often the mob wife wearing the mink coat off the back of the truck (especially when it comes to getting lost – a problem I always face as I’m geographically challenged, and which my poor husband always needs to fix while I get more and more frustrated with his reliance on intuition to get us where we need to be).  Cam’s inability to get them out of the Oscar Wilde and Crazy Brunch required him benefiting from Mitchell’s dubious methods…even suffering at the hands of that benefit.  And that is one of the more surprising aspects of married life – that we find ourselves dependent on each other in ways that are difficult to understand.  That my partner can do some things better than me, but not as good as I want him to – and vice versa – creates a constant give and take of vulnerability that sinks us deeper and deeper into real intimacy together and, at the same time, a shared openness to the kindness of others.  Cam and Mitchell performed that play of vulnerability and depth so beautifully in this episode!

What were your favourite moments, Moth Chase friends?  Which of Pepper’s parties would you attend and why?  Studio 54th of July BBQ?  Seder-night Fever?  Are there butterflies in heaven?

xoxo,
Natalie

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It’s Like Riding a Bike

My raucous laughter at Modern Family had waned a little in the last few episodes, but this one brought it back.  This season has Gloria stepping fully into her comedic role and I’m finding her to be truly amazing!  Such a sexy woman doing physical humor is rare and, I imagine, difficult to pull off (it’s kind of like someone as sexy as Javier Bardem playing a creepy psychotic like Chigurh – so incongruous it works even more).  But the character who really captivated my attention in this episode was Claire.

To be honest, I struggle a little with the Claire character.  She’s funny, for sure – but she’s also so neurotic at times that she makes me uncomfortable (and not in the Modern Family/Curb Your Enthusiasm/The (British) Office good way).  Not to mention she’s so unnaturally skinny I’m scared she’s going to snap in half with every move.  I guess I get a little tired of the narrative of the mom who gave up her career to raise her kids…who somehow lives in a giant house on a single income with every amenity one could possibly want.  I’m bummed that the show hasn’t given us one strong female lead who works outside the home.  Alex seems as close as we can get to that.  And while I think it works with Gloria – accentuating her “trophy wife” status – it doesn’t so much with Claire for me.  I get frustrated with the stupid things she fixates on.  And I find myself longing for a storyline with her that doesn’t involve a neurotic meltdown about something weird.

But I think Claire is like every other character in this sense – I constantly have to try to figure out if she’s just a stereotype of who she is, or if she’s exposing some of the darker, sadder, more poignant truths of the cultural figure she portrays.  We know that the “Leave it to Beaver” or “Happy Days” era with the mother being a central, power-figure is gone – but Claire brings that fully to light for us.  When she is in the spotlight, it’s for her disfunctionality.  And the obsessive and ridiculous nature of most of her pre-occupations gives us insight into what life might be like for women confined to their domestic chores with little ‘outside-world’ stimulus.

Being a stay-at-home mom has it’s own unique set of challenges (I imagine) – and perhaps Claire gets them dead on instead of skirting around them.  Small things get loaded with meaning because their role in her tiny sphere is proportionally immense.  And when those things are good things, it’s actually quite beautiful (a day spent sick in bed with a daughter, the right performance of a Hallowe’en house).  So when they’re good, I can see the beauty of domestic life (or at least hope for it).  But of course when they’re negative, oof – then they just seem petty and narrow.  But maybe that’s true too.

The Cam and Mitchell storyline was hilarious – but what really got me were the revelations of the small injustices a gay couple needs to greet in daily life.  I thought they were honest and so perfectly portrayed – when the landlady called Cam by the wrong male name and he just let it slide, and her comment that they’re lucky they can’t get married – both moments were cringeworthy, but offered insight into the stupid things people say and do in the midst of cultural shifts that they don’t know how to handle taking place.  And I’m glad the show is starting to incorporate such finer details.

I was left wondering, though – Cam and Mitchell rent?!  Wow, how had I not noticed that they are the only family whose upstairs we never see!?!?  For all the ways I get frustrated with the splendor of single income homes on these shows, it seems Cam and Mitchell’s place was being a little more honest about the economic sacrifices that need to be made to have one parent stay at home.

What did you think, dear readers?  Favourite moments?  How are you enjoying season 2?

xoxo,
Natalie