Review: Modern Family Episode 10 – Undeck the Halls

December 10, 2009 by
Filed under: Season 1 Episodes 

Modern Family Episode 10

Episode recap:
When Phil and Claire discover a burn mark on the sofa, they try to get a confession out of their children. When no one confesses, Phil dramatically declares Christmas is canceled.
Jay attempts to revive the Christmas tradition with Manny, but fails to consider their different backgrounds. Manny and Gloria do not celebrate Christmas in the same manner, in fact, Manny does not believe in Santa Claus.
Cameron and Mitchell wait in line for Santa at the mall. With their daughter in tow, they demand the fat Santa instead of the skinny one and promptly gets the man fired. Meanwhile, Cameron is furious after seeing his caroling group perform after they kicked him out. Sympathetic for the man, Mitchell and Cameron invite the Santa over.
See the full recap here.

Some reviews come from:
TV Squad:

This holiday episode was lighter on the funny moments than most episodes of Modern Family, which isn’t to say that it wasn’t plenty funny. It substituted those with more heartfelt moments. Homeless Santa was able to forgive Cameron and Mitchell for getting him fired with their complaints that he didn’t look enough like St. Nick. They didn’t even have to admit they’d done it; he forgave them after seeing the kindness in their hearts — which may have had a healthy dash of guilt thrown into the mix.

I love it, though, when he punched out Cam’s rival in the chorus. Even after usurping control last year and getting Cam kicked out, he still had to go to his house to rub it in his face, and then when Cameron sucked it up to be the bigger man and show true Christmas spirit, he had to keep on being a jerk. He deserved a good hit.

The best moment of the entire episode came when Jay arrived at his house toward the end of the episode and put down the law that no Colombian traditions were allowed in the house. The looks on Gloria and Manny’s faces were so raw and real, it was painful to see. But when Jay popped back out with “Innocente!” embracing the Colombian tradition of pranks at Christmas, it was simply beautiful. He even had fireworks!

and AV Club:

  • Fred Willard? Perfect choice for Phil’s dad. Great little technology joke with only the top half of his head showing up in the video chat.
  • Cameron, chastising Mitchell for complaining about the long Santa line, then catching sight of the New Greensleevers: “Somebody needs to get in the holiday sonofabitch!”
  • Phil: “I can forgive the smoking, but I can’t forgive the lie.” Catching Claire’s eye: “Or smoking.”
  • Scott the Homeless Santa has too many good lines to quote, but I’ll try: In reference to living in his car, “It’s pretty roomy since the wife moved out.” Responding to the dinner invitation, “Can I bring anything? Ketchup, soy sauce, straws?” And of course, the new gay Christmas tradition of a shirtless Santa: “Who wants to try the swing?”
  • “Burrito, burr-eye-to.”
  • “What happened?” “Doesn’t matter! Wreath, stockings, tree, presents, go!”

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