“The Alliance” was one of the best episodes of “Modern Family” this season. I love how we still get to discover new things about this family. In this case, it’s thanks to Gloria, Phil, and Cam. The three have, over the years, formed a holy trinity of sorts. As those married into the Pritchett clan, they help each other pick up the pieces after their mistakes, and do so in secret. It’s wonderful! It’s also, most definitely, the focus of the episode.
As the other characters continue going about their lives — Claire is still trying not to be under the pressure of her father’s opinions at the company, Haley pursues her relationship with Rainer by babysitting his teenage daughter (the second best part of the episode, especially when she yells at her, making Claire quite proud), Luke almost has to pimp himself out to a cougar at the club till Jay decides to save him (this storyline was a bit on the borderline of being uncomfortable to watch).
Meanwhile, we learn about how Gloria, Phil, and Cam have been there for each other when anyone of them screws up. Why do they do this? Because their partners — Jay, Claire, and Mitch — are judgmental and quick to assign blame. So when each of them have a problem of their own, they decide to “go get some orange juice,” their code to meet up. Gloria has left an electric leash on Stella, something Jay forbade her to do, and now she’s lost. Cam hasn't evicted Russian hoarders from their upstairs apartment, something Mitch strictly told him to do.
Phil distracts Mitch outside his gym while Gloria, giving off a very Elizabeth Jennings (“The Americans”) vibe, cruelly kicks out Cam’s hoarders. “If you hear two bodies hit the floor, it’s done. If you hear three, one of them tried to get up,” she warns her step son-in-law before heading up. Unfortunately for them, Mitch begins realizing that something fishy is going on here.
He keeps an eye out for them at dinner later that night. The whole family has gotten together to vote on where they should go for their next trip. When Phil finds Gloria and removes the leash, he has to quickly hide it under his jacket when each of their partners show up, leading to a funny bit of him getting mildly electrocuted. Ty Burrell is a genius in his physical comedy.
Soon enough, though, they realize what’s going on and reprimand the three of them for this alliance. The punishment? The Pritchett’s will decide where to holiday — Italy! Little do they know, this was the plan of the secret alliance all along. In the beginning of the episode, we learn how Phil showed Claire a romantic Italian movie, whereas Gloria and Cam silently won over their partners by serving delicious Italian food. Man, they’re smooth.
This episode only showed how, despite its flaws with the other character stories, “Modern Family” does have some creative spirit flowing through in its eighth season. It's a much needed infusion of some new plots for our characters. What did you think of the episode? Is Haley going to date Rainer or is the age difference finally going to break them up? Can they give Alex a better — or any, actually — storyline this season, please?
