Should you watch it, wiki it, or wait for the recap? Wiki it.
The Dunphys’ neighbour moves out, and Phil and Claire are faced with the prospect of a bunch of weed-selling rednecks moving in next door. Meanwhile, Cam and Mitch feel that Lily has been stressed out at class, and move to change her teacher. Jay discovers that Manny’s new girlfriend, Sophie, is the granddaughter of his old enemy.
“Won’t You Be Our Neighbour” is the fifth episode of the sixth season of Modern Family, and it’s kind of a run of the mill episode. It continues the trend of introducing a new love interest for each of the kids every episode, this time shifting the spotlight to Manny. There’s no family gathering this time though, so there’s no sense of closure or connection – each of the families lead their own lives, in their own little bubble.
This is something I’ve come to like about “Modern Family,” the whole togetherness. I’m not sure if it’s just this season, or if they’ve been steadily decreasing the amount of Pritchett gatherings over the series, but it sure didn’t feel this way at first. But this was a much better episode than the previous one.
Highlights
Manny’s moved on from Sam
After the heartbreak that was Sam last episode, it’s good to see that Manny has moved on to other girls, and rather quickly! Sam looks to be an interesting recurring character that can engage Jay and hence have more interesting interactions with the rest of the cast, though her appearance was rather short.
Mrs Plank
It’s always hilarious watching Mitch and Cam get schooled, and Mrs Plank (Tyne Daly), Lily’s teacher, does the schooling here. She’s fierce and unrelenting, but she proves her worth as an effective teacher at the end, with students that actually understand the importance of learning from her. Since she’s so strict, Lily’s bound to run into disciplinary problems with her, and maybe she’ll get expelled. Hooray.
Closet jokes
Jay’s company business, the closets factory, pops up every now and then. It’s amusing to see how Jay can be passionate about something so boring. The gag of Gloria repeatedly referring to the closet industry in different ways, and getting mistaken for actual names of closet companies, was an inspired touch. Here’s to more weird closet jokes and closet company names in the future!
Letdowns
Ronnie and Amber, their redneck neighbours, feel irritating
Oh no not these rednecks. They feel like they’ll be part of the recurring cast and here to annoy the Dunphys by being presumptuous or making lewd, stupid jokes. They don’t add value to the show, they’re just there to annoy the Dunphys and put them in awkward situations, and I hope they leave soon.
Lily’s getting too precocious
Lily isn’t that smart, as evidenced in the previous episode, but here she’s shown to have a fair level of maturity and intelligence. In an irritating, know-it-all kind of way. Nope, Lily isn’t becoming smarter – she’s just learning to talk back.
Phil and Claire’s snobbishness
This is rather subtle, but Claire’s snobbishness in choosing a higher class of neighbours does reflect a little poorly on her, given that Haley and Luke might not be kind of neighbours she likes. Still, it’s an experience we’ve all been through before, so a little self reflection from her actions might just be what we (and I) need.
“Won’t You Be Our Neighbour” is an OK episode, and at least it shows the season isn’t going downhill. There are better episodes though, so if you find one of those, watch them. You’ll still be better off knowing the background behind the new supporting characters introduced in this episode though.
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