‘Modern Family’ season 4 finale review: A funeral, and Mitchell’s big decision

“Modern Family” has shown an affection over the years for closing their seasons off with event episodes, and this time around, the show did the same by trying to find humor in what was a pretty tragic situation in the death of Phil’s mother.

Last season, the show ended with a major cliffhanger in the revelation that Gloria was pregnant. Was there something similar this time around? Maybe, if you consider Mitchell’s decision to try and quit his job in order to get back into the courtroom, after a successful day of getting Gloria (and a number of other people) off from various petty crimes.

Even though death was a theme, much of the hour was still funny and sweet. Phil tried to set up his father with a woman at the retirement center as per his mother’s last wishes, Cam fell deep into the gossip circles, and Jay ended up learning that his “first” had actually done something rather similar with many other servicemen over the years.

The rub with “Modern Family” as a hit series is really not that the show lacks anything when it come to humor or entertainment: It just fails to really bring anything different to the table most of the time. This is why, despite high ratings and Emmy nominations, it has not generated much buzz in its fourth season. For a show that is so well-done and groundbreaking in some ways, it could benefit from taking a few more risks moving forward if it wants to keep that title of “favorite comedy” from the Emmys and everyone else. After all, the show was snubbed earlier today by the Critics’ Choice TV Awards.

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Photo: ABC