Synopsis: Jay and Gloria attempt to escape contact with the family on Thanksgiving by pretending to be in Mexico, but when the rest of the family barges into their house to eat their Thanksgiving dinner, they must figure out a way to "surprise them by coming home early." Meanwhile, Phil has an up and down romantic relationship with his smartphone, Manny has some awkward sexual interactions with Haley, Claire prepares a backup turkey "in case" Phil's fails, and Mitch scolds Cam for being too soft on Lily.
Review: This episode captured some of the mass convolution magic that was in Modern Family's legendary "Las Vegas" episode last season. It was particularly fun to watch Jay and Gloria try to get away with their ploy to escape the family, same with Claire trying to hide her back up turkey from Phil. I've noticed that some of the best jokes on the show arise when these individual stories brush up against each other. For example: Jay turning a blind eye to Mitch and Cam wearing dresses as he tries to get to his bedroom to rescue Jo. This is why there is such a correlation between the best episodes and the episodes where the whole family is together. I wonder if the family unity is something that could play out more often.
Cam and Mitch remained the lame duck of the bunch, but there was one sign of improvement. Mitch and Cam function best when they are working towards a common goal, rather than bickering and arguing with the other and this episode was helped by the former dynamic. This episode had them trying to collaborate on a way to make Lily less spoiled. They had disagreements within how to do that, but they were acting as one parental and it was all the funnier to laugh at their unified parental ridiculousness (putting dresses on over their suits to show Lily how stupid she looked through example).
Another quick bicker I have is that the kids in this episode seemed to be guilty of some especially bad acting. It was passable when they were younger, but hearing Luke, Manny, and especially Lily talk just gets worse and worse.
"Three Turkeys" is an impressive showing, and I commend airing it prior to a re-run week. I think it will keep us satisfied for a week off.
My Grade: A-
Nielsen Rating: 3.2 (9.83 Million Viewers)
Reviewer's Quote: "This kind of clockwork created a frantic farcical energy reminiscent of “Las Vegas,” but “Turkeys” wasn’t nearly as successful as that episode, in part because “Las Vegas” benched the kids and employed a host of guests to build its elegant structure. “Turkeys” aims for the same vibe, and nearly achieves it, but is done in by the familiarity of the characters, which allows for far less options by which to assemble the comedy of errors effect." -Joshua Alston (avclub.com)
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