S08.E17: Pig Moon Rising

[amaranta]

Quote

These are the people with a crawl space and a basement.  Logical consistency is not a strong suit of this show.

My house has a crawl space and a basement.  Really.  Crawl space is under about one quarter of the house, under two exterior rooms on the east side, and runs next to the laundry / furnace room.  The rest is finished basement.  I've never been in the crawl space; it totally creeps me out.  Anyway, is that really so unusual?  Maybe it's an east coast and older house (1952) thing, which is where I am and what I have.

I didn't mind this episode.  But I felt like I'd seen it before.  Mostly I just ended up feeling sorry for Luke having to sit through all those recorded non-victory moments.

No, college is not for every one.  I went; my sister did not.  She was a C student but is easily the most practical member in our family.  Luke and his problem solving reminded me of her; no one cuts through overthinking and BS like my sister.  I mean that in a good way as she's never not kind even when being direct; I adore that about her.  Anyway, we both turned out fine in our chosen professions.

[biakbiak]

6 minutes ago, amaranta said:

The rest is finished basement.  I've never been in the crawl space; it totally creeps me out.  Anyway, is that really so unusual?  Maybe it's an east coast and older house

Grew up in Seattle and one of our houses also had a basement and crawl space, my parents house in CT also has both.

[DrSpaceman73]

As much as I hate Cam and Mitch constantly lying and bickering, I did like the revelations at the end about all the things they have been lying to each other about. 

I've never seen one of those windshield things Haley had on her car.  And I wasn't really clear on what they were trying to do by moving the car.  It was still going to have that thing on the windshield either way. 

After what happened to Haley at college you would think they would give more consideration to what Luke wants and if this is what is best for him. 

[biakbiak]

4 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

ve never seen one of those windshield things Haley had on her car.  And I wasn't really clear on what they were trying to do by moving the car.  It was still going to have that thing on the windshield either way. 

They were just trying to move it from in front of the house so Claire and Phil would be less likely to notice it. Those things are real and being test marketed in different areas, quicker and easier to put on the car than a boot.

[DrSpaceman73]

13 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

They were just trying to move it from in front of the house so Claire and Phil would be less likely to notice it. Those things are real and being test marketed in different areas, quicker and easier to put on the car than a boot.

I got that impression, but for one, she is like 25.  Does she think her mom and dad are going to ground her for getting a parking ticket or whatever it was?  ANd seond, even if she did move it, what was her plan then?  Doesn't she eventually just need to pay a fine or the ticket or something and get it removed?  I assumed that is what she meant by Mitch helping her, giving her the money to have it removed by paying the fine. 

[Mittengirl]

I wish, when characters want to go to an out-of-state school, the show would say why those schools are chosen. 

I think both Manny and Luke mentioned University of Michigan as one of the choices.  Why?  I am from Michigan and know it is a great school for many programs.  But why would the two stooges want to go there?  Manny has mentioned being a writer, and I am sure UM has a great writing program, but to pay out-of-state tuition to go there?  And Luke has never mentioned an interest in anything academic.  Why would parents send a kid to a college in another state, paying higher tuition and all the costs of travel, unless that school is one of the best in their area of interest?   

The same applies to Notre Dame.  Good school, and Catholic if that matters to Manny, but otherwise a strange choice.  Other than the joke, of course.

It seems like every TV kid wants to go to a school outside the state, for no apparent reason.  And then they end up going to a fictional school in the same town.  Unless the actor wants off the show, then they leave the state.

[DrSpaceman73]

4 hours ago, Mittengirl said:

I wish, when characters want to go to an out-of-state school, the show would say why those schools are chosen. 

I think both Manny and Luke mentioned University of Michigan as one of the choices.  Why?  I am from Michigan and know it is a great school for many programs.  But why would the two stooges want to go there?  Manny has mentioned being a writer, and I am sure UM has a great writing program, but to pay out-of-state tuition to go there?  And Luke has never mentioned an interest in anything academic.  Why would parents send a kid to a college in another state, paying higher tuition and all the costs of travel, unless that school is one of the best in their area of interest?   

The same applies to Notre Dame.  Good school, and Catholic if that matters to Manny, but otherwise a strange choice.  Other than the joke, of course.

It seems like every TV kid wants to go to a school outside the state, for no apparent reason.  And then they end up going to a fictional school in the same town.  Unless the actor wants off the show, then they leave the state.

I think it was more just to show the difference between Manny and Luke than anything else, and emphasize it.

Manny is applying all over to schools and getting in.  Luke is applying everywhere and not getting in.  I don't think it has anything to do with certain schools having this or that program.  The writing is not that deep on this topic for this show.  They probably are choosing colleges the writers or someone is an alum of, nothing more than that

Except for like Juliard or the art schools Manny is trying to get in.......but never will, because he is a poser and wannabe in that regard with no actual artistic talent. 

But you're right, often on TV shows they do just what you are saying, and its annoying. 

At least with Alex they did actually provide some reasons, or it was obvious, why she was applying to some of those schools

[needschocolate]

This episode made me wonder how they are going to keep Manny and Luke involved with the show next season.  Haley went to college, dropped out, and moved back home.  Alex went to college close enough to home to be able to come home often and also got sick and skipped a semester.  I could see Luke not going or perhaps going to a nearby community college.  But they have run out of options for Manny, other that him taking a "gap year."  

It has been a while since I felt Manny and Luke were worth watching.  I think both have lost some acting skills, the writers don't seem to know what to do with those characters, and they never seem to be integral to the more enjoyable storylines. I am not sure I would miss them if they just went off to school somewhere.  

21 hours ago, amaranta said:

My house has a crawl space and a basement.  Really.  Crawl space is under about one quarter of the house, under two exterior rooms on the east side, and runs next to the laundry / furnace room.  The rest is finished basement.  I've never been in the crawl space; it totally creeps me out.  Anyway, is that really so unusual?  Maybe it's an east coast and older house (1952) thing, which is where I am and what I have.

A basement is really unusual in Southern California - and in the San Francisco Bay Area too.  A relative of mine was thinking of buying a house in San Jose.  One of the things she liked was that it had a "basement" - which was only about 25 square feet and contained the furnace and the water heater.  

[CleoCaesar]

44 minutes ago, needschocolate said:

This episode made me wonder how they are going to keep Manny and Luke involved with the show next season.

I offer up a small prayer to the TV gods when I say: write them both off. The actors are beyond terrible and have managed to get worse with every passing season. They just sound like they're reading off cue cards, especially Rico. They have no comedic chemistry together and the charactes are basically dead weight. Write them both off the show, focus on the adult characters.

[indeed]

Pretty sure that's not gonna happen, but one can hope...and I do so hope.  More than likely they'll wind up dorm mates sonewhere close and we'll have to suffer through more icky, unfunny Luke and Manny trying to get girls/be popular schemes or contrived conflicts.  It would be nice if there was a compromise and we only got occasional appearances during school breaks and through FaceTime, Skype, what-have-you.  We barely see Lily, so I'm sure we can all adjust to barely seeing Luke and Manny.  I'm willing to try.  ;)

Luke I wouldn't mind so much sticking around if he continued to work at the club or decided to try to do real estate with his Dad or partner up with Haley's business, but Manny they can send far away.  His acting (and character) is far more painful IMO.

[mansonlamps]

On 3/18/2017 at 0:22 PM, biakbiak said:

Grew up in Seattle and one of our houses also had a basement and crawl space, my parents house in CT also has both.

I went to high school with the show's creator and around here, north suburbs of Chicago, totally common to have both.

On 3/18/2017 at 5:52 PM, Mittengirl said:

I wish, when characters want to go to an out-of-state school, the show would say why those schools are chosen. 

I think both Manny and Luke mentioned University of Michigan as one of the choices.  Why?  I am from Michigan and know it is a great school for many programs.  But why would the two stooges want to go there?  Manny has mentioned being a writer, and I am sure UM has a great writing program, but to pay out-of-state tuition to go there?  And Luke has never mentioned an interest in anything academic.  Why would parents send a kid to a college in another state, paying higher tuition and all the costs of travel, unless that school is one of the best in their area of interest?   

The same applies to Notre Dame.  Good school, and Catholic if that matters to Manny, but otherwise a strange choice.  Other than the joke, of course.

It seems like every TV kid wants to go to a school outside the state, for no apparent reason.  And then they end up going to a fictional school in the same town.  Unless the actor wants off the show, then they leave the state.

Also around here, it's considered "cool" or whatever the right word is, to pay an exorbitant amount to have your kid go out of state even if there's a similar college in your state.  Example: University of Illinois versus University of Wisconsin Madison.  Paying the extra tuition is seen as a badge of honor. 

[Jannister]

I feel like Modern Family really lost its creativity. I mean, they actually re-used a joke from an earlier episode (Haley after hearing "I regret to inform you that.." saying "well don't leave us hanging"). When you start re-using old jokes it's really time to give up. Or to hire some new writers. Also this shows that there's no character development whatsoever.

[Ina123]

On ‎3‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 3:09 PM, CleoCaesar said:

 Maybe if fewer people bought into the "college or die" mantra they're forcefed there wouldn't be a 1.31 trillion student loan debt in this country, and BAs wouldn't be devalued into the equivalent of a high school diploma, and not going to college could just be another life option instead of a sign of failure.

/rant

BAs have been devalued because of the "we want everyone in college dogma". Kids have to go to grad school before anyone thinks they really have accomplished anything. Of course, everything has been dumbed down. Icons instead of words on computers. Pictures instead of words on roadways.

[love2lovebadtv]

On 3/16/2017 at 2:17 PM, Traveller519 said:

Right, who doesn't get into Arizona State? Let's at least have some degree of realism. ;)

I figured they were going to have some big reveal that Luke has some special skill set for a job, but I like that they left it at him just generally being a good problems solver. I think having the job at the club has helped bring out his potential, and allow him to realise it. He's lived in Phil's vision of him for so long, he's just starting to break out.

Yes, there are so many careers that don't involve any of those schools. 

On 3/16/2017 at 10:40 AM, Driad said:

Exactly, not everyone has to go to college. Maybe Luke will go work at the closet company. Claire could use an employee who doesn't loudly hate her.

Or...I would love to see him work with Phil since they're so close. Plus, Phil is great at recognizing his son's strengths. Remember when Luke was a kid Phil thought Luke was a natural at selling houses? He could get real estate training and stay in the show without a clunky explanation of why he's there.