Glad you finally reached two of my fave eps (mostly coz of the buildup right to the ending punchline: claire and the neighbour; mitch and his ex).
Couldn't tell from your reaction, but did you notice that joke about how Gloria mentioned one of her fears is being grabbed while on a bike, AND THEN she gets grabbed by Claire? Still makes me laugh even tho I've watched that part multiple of times.
You'll see that Modern Family became one of the last few American sitcoms that you could watch and not worry about too much continuity (e.g., Friends, Seinfeld, etc.). So while it's sad that some eps could be a bit longer (or some storylines could be extended to additional eps), that wasn't how the show was proposed when it was brought before network TV execs. Just wanted to give you a heads-up about that. You'll still see characters grow up and adapt to new challenges, but big storylines that they could've done, they don't touch because it's supposed to be a lighthearted show that you could watch after dinner with the whole family and not risk anyone getting offended. (*shrug which is not too surprising for a show that ran on a Disney-run network).
