The Wow Factor
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"The Wow Factor" is the 18th episode of the fourth season of the
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...
sitcom ''
Modern Family ''Modern Family'' is an American television sitcom, created by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, that aired on ABC for 11 seasons from September 23, 2009, to April 8, 2020. The series follows the lives of three diverse but interrelated fa ...
'', and the series' 90th episode overall. ''Modern Family'' is an American television mockumentary family sitcom created by
Christopher Lloyd Christopher Allen Lloyd (born October 22, 1938) is an American actor. He has appeared in many theater productions, films, and television shows since the 1960s. He is known for portraying Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future (franchise), ''B ...
and
Steven Levitan Steven E. Levitan (born April 6, 1962) is an American television producer, director, and screenwriter. He has created many television series such as ''Just Shoot Me!'', '' Stark Raving Mad'', '' Stacked'', '' Back to You'', ''Modern Family'', a ...
for the
American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast Television broadcaster, television and radio Radio network, network that serves as the flagship property of the Disney Entertainment division ...
. It ran for eleven seasons, from September 23, 2009 to April 8, 2020. It follows the lives of Jay Pritchett and his family in suburban Los Angeles, including his second wife, her son (his stepson), their son, and his two adult children and their husbands and children. It was aired on March 27, 2013. The episode was written by
Ben Karlin Benjamin Miles Karlin (born c. 1971) is an American television producer and writer. He has won eight Emmy awards, and is best known for his work in ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' and ''The Colbert Report''. He is one of three co-creators of ...
and directed by Levitan. Jesse Tyler Ferguson submitted this episode for consideration due to his nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards. Ferguson also named this episode as his favorite one of the fourth season.


Plot

Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Claire (Julie Bowen) work together on the renovation of a house they intend to flip later, but they seem to disagree on many things. A disagreement on their respective visions of the backyard makes Cam call his lesbian friend, Pam (Wendi McLendon-Covey), whose son attends the same school as Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons), to tell them what she thinks since she is working on the constructions with the intent to make her side with Cam. This backfires when Claire charms Pam with her physique, swaying Pam in her favor. Nevertheless, Cam still goes ahead and makes the fountain he wanted on his own. Claire and Pam accept the feature but soon change their minds after goldfish in the fountain get sucked into the pump and are killed. Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) drops off Lily at school, when he sees that there is a playground bully named Milo (Luke Grakal) who is being unfair to the other kids. His first attempt to teach him a lesson is to compete against him in a match of handball, which failed because of Mitch's lack of skill; he then asks for Luke's (Nolan Gould) help. He ultimately wins the second time around, but his victory is frowned upon by parents watching the match and he ends up receiving complaints. Meanwhile, Jay (Ed O'Neill) encourages Gloria (Sofía Vergara, Sofia Vergara) to spend some time with Manny (Rico Rodriguez (actor), Rico Rodriguez) since both of them feels like she is ignoring him lately because of Joe, her newborn baby; thus, the two of them strike a deal: Jay spends time with Joe (in order to avoid having to go to a four-hour Moby-Dick, Moby Dick reading with Manny) and Gloria, with Manny. On his way to the baby class, he encounters an old high school friend of Claire's, Rachel (Margaret Easley), and after a little talk, Jay decides to skip the baby class and go to the movies with the baby. However, Joe starts crying during the movie and Rachel offers to take him outside until the movie ends. When Gloria sees her baby with a stranger, she berates him for it, but it is soon revealed that she pretended to misunderstand some English so as to also not have to listen to Moby Dick. In the end, Manny and Jay read Moby Dick together. At the Dunphy's house, Phil (Ty Burrell) tries to teach Alex (Ariel Winter) and Haley (Sarah Hyland) a few basic things about home management improvement. Attempting to explain them how the Water heating, water heater works, he breaks it. Seeing that he cannot fix it, he asks the girls to go to the store to buy him a screwdriver so that he can call his dad (Fred Willard) to tell him what to do while being alone.


Reception


Ratings

In its original American broadcast, "The Wow Factor" was watched by 9.09 million; down 1.44 from the previous episode.


Reviews

"The Wow Factor" received generally positive reviews. Donna Bowman of ''The A.V. Club'' gave a B+ grade to the episode saying that the structure of the episode is conventional but the way the script gets around to its key setpieces is appreciable. "Last time Karlin gave us a Modern Family script, the overall structure was the gem. Here, it’s the little moments that elevate what’s around them to something out of the ordinary." Dalene Rovenstine from ''Paste (magazine), Paste Magazine'' rated the episode with 8.8/10 but stated that the writers wasted the talent of Wendi McLendon-Covey by not given her many lines. Michael Adams of ''411mania'' gave the episode 8/10 saying that this episode did what it needed to do. "I liked tonight, thought it was pretty funny and am happy that they brought back the house flip. Keep things as funny as tonight, if not funnier, tie in some story arcs from this past season, give me Jay's birthday or a vacation, and end the season on a high note." Leigh Raines from ''TV Fanatic'' and Zach Dionne from the ''Vulture'', both rated the episode with 4/5 with the latter saying that the episode is a "winner". Wyner C of ''Two Cents TV'' also gave a good review saying that the episode was "cute".


References


External links

*
"The Wow Factor"
at ABC.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Wow Factor Modern Family season 4 episodes 2013 American television episodes