“Don't You Leave Me Brokenhearted Tonight”

Well, it's not like we didn't see it coming...

OK, this isn't an actual recap column, since with no Alex there's nothing really to recap (unless you count the line about her still needing lunch money). There was a small glimmer of hope when they started the episode in daylight we might briefly see her (or Haley, Luke and Lily who also had the episode off) but once they quickly went to nighttime it was pretty much game over.

Unfortunately save for the inevitable catfight and Phil's sweet words to Claire on their front lawn, the rest of the episode fell too flat to make up for it.

And the prospect of the double whammy with another potential Alex-less episode next week is very much in play. I guess the one thing that really bothers me about this is they're doing this during February sweeps – way to show confidence in your kids, Modern Family Powers That Be.

And up here we've got more snow on the way this weekend – oh, joy (and I've always been a snow lover until now).