Modern Family, the brainchild of Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan, follows three branches of the “quintessential modern family,” defined largely by the ways in which it is NOT the quintessential traditional family. The age of Leave it to Beaver has passed, my friends. In today’s world, we have Jay and Gloria, married despite a hefty generation gap, and raising Gloria’s teenage son Manny; Jay’s daughter Claire and her husband Phil, with their three kids (Hayley, Alex, Luke); and Jay’s son Mitchell, who is raising an adopted Vietnamese daughter with his partner Cameron.

In the latest episode, “My Funky Valentine,” Valentine’s Day was on the mind for the Pritchett-Dunphy families. As usual, the mockumentary looks at all three branches in a this-is-funny-because-you-know-it’s-true kind of way. Maybe you’ve never found yourself in a situation quite like the one Claire and Phil find themselves in (I won’t spoil it for you, but it involves missing underwear, an escalator, and a colleague — Hayley’s principal — and Luke’s math teacher). Nevertheless, the idea of an attempt at sexy gone horribly awry is probably infinitely familiar to practically everyone at Cornell. And we all know the feeling of running into the worst people possible at our most humiliating moments.

What makes Modern Family so successfully amusing is the fact that it only deviates from what you imagine might actually happen ever so slightly. You can picture yourself like Jay in the comedy club, picked on, trying to laugh it off. Or like Mitchell, so eager to get something off your chest that you’ll declare it to anyone who presents him/herself. Admittedly, Mitchell’s part in this week’s episode is a little overdone — you feel embarrassed for him when he shouts “shame,” and not in the same good way that Modern Family usually elicits. Still, Cam’s performance as the pseudo-surveyor certainly saves the scene (say that ten times fast).