MODERN FAMILY: A black mouse, a deathly illness and Benjamin Bratt

I must say Modern Family started out 2012 right by having Benjamin Bratt guest star as Manny’s father Javier. Happy New Year to us!

In the beginning of this episode Gloria has a dream about a black mouse and sees it as a sign that bad news is coming. Javier shows up to see Manny, and Jay thinks he might be the bad news (but having Benjamin Bratt show up at my door would be fantastic news…just putting that out there).

Javier wants to take Manny to the horse races and Gloria insists that Jay accompany them. Manny has an interesting afternoon with his two very different Dads. Jay likes to make an educated bet by doing research and going with the horse favored to win. Javier’s method is to look the horses in their eyes. He believes he can see their soul that way.

Manny is caught in the middle of their theories but decides to bet on Javier’s horse and they win. After losing, Jay didn’t want to quit so he bet on one more race (Javier decided not to bet because the horses were too quiet) and he finally won! Or so we thought until we realized his horse was disqualified. Jay was upset and we see that impressing Manny was more important to him than the actual bet. Jay looks at Manny like his son, and having Javier around reminds him that he’s not.

Meanwhile, Mitchell won an award for distinguished service in the field of environmental law and happily put his trophy on the mantle. Cam decides to put his award for catching a bass when he was a teenager right next to Mitchell’s because “it was a big deal when he won it.” Mitchell isn’t happy with Cam’s addition to the mantle and feels Cam is trying to upstage him. Mitchell tells Alex his feelings about it, and she agrees with him completely. This helps him realize that he’s been acting like a teenage girl, so he decides to celebrate Cam’s accomplishments by putting his trophies on the mantle. This doesn’t work out well when he sees a mouse and drops the trophies in the garage. Cam sees Mitchell kicking his trophies, assumes the worst, and walks off as only Cam can without giving Mitchell the chance to explain.

Phil discovered pain under his arm at the doctor and had a few tests run. The doctor told him not to worry and he would call if there was anything wrong. Phil missed a call from the doctor on Saturday morning, then tried to call him back but couldn’t reach him. Phil let his imagination get the best of him when he ran out of his lifetime supply of razor blades, Gloria shared her dream about the black mouse, and Mitchell shouted that he also saw a black mouse. This causes a side-splitting domino effect that leaves the entire family (including Javier, who Cam and Mitchell can’t stop staring at, can you blame them?) believing that Phil is knocking on death’s door.

The phone rings and it is the doctor. Phil emotionally tells his family that they’ve given him a lifetime supply of happiness before answering the phone. We learn the doctor was calling about a real estate listing. What a sigh of relief, because what would we do without the hilarity of Phil on this show? Well according to Javier he may not be completely out of the woods yet. He looked in Phil’s eyes and said he has about six months to live. We will just have to wait and see and hope to get a lifetime supply of Benjamin Bratt.

Modern Family airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on ABC.