MODERN FAMILY: The Last Walt Recap

Claire and Phil are not looking forward to telling Luke that Walt, their neighbor, died. They sit him down, tell him the news and surprisingly he had no reaction at all. Claire was awkwardly smiling when she told him (we find out later it is her way of coping). Claire is concerned that his reaction was emotionless.

While we say goodbye to one character, we are introduced to another. Cam’s dad, Merle (Barry Corbin) is in town for a visit. They have dinner plans and Jay tries his best to get out of them, but Mitchell will not have it. Jay is not a big fan of Merle because he treats Mitchell like the wife in Cam and Mitchell’s relationship.

At dinner, Cam, Mitchell, Jay and Merle seem to be getting along. Gloria is playing with Lily when Merle announces he has gifts for them. He gives Cam a nice manly watch and he gives Mitchell a much smaller watch that was obviously for a woman. Jay is not happy about this at all. The tension starts to build between Jay and Merle, and Cam and Mitchell join in on the “whose dad is tougher” bandwagon. Jay and Merle end up putting a bed together and Jay tells him he doesn’t appreciate him treating Mitchell like the wife of their relationship. He brought up the watches as an example and Merle said he got that watch for Mitchell because he has a more “slender” wrist. In the end they agree that both Mitchell and Cam are equal in their relationship.

Haley convinced Gloria to let her have a pool party as long as a chaperone that Claire and Phil approved of was present. Well, for once Haley pulls a clever move and gets Claire to agree that her uncle will chaperone. Is it Uncle Mitchell? No! Is it Uncle Cam? No way! It is uncle Manny and she got one over on everyone, or so she thought. Manny turned into Sergeant Chaperone! He wouldn’t let any of the kids upstairs, he made everyone wipe their feet before entering the house, he passed out coasters, and he took alcoholic drinks away from kids and said “Not on my watch!” Haley did not know what she was getting herself into.

Phil and Claire see Luke going into Walt’s house. Claire is relieved because she thinks it might be his way of saying goodbye, until he leaves with Walt’s TV. She confronts him about the TV and he said Walt told him he could take one thing after he died. She still can’t believe how emotionless her son is and makes him return the TV. While at Walt’s place, Luke admits he will miss looking over and seeing Walt’s TV on at night. Then a Meals-On-Wheels woman shows up and Claire breaks the news to her (with a smile on her face of course) and she is upset. Then a delivery guy stops by and Claire tells him through her smile that Walt died. They both leave disgusted by Claire’s creepy grin.

Walt’s death has made Phil realize he hasn’t spent too much quality time with Alex. He wants to create a memorable moment for her so he decides to take her with him to throw Walt’s dog tags into the ocean. He plans on taking a nice hike and it will be a great father-daughter experience until a seagull swipes the dog tags off the roof of the car. Ok, so that is out. Plan B for Phil is to drive 50 miles to a diner that in known to have the world’s best milkshake. They get there and a very pregnant waitress tells them the machine is broken. Phil is 0 for 2 at this point with the memorable ideas. Then Phil has another idea! How great would it be if they delivered a baby together? That would be a story they can tell at parties. So Phil starts being noisy and asked her to fix the table with the hopes of inducing labor. Alex questions him about his strange behavior and he admits that wants to be a cool dad like Eugene Cernan (the last man to walk on the moon and he wrote his daughter’s initials on the lunar surface).

Alex thinks her father’s story is sweet and next thing you know she is barfing under the table. Phil starts to feel nauseous after seeing his daughter vomit and runs to barf as well. Well there you have it! A father-daughter moment they will never forget. Before they leave the diner Phil puts Alex’s initials on the sign outside the Moonbeam Diner. Aw! Alex will never forget what Phil did to create a memorable experience for her.

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