MODERN FAMILY: A Slight At The Opera Recap

I like big putts and I cannot lie! That was my favorite line from this week’s episode said by the fantastic Nathan Lane as Pepper. This episode was packed with goodies from theatre to golf, to Psychic’s, Nathan Lane and Fred Willard. Another funny episode in the books, so let’s dig in!

Phil has a golf meeting with a client but is terrible at golf, so he calls Jay to help him out. Claire is overjoyed to babysit Fulgencio Joe while they play golf and Gloria runs some errands for the school play (directed by the fabulous Cam of course). Claire volunteers Alex to help Gloria with her errands. Haley and Dylan come in and want to play with the baby and Lily. Dylan is surprisingly good with the baby so he and Haley play house with the kids the whole episode.

On the golf course Jay tries to be patient with Phil. He is working on his patience now that the baby is here. But it is still a challenge for him sometimes, he said “The kid has been alive a whole month. How hard is it to hold up your own head?” Hilarious! Back to Golf. While Jay and Phil are playing, Mitchell and Pepper just happen to see them and want to play. Pepper has been secretly helping Mitchell play Golf for months so he could beat his Dad and now is his chance with Phil as his partner. They bet $100 and let the game begin!

Cam is preparing his cast of Phantom of The Opera for their performance but there is a little problem. The lead Marcus Talbot is sick with Mono. Cam doesn’t want to accept it and says “Well maybe we can pump Marcus full of whatever they gave those bike riders.” Too funny! Manny sees this as his big opportunity to take the lead. Luke is painting the sets and Cam overhears him singing and he is really good. Cam thinks Luke should be the lead since he knows the songs and “sings like a nightingale.” Manny tells Cam he will talk to him, but he really plans to talk him out of it by saying the cool kids will make fun of him and he is a theatre geek now. Luke declines the offer and Cam was about to take the lead until Manny said he’d do it and Cam agreed (since it should be about the children).

Gloria and Alex have an hour to kill while running errands, so Gloria suggests they go to her psychic. Alex is a big time skeptic an uninterested until the psychic tells her she is going to meet a boy who rides a horse. “Well I am going to a Renaissance fair this weekend” Alex said (which was a total lie). She decides to play along before telling Gloria her psychic is a phony. Then the psychic says a presence has entered the room and it was Gloria’s Grandmother, Alex says “or the A/C just kicked in!” Her sarcasm is great! I wish we could see more of her. The psychic told Gloria her Grandmother loved her, and seeing how happy Gloria was, Alex didn’t have the heart to tell her it was fake.

Back on the golf course, Mitchell planned to have a few bad practice swings and then Wow his Dad with his great golf swing. It didn’t happen that way. He played terrible for a few holes and Pepper took him aside for a pep talk or a “Pepper” talk. He told Mitchell, “You need to get angry. Play aggressive. That man’s been Mitch slapping you your entire life.” Love him! Can Pepper be a regular cast member please? So after the “Pepper talk” Mitchell came back and they won. Jay told them they should do it again sometime and that he was proud of Mitchell. So sweet!

At the theatre, Manny wasn’t hitting the right notes so Cam showed him the video of Luke doing it. Manny is mesmerized by Luke and knows that Luke should be the lead. He gives up his spotlight and Luke is the star of the show. Phil and Claire were so proud and Phil’s Dad (guest star Fred Willard) came in from Florida to support Luke as well. Phil has a little meltdown (like only he could) after seeing his son onstage. It was touching (and funny). Bravo Luke!

Modern Family airs Wednesday nights at 9/8c on ABC.