MODERN FAMILY RECAP: AND ONE TO GROW ON

Happy New Year! The first episode of 2014 was hilarious as usual! Let’s get to it!

We begin with both Phil and Claire lying to the kids (probably not the best way to start out the New Year). Phil told Luke that he was taking him to autopsy camp, but he was really taking him to a ballroom dance class. Claire didn’t want to go driving with Alex (her driving test is coming up) because it’s torture, not because she is a bad driver but because she drives so slow and careful.  Haley volunteered to take her instead (and Claire paid her to do so).

Gloria and Jay are preparing to celebrate baby Joe’s birthday. Since Manny and Joe have the same birthday, Gloria insisted they each have their own party (Manny’s was the night before).

Cam and Mitch found the venue they want to have their wedding, but it’s a little pricey. Mitch told Cam to not act overly excited so they could try to talk the price down. In the little time they took to talk alone, a student of Cam’s called and booked the venue for her sweet 16 party on the day they wanted to have their wedding. Once Cam found out, he had a plan to get it back.

On the way home from dance class, Luke was not happy about being tricked. Sirens went off and Phil got pulled over because his tail light was out. Then he got handcuffed and arrested for 18 unpaid parking tickets on campus. Haley is going to be in big trouble!

It costs $1600 to get Phil out of jail and he called Claire to get him out. It could only be paid in cash and Claire didn’t get to ask him where the emergency money was (he keeps $1000 hidden in the house, but he has a crazy system as to where the money is hidden) before he hung up.

Cam’s plan was to convince his student to make up with her best friend so they could have the joint sweet16 party they originally planned to have, which would free up their wedding venue on their anniversary. So Cam went to talk to his student and Mitch went to talk to her friend.  At first they thought it wasn’t going to work, but it did and they made up and the joint party is back on! The only problem is they kept Cam and Mitch’s venue so they were back to square one.

Manny has a huge crush on the head cheerleader and Jay thinks she is out of his league so he convinces Gloria to talk with him. When she went to talk to him, she couldn’t say anything once she saw how thoughtful Manny was. He looked on his crush’s Facebook page and found out everything she liked. Then he put one of her favorite things in each pocket of her coat (that she left at his party). Aw! That Manny is going to make some girl happy one day. Too sweet!

After looking all over the house, Claire finally found the emergency money in a pillow on the couch. Yay! Phil is a free man!

The family starts to arrive at Gloria and Jay’s for Joe’s party, but they are all upset about something. Phil’s mad at Haley because he went to jail for her unpaid parking tickets, Alex is mad at Claire because she found out that Claire paid Haley to take her driving, Luke is mad at Phil for lying to him about autopsy camp and taking him to a dance class, and Cam is mad at Mitch for hesitating about booking the venue and they lost it. Phew! That’s a lot of drama for Baby Joe’s birthday party. Then to everyone’s surprise Haley saved the day and convinced Alex and Luke to forgive their parents and they did. 

Jay tried to encourage Manny to go for other girls so he wouldn’t get his heart broken. Everyone tried to give their opinion but when baby Joe said “Jay” it silenced everyone and Jay was so proud that his son knew who he was.

The doorbell rang and it was Manny’s crush coming to get her coat. Everyone wished him good luck, including Jay. He took a deep breath and went outside to get his girl! 

My favorite quote of the night – Phil: “Remember the great Kevin Bacon from Footloose?”

Luke: “More like Foot-loser.”

What did you think of this episode? Do you think Manny’s crush will fall for him? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below!

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