MODERN FAMILY: STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT RECAP

I hope everyone has recovered from Thanksgiving (I think I ate the last of the turkey last night)! Modern Family is back with a Bark-Mitzvah, guest star Kristen Johnston, and the big question on everyone’s mind; does Alex have a boyfriend? Let’s get down to it!

Someone has a secret admirer (that keeps leaving flowers in the mailbox) at the Dunphy house and everyone assumes it is Haley. Alex was a little bothered that no one thought that the flowers could be for her, so she told the family she had a boyfriend. They were excited for her but Claire and Haley thought she was making it up. Phil believed her and was disappointed that Claire and Haley didn’t. He planned to invite her new boyfriend to dinner just to prove them wrong.

Cam and Mitch treated themselves to a fancy new white couch (that they didn’t let Lily sit on). They wanted to be able to have at least one nice thing and thought it could teach Lily to respect their property and value nice things.

Jay and Gloria got dressed up to go to a dog’s Birthday party (thrown by one of Jay’s dog park buddies). It was a Bark-mitzvah (love it!) They had an open bar for the dogs, and had a gravy fountain. These people went all out for their dog and it was too funny! Gloria didn’t find it too funny; she got creeped out by all of the dog owners and their strange behavior and went home.

Mitch’s new friend at work, Brenda (guest star Kristen Johnston) was going through a divorce and she was a mess! She asked Mitch if she could stay with them. Mitch was caught off guard because she had only been working there for a week. He called Cam and tried to pretend that they had plans to get out of it, but he caved at the last minute and invited her over. They quickly regretted that decision when she sat on their new white couch with a glass of red wine. She almost spilled it but didn’t (thank goodness). She was too tall to fit on the guest couch and asked to sleep on the new couch. Cam and Mitch were not going for that so they let her sleep in their bed. She was calling all the hogs home with her snoring and the nightstand was shaking (which was hilarious). Cam and Mitch had a handful with her.

Alex’s boyfriend, Alec, came over and told her that he was moving to Africa because his father was a doctor and got work over there. She was sad and they hugged goodbye. Right after he left, Phil told her to invite him to dinner and she told both her parents how he broke up with her because he was moving to Africa. Claire was more convinced that she was making it up because the story seemed so farfetched. Poor Alex, it is sad when your own mama doesn’t believe you can get a boyfriend.  Alex is a smart girl, why would she lie?

Once Gloria got home, Manny convinced her to go back to the party and be with Jay. Manny thought he was doing a good thing, until Jay told him he ruined his plan. Jay wanted Gloria to leave so he could use it as an excuse to skip out on her friends green card luncheon the next day. Whoops! I guess he is stuck going now.

Claire and Phil went to talk to Alex about her boyfriend and she was so annoyed (rightfully so) when she realized they thought she made the whole thing up. She told them she was meeting a new guy named Teddy for a date that night (which they also didn’t believe).  Well the joke was on them when Teddy showed up at the door (he was cute in a bad boy way) with a white flower (just like the ones left in the mailbox). Ha Ha! Take that Claire and Haley! It was Alex who had the secret admirer all along! Way to go Alex!

Cam and Mitch’s houseguest from hell made her way to the white couch in the middle of the night with a green face mask on and a bucket of chocolate ice cream in her hand. She fell asleep like that! Gasp! They tried to roll her over to put a blanket under her and she fell off of the couch. Oops! She woke up and apologized for being a bad houseguest. Lily came out and asked her to keep the noise down. Cam and Mitch thought about it and decided that they shouldn’t value a couch more than a person. When they went back to the front room, Lily was reading Brenda a bedtime story that always made her feel better. They realized they do have one nice thing; Lily.

What did you think about this episode? How did you feel about Claire and Phil not believing that Alex had a boyfriend? Do you have furniture in your house that you don’t let anyone sit on? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.

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