MODERN FAMILY: Punkin Chunkin

Please welcome the newest Nice Girl: Lisa! This Southern belle is an actor herself and has a love of television that makes her a perfect fit for NGTV.

This year’s Modern Family Thanksgiving episode begins with Claire preparing the turkey and Phil gets a call from an old buddy Kenneth, who used to live next door. We find out that Kenneth always looked up to Phil and is very successful. He tells Luke that his life motto is “What would Phil Dunphy do?” Claire always thought he was weird, but Phil and Kenneth have a connection and an awesome manshake that is one for the record books. Phil gets it in his head (with the help of Luke) that if he trusted his gut with his bright ideas, like the “Real Head Scratcher”(which is a battery Powered helmet that massages your head by the push of a button) he would be as successful as Kenneth. He blames Claire for shooting down his ideas and holding him back from being a millionaire.

Mitchell and Cam are in the park and Mitchell is tired of Cam telling his Punkin Chunkin story. Cam dramatically tells a story about how he and his friends once tried to sling a pumpkin across a football field and it landed in the sunroof of a preacher (after flying the full length of the football field of course). Mitchell isn’t buying that the pumpkin ever cleared the football field and thinks he should only tell stories that are “true.”

Manny makes a very interesting centerpiece for Thanksgiving and Gloria tells him how wonderful it is. On the other hand Jay thinks Manny needs a reality check and should know his centerpiece is not his best work. Gloria admits that her mother criticized everything she did and she is now insecure. She forbids Jay to say anything to Manny about the centerpiece because she wants to lift him up.

Meanwhile, Haley accidentally puts a dent in the car door because Alex was looking up Kenneth’s accomplishments on the Internet. They come up with a plan to keep the dent hidden from Claire until she goes grocery shopping and will think it happened there. Alex is totally nervous and can’t face her Mother and Haley is very calm about the plan even though she was the driver.

The whole family meets at the Dunphy’s for Thanksgiving dinner. On the way in Jay tells Manny the truth about his centerpiece against Gloria’s wishes. When everyone comments on how nice it is, he callsnit garbage and throws it is the trash. Gloria is not happy with Jay and this is where the fun begins. Phil attempts to demonstrate how the “Real HeadScratcher” works and almost loses a chunk of hair. Cam asks who believes his Punkin Chunkin story, and they all believe it except for Jay and Claire. The Pritchetts are referred to as the skeptics, and the rest of the family are the dreamers. The dreamers set out to prove that Cam’s story is true by re-creating it.

They go to a nearby football field and The Pritchetts (including Mitchell) watch from the side as the dreamers put a pumpkin in a large slingshot attached to a goalpost. Cam puts the pumpkin in the slingshot and launches it maybe 10 feet and it bursts to pieces. The punkin chunkin was unsuccessful. Although Jay, Claire and Mitchell were right, they didn’t feel good about it. They make suggestions for another pumpkin launch. The entire family, the dreamers and the skeptics, work together as a team to make their own Punkin Chunkin story. We see pumpkin after pumpkin flying across the field. Feeling guilty, Alex tells Claire about the dent in the car just as a pumpkin flys into her car. If she had waited just a few more seconds, they would have gotten away with it. The family continues to work together and we see how dreamers and realists balance each other out in life. It only took a little Punkin Chunkin to show us that family is what we should really be thankful for.

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