Modern Family Flashback- 'The One That Got Away'
Posted by Michael Adams on 11.30.2011
It's Jay's birthday and all he wants to do is spend it on the lake fishing, however, family comes first. So when Mithchell and Claire need to be rescued from a dog..Jay is there. When Cam gets kicked out of a bakery...Jay is there. And when you need to know what happened on Modern Family, Michael Adam's is there with the Modern Family Review.
The Modern 411…
- Everyone is trying to get a great birthday gift for Jay, who is spending his day fishing.
- Cam gives some manly advice to Manny on how to get a girl and leaves Lily with Gloria.
- Mitchell and Claire recreate a photo they took as kids, but end up getting chased into a tree house by a dog.
- Phil sees his old cheer-leading rival at the mall and unbeknownst to her, uses Gloria as his "wife" to make the rival jealous.
- While getting the cake, Cam gives Manny more advice which makes him sound like a pedophile.
- Jay doesn’t go fishing because he has to buy his cake, pick up the dog and get his kids down from a tree-house.
- The Dunphy kids give Grandpa Jay a not so special birthday video.
- Manny gives Jay a fishing trip in the pool and Cam and Mitchell want to adopt a boy.
Now, for those of you with some time on your hands…
The kids are making grandpa a special birthday video this year. This video could end up being 1 of 3 things…(1)The greatest video EVER (2) an absolute crap-fest that Grandpa (and Claire) won’t be happy about or (3) they haven’t even started it yet and are going to put something together last minute…I am going with the latter, since Hailey and Luke are involved.
Claire and Mitchell are going to recreate a photo of themselves as kids in their old backyard; an idea that Phil is taking credit for since he did the same thing for his parents last year… Aaaaand I just found my new desktop background!
Jay plans to go on his boat and fish for his birthday. Cam is here and dumping Lily off on Gloria since he’s had as much as any dad/mom can take…and it’s only 10am. When Eric Stonestreet brings out the manliness in Cam, I can’t help but crack up. Cam gives Manny advice about girls. Oh boy, sometimes they just overdo it with Manny and his complete clueless-ness to childhood, but it’s funny so I guess I can’t complain.
Phil is at the mall and bumps into his old college cheer-leading rival, Glen Whipple. Apparently, Glen also beat Phil in all the Robot battles they used to have. What I wouldn’t give to see Phil in a robot competition. Phil tries to get the upper hand with some close-up magic but just can’t succeed against Whipple and gives us this episodes “Come on, Phil!” ( a catchphrase that is climbing the ranks towards “That’s what she said” or “D’oh” in my book). Phil bumps into Gloria and Lily and people begin thinking the two of them are married. You can see Phil’s wheels start turning.
Claire and Mitchell are at the house they grew up in, parked illegally and sneaking into the backyard, so, this will end well.
Jay, who is on his way fishing, realizes he has both his and Gloria’s cell phones. Jay now has to pick up the dog at the groomer and take it home before he can head out to sea. Jay’s snide remark to the lady on the phone is what makes Ed O’Neill one of the best on TV.
Meanwhile, Claire and Mitchell are taking their picture when the new owner’s dog shows up and forces them up into a tree house. To make matters worse, Claire’s illegally parked car gets towed.
While Cam is at Crumbs (a little product placement for you) picking up Jay’s birthday cake, he gets a call from Manny, who is trapped in the bathroom of his current crush. Cam tells Manny what he should say to his lady friend, which shocks the people at Crumbs. If I were there, I’d be a little bit more focused on which amazing cupcake I’d be getting and not what the perv behind me in line is saying, but that’s just me.
Cam has now been kicked out of Crumbs, for good reason, and calls Gloria, but gets Jay. Cam needs Jay to pick up his own birthday cake. I don’t think Jay is going fishing today.
Finally we see the Dunphy children hard at work on Grandpa’s video tribute. The girls are not thrilled with what they have so far. They show clips of everyone talking about Jay and we see some hilarious moments from this past season, including Mitchell practicing for the flash mob, Claire putting up the “slow down your neighbors” signs, Phil fighting with the smoke detector and CLIVE BIXBY! Luke say’s he is going to work his magic and edit this into a great video. I think if we know one thing about Luke, he’s an idiot. This video will be epic.
Claire and Mitchell are still in the tree.
Back at the mall, Phil is shopping with Gloria when Whipple returns. Gloria comes out in a dress that is just too amazing for words. Whipple is stunned that Phil got a knockout like Gloria, since he always expected him to marry Claire Pritchett. He was always jealous of Phil for being with Claire and Phil is shocked. For the record, I’d probably take Claire over Gloria too.
Jay has rescued his children from the tree house and yells at them for their stupidity. While yelling at them, Jay gives a little smirk; a really nice moment.
We’re at the Pritchett house for Jay’s birthday dinner. Cam tells Manny he should go to a batting cage to impress his new beau. Manny says that’s a great idea and goes to ask Jay to take him, but not before he thanks Cam for all his advice.
Jay has spent most of the night drinking and watching women’s basketball…poor son of a bitch. He changes the mood by suggesting cake and presents. The cake is ruined because of the dog and the presents leave a lot to be desired. Gloria gets Jay one of those old-school phones in the shape of a mouth. Jay had mentioned in the past he wanted to take Saxophone lessons, which Gloria heard as…a sexy phone. Genius!
There’s still one more gift…the kid’s video tribute!
I’m not gonna lie, I really didn’t expect that good of an end product from Luke, sooo….good job!
Manny calls Jay and tells him he’s outside. Manny brought the boat into the pool and gives Jay the fishing trip he was hoping for. Claire and Gloria are both on the verge of falling in and unlike in the past, Phil goes and rescues his wife, “I’ve got Claire! I’ve got Claire!”
The season finale “cliffhanger” is that Mitchell tells Cam he wants another baby. Cam tells him “How about boy this time?”
This Week's Top Quotes Manny: I have a tennis racquet upstairs I only use as a bubble-bath frothier.
Gloria: So this is really what you want to do all day? Fishing? Jay:Then after that, a gourmet meal. The Sausage of the Month Club really nailed it in May. Makes up for last month with that chorizo. No offense. Gloria: What's this offended? Is just a sausage, it's not in our flag.
Mitchell: That's trespassing. Claire: No it's not. We used to live here. Mitchell: I don't think that does what you think it does.
Cam:(on the phone with Manny telling him what to say to a girl)You are the prettiest, smartest, funniest girl in the 6ht grade. I know you’re only 11, but I can’t stop thinking about you. I’ve loved talking to you online and I think we should become boyfriend and girlfriend.
Character of the Week: Jay! What makes Ed O'Neill so great as Jay Pritchett is that he doesn't have to do or say too much for you to empathize with him. We all know what it's like having your plans changed because of family, and as the patriarch, this happens to Jay a lot. You know how pissed he was that he wasn't fishing on his birthday, but at the end of the episode, when he was happy with how the day turned out, you felt good because Jay felt good. O'Neill started his acting career as a dramatic actor, and little bits of that always show through in Jay.
The 411: If Modern Family can do a Jay’s Birthday episode every season, I’d be really impressed. I feel like sitcoms often drop the ball with annual episodes that don’t have to do with a holiday. The Office dropped the ball with this concept; they could have had a Dundie episode every year and I don’t think anyone would have ever gotten sick of it. But I digress...What’s more is that this series consistently pulls a bit of drama into what is an Emmy Award winning Comedy Series. It’s usually the last minute or two that gets me a little misty; when the family reflects on the lessons they’ve learned in this episode or the connections they made with one another. This episode did just that, when Jay, who after all the chaos had the birthday with his family that he was hoping for.
