Modern Family – Grab It

By: Paige Zinaman

Just like every family the Dunphys, Tucker-Pritchetts and the Pritchetts live a life a chaos and fun to times of down-right pure genius. In this episode we see Phil (Ty Burrell) wanting to be apart of Jay’s (Ed O’Neill) favorite place, to Cam (Eric Stonestreet) keeping secrets from Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) to get him places to finally Claire (Julie Bowen) questioning just how much of an influence she is to Alex (Ariel Winter).

When the episode starts we see Haley (Sarah Hyland) just waking up, walking into the kitchen where Luke (Nolan Gould) is sitting at the counter eating breakfast. She starts sucking up to him when he cuts her off completely asking how much money she needs. She explains that their mom paid her car insurance so she needs money to pay her back. Luke pulls out a ton of money from his pocket. We find out that he has a job at a Country Club that Jay helped him get and he brings home a ton of tips. When Claire comes in from work with Alex behind her, Haley gives her the money that she had just gotten from Luke. Alex asks what Haley does at this club she promotes Haley makes the joke that she’s a stripper. Both Phil and Claire both look at Haley who seems offended that they would believe she would be a stripper. When Alex says she’s leaving to go sign up for some business classes at the community college Claire believes that she has influenced Alex to take this step in college while also asking her if she would rather get a job and get her hands dirty to which Alex she is says she’s pre-registered already. It seems she has also signed both her and Claire up for a book signing.

We soon find Luke showing Phil around the Country Club explaining what he does, while also demonstrating exactly how good he really is. Phil tells Luke that working there with all these men of high positions could help Luke make connections that last forever. Luke explains that there has been a ton of turnover and that’s why the club hosts an “Prospective Members Cocktail Party” to help find members who will sponsor you and then they will vote you in. When asked if Phil is thinking about joining, he sees Jay who runs away after being spotted. When Phil catches up to Jay he proceeds to ask him if he would sponsor him in the cocktail party. When Jay says there is a rule that family members can’t sponsor family members, Jay’s friend says that he had just did it. Phil asks what time he should be there with Jay giving him the wrong info on purpose only to have his friend tell Phil the truth. Meanwhile, Gloria (Sofia Vergara) is ready for a relaxing night in with Jay at the club and Manny (Rico Rodriguez) at a party. All she has to do is get Joe (Jeremy Maguire) to get so exhausted he will sleep all night. This requires some hardcore reindeer exercises.

We soon find Cam and Mitchell at the local community theater for an opening night where we see Mitchell clearly not enjoying himself and running into Tammy (Paula Christensen) who claims she hasn’t seen Mitchell since high school under the bleachers. This leaves Mitchell confused saying he feels like he would remember her then questions why she was wearing a name tag. A man, Nick (Sam Horrigan), comes up asking if Mitchell remembered when he was in band and dropped his flute into the gutter. This yet again confused Mitchell who never played the flute before. He finally puts the pieces together – Cam brought them to an interactive theater where Cam is on the board. Meanwhile, back at Gloria (Sofia Vergara) and Jay’s house she is getting ready to take a bath when the front door alarms signals the door was opened. Gloria goes to find out who it was only to find Manny (Rico Rodriguez) looking bummed. He tells Gloria that he had the most humiliating time in his life, Gloria’s solution…make him an espresso because he was just tired. Manny explained what happened at the party that was so embarrassing and when Gloria turns around Joe (Jeremy Maguire) has drank all of the espresso she made for Manny.

When we see Claire and Alex again they are at the book lecture for a book called Grab It by Nancy Decker (Shannon Cochran), an author who Alex looks up to. Claire finds herself at a loss when she keeps thinking Alex got into it because of her, but when Alex keeps telling her to stop talking or moving her seat Claire takes it as a good sign. When Nancy asks for questions, Alex throws her hand up in the air first, stating she was a long time reader – first time grabber. Alex tells Nancy that her book got her thinking of double majoring and asks if that is taking on too much. Nancy responds with, “If you can think it, you can grab it.” Claire not one to be beat says that both she and Nancy have raised three children, they are both female CEOs and that it was like looking in a mirror. Meanwhile, at the Country Club Jay is standing around drinking with his buddies when one asks if that was his gay son (pointing to Phil). Jay corrects him saying that is his son in law and that he wasn’t doing “that” dance with anyone again. Jay said he wasn’t going be worried because Phil would be himself and not make it past the board. Phil noted that he and the men have things in common like being in tumbling congress. Phil seems to charm the board more and more surprising Jay each story at a time. When Jay says Phil should do a magic trick as a “go big then go home” it is a last ditch effort to ruin Phil’s chances that backfires.

Gloria who has yet to get her bath, is seen on the couch grumpy as ever when Manny says he can’t go to sleep because of all the little sounds remind him of the people at the party laughing at him as Joe runs around the house high on caffeine. Manny in a sweet moment says, “I just wanna Netflix and mom.” When Joe runs back in with sugar all over his face, he breaks Gloria in that moment as she says she’s “cancelling the night time.” She claims it’s tomorrow and they are going to school. As we see Mitchell bored as he can be during the play Cam is seen looking so happy and serene. This play has got to be the worst thing seen on a TV show, very predictable and sloppy. When the spotlight hits Mitchell who has to play Vlad in the sketch he tells Cam to be Vlad only to have Cam tell him he is the surprise ending. So, Mitchell is forced onto the stage.

Meanwhile back at the Dunphy residence Claire is looking up information on Nancy Decker when Haley walks in dressed for her promoting job at the club. Gloria shows up ready to give Joe over to Haley to watch bringing up when Haley said she would be his nanny. When Claire asks what’s going on Joe says that mommy’s going crazy. Gloria says she’s not crazy. She just didn’t get to soak. Claire then asks Manny to explain. Claire gives Manny the pep talk he needs to go back to the party and makes Joe get on the couch to sleep. Gloria is taken back by both her sons listening to Claire when she tells Gloria that kids responds better to people who are not their parents. When Gloria tells Claire that Alex (Ariel Winter) does in fact look up to her, Alex arrives home to tell Claire that Nancy invited a few of them for coffee but only talked about herself. Also, it seems when the check came she didn’t “grab it.” Alex tells Claire she took a job as a barista to get her hands a little dirty.

As the episode comes to a close we see Phil and Jay at the club still on a look tour when Phil gets locked inside the steam room. He also seems to have pushed the steam button while trying to throw a burning rock at it. While Jay goes on a rant about how this club is his refuge and doesn’t want to share it, he says that Phil fits in everywhere while Phil passes out waiting for the front desk to save him. When Phil is back to himself he tells Jay that he won’t go to the club. Jay asks what he can do in return and we find them at the tumbling class for three hours because “every bounce counts.” As the episode ends, we see them at the same theater Cam and Mitchell were at with the same sketch going on when the spotlight hitting Jay to play Vlad.