Modern Family – Pea and Sarge

By: Paige Zinaman

What’s better than having just a normal fridge as a wedding present…the answer is a mini wine fridge at least according to Jay (Ed O’Neill) in the latest episode of Modern Family titled “Sarge and Pea.” In the opening scene we see Jay, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Claire (Julie Bowen) attending a wedding of a family member while Jay walks around carrying the wine fridge proudly telling everyone what he had gotten the couple. He states that he didn’t do their Aunt’s closet for free and everyone called him “High Pockets.” When Jay walks away Mitchell asks Claire if they can find a bar only to find their mother, DeDe (Shelley Long) attending the wedding. They start to freak out when Claire gets the idea that they each pick a parent and try to keep them apart. Claire yells at their mom using a deep voice and pushing Mitchell out where she can see him.

Phil (Ty Burrell) and Luke (Nolan Gould) are doing campus tour with Gloria (Sofia Vergara) and Manny (Rico Rodriguez) to a school that Phil calls a “safety” school for Manny and a “long shot” for Luke. Gloria comes rushing into their room all excited because she put a piglet in the bed with Manny when he was taking a nap, which causes Manny to freak out when he wakes up. He asks Gloria why she would put a piglet in his bed and she tells him that she is preparing him for college so he can fit in and make some friends. Manny tells her that college is about a higher learning and not pulling pranks.

Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Haley (Sarah Hyland) go to see Alex (Ariel Winter) at work wanting to get stuff from her only to have Alex say she can’t give them anything. Haley and Cam go to leave Cam when spots the back of a woman’s head who he tells Alex and Haley they hate her so much because he recognizes her from Lily’s (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) dance recital. It seems she robbed him of his “Proud Daddy Moment” because she blocked Lily’s solo performance by standing up recording on her huge iPad, which he says caused him to lie to his daughter saying she danced beautifully. When asked why he didn’t smack her down that night it turns into Haley asking if he could smack a woman. He tells them the woman left the moment her child’s dance was done. Cam goes to confront the woman, but Alex tells him to get back because he is basing it on something he saw in the dark.

Meanwhile at the wedding, Mitchell distracts DeDe by telling her he didn’t expect to see her there and she tells him that she wasn’t going to come because she hasn’t really seen anyone since the divorce, but her new husband had to work so she decided to show up. When she tries to ask if he is there alone he tells her she looks great and that she found the dress in the truck of her car. Mitchell’s phone ringing causes him to become momentarily distracted, which is long enough for DeDe to slip away from him. Mitchell runs over to Claire telling her not to get mad only to have DeDe find him, Claire and Jay. When Claire offers to walk DeDe back to her table she tells her daughter that she would like to stay and talk to them a minute because she doesn’t know anyone at her table. After a moment of awkward silence, Jay says that Gloria is not there and DeDe ends up sitting with them. When the waiter walks by asking if anyone would want some champagne they all say yes. When he goes to walk away Claire tells him she’ll just keep the tray.

During the campus tour Phil, Luke and Manny are listening to the guide, Steffi (Marissa Cuevas), about how one out of ten applicants get accepted, but also some of the well-known names the school as produced. As the group goes to move to another spot Manny falls and Gloria starts laughing because she had tied his shoe laces together as everyone was listening to Steffi talk. When Manny asks what’s wrong with Gloria she says she preparing him for college otherwise he will become a target.

At the café, Cam is still wanting to talk to the lady who he believes was the woman at the recital. When Alex tells him to just go over there and ask if she was the lady Cam says he can’t because if it was her she will know there is going to be a confrontation. He explains that people know when he is in attack mode, which causes Haley and Alex to go back and forth with tell signs to which Cam informs them that they are turning into their mother. The lady goes to the bathroom when Cam comes up with an idea and goes to the table the lady was sitting at, grabs her iPad and says that if there is video of the dance recital on the iPad he will know it’s her and can email it to himself to have a proper viewing party. Only he can’t figure out the passcode which causes Alex to look at it and tell him the numbers that are used most and that it’s any combination of those four numbers. When the lady comes back, Alex throws the iPad on the top of the woman’s bag and she starts getting rude with Alex claiming someone took it and that Alex wasn’t watching enough. Cam comes to the “rescue” and points out that the iPad was on the bag. She tells Cam she is just nervous for the blind date that she’s supposed to be meeting and to which she asks if he’s Richard. Cam, wanting the information from her, tells her that he is Richard while also learning her name is Ana (Lauren Bowles). Soon a problem arises when the actual Richard (David Hoffman) shows up asking Alex if she knows if she served an Ana. Thinking fast, Alex points to Haley who has to play as Ana so Cam can get what he wants.

At the wedding, DeDe is retelling of the time and year in which she dreamt about murdering Jay. Claire tries to avoid the conversation from unfolding by saying Mitchell has a funny story he wanted to tell about Cam at the dance recital, but he couldn’t say anything because Jay corrects DeDe by saying that they year she said was wrong. He says it was 1987 because that was the year they did a hold hand for hunger or something he couldn’t remember and once again Claire tries to avoid the topic by saying Mitchell was on a diet and asking what he could eat now. Jay and DeDe tell her that they know what she’s doing and that the controlling thing is challenging. When Mitchell excuses himself to go to the bathroom Claire goes with him telling him he doesn’t get to shut down on her like he did when they were younger. Jay and DeDe talk and she admits that her dream analyst helped her to understand she didn’t really want to murder Jay, but the part of herself that was always so angry. Jay tells her that she was angry all the time because he was an “inconsiderate blowhard” only have Claire and Mitchell walk back to the table to hear DeDe say they had plenty of good times and then call Jay “Sarge” and to have him agree and call her “Pea.”

Ending the campus tour, Phil tells Luke to follow him so they can do something fun. Phil takes Luke inside the bell tower and tells him about how he learned from a girl named Gretchen who got a full ride to college for treading bells. He thinks that maybe Luke could too and that they could get him in a class and he could learn it in three months. The bells start ringing and Luke becomes mad and starts telling Phil he wants him to, “Stop acting like I’m something I’m not and to stop telling me how great I am when it’s not true.” He says that it’s too much pressure and walks away leaving Phil in the bell tower.

Haley is still passing for Ana talks with Richard when he asks how she is thirty-six she tells him it’s because it’s from not smiling too much. He tells her she’s funny. which is something he didn’t expect from a Seismologist and asks her how she got into that. Haley thinks he’s talking about the size of people and to save her from blowing her cover Alex slips her a napkin that tells her that a Seismologist is actually someone who studies earthquakes. She tells him she just loves nature to which he says it would explain her Ornithology interest to which Haley asks Alex for another napkin. Only this time Alex acts out what Ornithology is since Richard’s back is turned. Cam is still trying to get information out of the real Ana whose phone goes off. She tells him that it’s her ex-husband who can’t be alone with their son for more than a few hours without texting her. Cam thinks he has the wrong person when she describes her son and how he gets picked on a lot at school until she tells him that his dance class is the only place he really enjoys himself. Cam goes off on her and says that he isn’t Richard and proceeds to tell her that she robbed him of his daughter’s dance solo. She tells him that he is the worst date she’s had and leaves. Haley then stops Richard in the middle of his talk and tells him she’s not Ana, he tells her he had a feeling and asks if they could take a picture so he could tell other women they dated. She originally says no, but once he tells her she’s pretty she changes her mind.

Gloria tells Manny that they need to hurry up or they are going to miss the mixer. He tells her that her timeout wasn’t over. Gloria tells him she’s sorry and that she wanted to have fun with him. He turns on the air dryer and powder comes out going all over Manny and the room, which Gloria tells him she forgot about that one. Manny pushes out of the hotel room as Luke slides past and they tell Phil and Gloria they are going to the mixer alone. Luke and Manny talk about how this is the only school they could both get into so they won’t be alone, while Gloria tells Phil she just wants Manny to learn to take a joke and Phil tells her that he could never be disappointed in Luke.

Jay and DeDe get along too well for Claire and Mitchell and when they leave to get a drink Claire and Mitchell discuss how much they don’t trust the kindness. Mitch goes to leave before knocking over the mini fridge. Jay and DeDe come back and tell them to sit down. Finally, Claire and Mitchell tell them that they were raised to act like this and asks where Sarge and Pea were growing up because if they were they may all be okay with having emotions. Jay and DeDe apologize for what they caused Claire and Mitchell for not giving them the kind of home they deserved. They go to dance and leave Claire and Mitchell being a little emotional at the table. The episode ends with Gloria showing Phil old videos of her being a spokesmodel and telling him she does somethings here and there to keep her hands in it.