Modern Family Ep. 9: Fizbo

Summary:

            Everybody is gathering at the hospital, but we don't know why or what's going on. Jay is beside himself, in spite of Mitchell's reassurances that it could have been worse.

            It starts with the planning of Luke's birthday. Since Luke's birthday always falls around Thanksgiving, he tends to get the short end of the stick. Claire wants to give him an "arts and crafts" party in lieu of Thanksgiving dinner. Even Phil thought that was a boring idea, so he has a few ideas on bringing some exotic animals to the party and a rock climbing wall. Cameron happily lends his karaoke machine, and Mitchell would be even happier if Phil doesn't return it right away...or ever.

            Cameron inquires about having a clown at the party, and Phil is quite resistant to the idea. Naturally, this won't stop Cameron from breaking out...Fizbo the Clown! Mitchell wants to settle for getting Luke a gift card, but of course Cameron won't be so easily dismissed on this front. Grandpa Jay is the grandpa we'd all like to have, since he's getting Luke a crossbow. Gloria objects, but only on the basis of how accident-prone Luke is. Manny needs advice from Jay on how to get a hot girl, since obviously Jay is an expert in this. Jay's advice to Manny is to be the funny guy. It doesn't work, so Gloria tells him to just be sweet and adorable.

            Phil is upset with the animal handler because he wanted the scarier animals. Cameron insists on being Fizbo, and it's a little scary how much Cameron knows about clowns. Fortunately for Mitchell, Fizbo has Mitchell's back when a complete jerk hits Mitchell with his car and wants to pick a fight with him. Unfortunately, Fizbo is scaring the crap out of Phil. This was not a problem for Haley. Her problem was the animal trainer, Jungle Tanya, because her boyfriend was fascinated by the animals Tanya brought to the birthday. Tanya helps Dylan hold the snake, which of course sets off the jealousy alarm bells with Haley. She solves this problem by opening the container of a scorpion to get Tanya in trouble.

            So how does everyone end up in the hospital? Right when Mitchell is telling Claire that Fizbo "is a badass," the scorpion makes its appearance and scares the crap out of Fizbo, who runs like a maniac, as do the kids near him. He knocks over the crafts table and gets too close to Phil, who freaks and backs into Jay. The crossbow goes off accidentally and deflates the bouncy castle, and Bianca, the girl Manny was trying to impress, was trapped. In comes Manny on the zip line to rescue her and her balloon animal dog.

            And the irony was Luke breaks his arm when he slipped on Claire's comb sheath beads. It was the best birthday he ever had. He loves his cast, since they smell after a few weeks, and he wants everybody to sign it. Claire provides him with a nice cast scratcher, which looks like a comb with a leather sheath. Fizbo brings in a cake and by now everybody knows Phil is scared of clowns.

Theme:

            In this episode the theme was unity. All of the characters were very adamant about coming together as a family. They had an accident that could have made the day a total disaster, but it brought them together closer as a family.

Biblical Perspective:

            Jesus often taught that believers are stronger when they are together. Just as this family was stronger together so are believers. An example is of the gifts in Romans 12. The gifts can work individually, but they all need each other to be their most successful.

            

Modern Family Ep. 8: Great Expectations

Summary:

            If you think that Phil would get more excited about anniversaries than Claire then you’d be right. He even set up a view master slide show of their honeymoon, and added a little slide of a beautiful bracelet, which Claire didn't know she owned...until he gave it to her. Her present to him was coupons for 5 free hugs. She claims he never wants anything, but apparently he does from the disappointment that he has. Phil has now added flowers and balloons to the view master and bracelet. Claire lies about the hugs being the only gift, but she has no clue what to get Phil.   Apparently, Claire found the perfect gift for Phil…The Iz: Izzy Fontaine from Spandau Ballet. Claire remembers the song "True" being played when she and Phil first made out, but Phil doesn't even know if he's pronouncing Spandau Ballet right. Anyway, The Iz will play a private concert for Phil. The private concert is going well...for Claire, anyway. Of course, Phil has no clue who The Iz is. The Iz figures it out when Phil tries to hum his favorite song and fails. Claire is enjoying her party as Spandau Ballet plays live in their living room. As it turns out, Phil thinks their "song" is OMD's "If you Leave." Claire is beside herself, but Phil appreciates what she did for him and he makes "True" their new "song," given that "If You Leave" is a breakup song, anyway.

            Mitchell and Cameron have hit that wall that all new parents hit: they need a night out with no baby talk. They'll get Gloria and Jay to babysit Lily, while they call Sal. Sal is the ultimate uninhibited party animal...and that's before she's had some alcohol. Mitchell and Cameron meet Sal at a loud nightclub. Sal is the party girl she always was and even invites them to go to Cabo with her. Cameron dares her to make out with the waitress, but they have to check on Lily first. Sal is acting weird about Lily and even makes jokes about her life. She wants them to bring Lily to Cabo so she can throw her in the ocean.

            Cameron figures out that Sal was their "first child." They comforted her when she was sad, and carried her when she couldn't walk and cleaned up after her when she threw up. Now Lily is around and Sal is jealous. Mitchell and Cameron assure her they don't love her any less just because of Lily. Sal cries, spits up on Mitchell, and falls asleep.

            At Gloria and Jay’s, it's Jay's Night, where everybody is in their PJ's, he makes Sloppy Jay's, and they watch a Western. However, Manny is more than a little excited about Haley coming over, so Jay must ready the hose to be on the safe side. Alex is being her usual self, convincing Luke that Grandpa doesn't have a lot of time left.

            At their poker game, Gloria has a great pair, but Haley gets a straight and heads straight out under the guise of getting more soda. However, Grandpa is lightning fast and is already ahead of her. Under the guise of fixing the lights, Jay knew these moves Haley was trying because Claire tried the same things when she was 15.

             Jay has been very successful in preventing Haley from escaping, but Gloria realizes that she doesn't want Haley resenting her grandparents. Even though Claire and Mitchell pulled the same stunts, Gloria wants Jay to act more like a loving grandpa instead of a tough parent. He relents and invites Dylan into the house who was hiding in the bushes waiting to take Haley to the party. Haley is more than happy...until Dylan gets a whiff of the Sloppy Jays and notices the Western on the TV.

Theme:

            A reoccurring theme in the episodes has been that of acceptance and love. The characters all seem to have a love for one another that is unconditional. At times they do the most outlandish things, but they still love each other. They are very considerate of one another’s feelings, but because they know of this unconditional love that they will act in ways that are not very loving.

Biblical Perspective:

            The Bible teaches that true love does not keep a record of wrongs and does not easily take offense (1 Corinthians 13). The characters here try their best to do this, but they antagonize the other members of the family a great deal.

Modern Family Ep. 7: En Garde

Summary:      

            Everybody is enjoying Manny’s interest in fencing because he is so good at it. Jay couldn’t be prouder, especially since he didn’t have any trophies from Claire or Mitchell. Mitchell has some issues with everybody being too proud of Manny.

            Phil and Claire are proud of their kids as well. Alex can basically do anything she puts her mind to. Haley doesn’t have to be smart, since she can use her looks to find a talented person. Luke...well, they dropped the ball on him. However, Claire says the one thing Luke is good at is being her son. Phil decides that this year, Luke just needs 10,000 hours of baseball practice to become great at it. He has about 6,000 hours from one season of Little League, so he’s well on his way.

            Mitchell clearly has some issues with Claire. It goes back to their youth, when they were an ice-skating team. Right before the regional finals, Claire decides she doesn’t want to skate anymore. It was Mitchell’s one time to impress his father and Claire bailed on him. Cameron decides he won’t let Mitchell hold the resentment, since Cameron doesn’t want to unwittingly be the target of any bubbled up hostility.

            There may not be an actual final meet for Manny. He decides he wants to retire, thus ending Jay’s hope of a trophy at his house. However, Gloria is supportive of his retirement...until Manny tells her that it’s because he doesn’t want to fence against a girl. Needless to say, Gloria rips him one for not respecting women, and the match is back on.

            Phil, in real estate, lives by the motto “Always Be Closing.” He is showing a house to a couple that thinks the house isn’t very kid-friendly. Then Luke comes in and talks about how great the place is and how much his own house sucks by comparison. They skip Manny’s championship match to try and sell the house to this couple. However, Luke injures himself by slipping down a stairwell, and Phil almost twists his ankle getting stuck in the stairs himself.

            Mitchell finally confronts Claire about ice-skating. The issue was really that Claire had gotten bigger and Mitchell couldn’t lift her anymore. He dropped her a lot in practice. She apologizes, and they hug and he is still trying to lift her. They miss Manny’s match, but Claire decides that it’s more important for Mitchell to be able to lift her. He confesses that he always hated ice-skating, but still participated because they didn’t hate each other well it was going on.

            Manny is ready to destroy Carolyn, but her nurse down at the children’s hospital is there. She also has a cheering section that comes in on their wheelchairs. Jay and Gloria try to signal Manny to tank the match, but he misinterprets their hand gestures as “show no mercy”, but he doesn’t. It’s a complete slaughter. Jay and Gloria want to take Carolyn out for ice cream in good sportsmanship, but she’s a diabetic. Jay is mortified to be bringing a four-foot trophy to the car, until he sees Mitchell and Claire ice dancing together.

Theme:

            All of the characters seem to be really competitive in this episode. They were competitive up until the point that it would make them look bad for being successful. I don’t even think that it would be appropriate for their families to call them supportive...they kind of just seem narcissistic.

Biblical Perspectives:

            The Bible doesn’t really talk about competition much. However, there are many verses and references where we see that we are not to do things for our own glory. Even if we are successful at something…we should be attributing that to the Lord. “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Modern Family Ep. 6: Run For Your Wife

Summary:      

            It is the first day of school, and all three households are very busy. Certainly busier than Luke, who was supposed to keep a journal of what he did over the summer. He made one entry, saying he found a stick. Alex must haul a cello on the bus, and Haley is starting to take driving lessons. Unfortunately, her parents are helping her learn. Phil is the ultimate listener when it comes to his marriage (NOT!). He knew when Claire told him they couldn't fit both cars in the garage…that she really wanted him to get a sports car. Therefore, when she wanted to settle down with a book and go running later on the first day of school, clearly she meant he should be running with her. She tries to defuse the situation by saying she runs pretty fast, which Phil (because he is a man) takes as a challenge. Phil and Claire have their run with very few people interested in it. As Phil continues to talk trash and sweat, Claire sees the “World's Greatest Dad” shirt he has on. After this Claire decides allow Phil to win. He is boasting to the high heavens until Haley runs him over with the driver's ed car, but he's okay. At the end of the episode, Haley is getting pulled over with her family in the car. Claire is instructing her to pull over, but Phil (who has priors) is encouraging her to just keep driving.

            Gloria is excited that Manny is starting the fifth grade, but Jay is less excited about the poncho he wants to wear to show he is proud of his Colombian heritage. Gloria defends it by saying people are impressed by the things she wears and the confidence she exudes in wearing them. Jay convinced Manny to leave it at home, and Gloria was not happy. She insisted on bringing it to school, but Jay didn’t want Manny to go through the same ridicule and torture Mitchell did when he was a kid. Gloria and Jay make it to school and track down Manny. Gloria insists that Manny be allowed to wear the poncho. Manny is so appreciative that he will play his pan flute and do a traditional Colombian dance for his new classmates. Jay has to cover by looking at the flute and “accidentally” dropping it. He steps on it after Gloria tells him he just stepped on it.

            Mitchell and Cameron are taking care of Lily, and Mitchell is babyproofing the house. Cameron is a little more relaxed about it, dressing Lily in his favorite pop stars. He convinces Mitchell to dance with Lily, and of course Mitchell accidentally bangs Lily's head on the ceiling when throwing her up in the air. They decide that they should take her to see a doctor just to make sure everything is okay. Cameron constantly asks the Asian doctor if she knew of any good places for Pho soup, but she insists there aren't many places in Denver that have it. Mitchell is still upset about bumping Lily's head and thinks Cameron's a much better parent. Cameron insists that Mitchell is good at the things he isn't and vice versa. Both are apparently good at accidentally locking Lily in the car. Fortunately, they have the assistance package with the car, and the doors are open before Cameron can smash the window and Mitchell has a complex of people judging them.

Theme:

            In this episode it seemed as though the main characters really appreciated their jobs as parents. They had to lie to their kids and lie for them, but they did so all to protect them. The theme of this episode was love. The characters love each other despite their differences. I didn’t agree with the fact that they lied at times to express this, but they had the right motives and intentions behind it all.

Evaluation through biblical perspectives:

            The Bible really affirms that we are to love one another, which was displayed this week and has been displayed in previous episodes. However, from I have seen love is to be honest in all situations. Proverbs 12:22 says, “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord,
but those who deal truthfully are His delight.”

Modern Family Ep. 5: Coal Digger

Summary:

It's time for the big football game at the Pritchett house. Cameron is so excited that he even bought Lily a referee's uniform over Mitchell's protests. Before then, Claire and Phil have to settle a problem with Luke at school. Apparently, Luke got into a fight with Manny. This leads to an awkward moment between the two couples, since they have to confess in front of the principal that Manny is Luke's uncle. Claire and Gloria separately think it's the fault of the other. For once, Jay and Phil are in complete agreement in letting it go. Of course, the ladies won't.

At Jay's house, Phil huddles Manny and Luke together to discuss feelings, but Jay takes control of the conversation by getting them to agree they don't hit each other in this house. He then hits both them on the back of the head.

Mitchell decides he doesn't have to like football as much as Cameron. In the kitchen, Claire and Gloria are working out their differences, in spite of Phil's help. Claire admits she could be more welcoming of Gloria and Manny, and Gloria admits she could be a little less defensive. Even Luke and Manny have patched things up, not even remembering why they were fighting…until Phil makes them bring it up. It had to do with Manny's accent, and Luke eating the same thing for lunch every day, and that Gloria was a “coal digger”. Phil is nice enough to correct him: it's “gold digger”. Gloria is completely offended and refuses to come out of her room. Jay is not happy with Claire, obviously. She tries to defend herself by saying that it was over a year ago when she said it.

Phil tries to say to Gloria that Claire said it a long time ago, but Gloria rants that she can be without all of these pretty colors, like the pretty colors of her lingerie. (Not a wise idea to throw them all over Phil, given that he fondles the leopard-patterned bra while he's talking to her.)

To be fair, Jay is upset that Claire thinks he can't get someone like Gloria, so he gets some advice on if he is sexy. Mitchell isn't having it, but Cameron likes the dangerous/rich combination Jay brings to the table and would totally pick him up in “one of his bars”.

Claire comes to talk to Gloria, who will do anything to prove it isn't about the money. Phil leaves the room with a pink pair of panties attached to his leg, and Claire admits it was a matter of getting used to Gloria being there instead of her mother. However, Gloria still won't forgive her and suggests that she jump in the pool. Claire doesn't want to do it, but she does and the rest of the family soon jumps in with her.

Theme:

            I guess that the theme in this episode is “overcoming differences”. The characters had confrontation over small and big issues, but they realized that the relationships in their family were more important than wasting time fighting.

Evaluation through biblical perspectives:

            The Bible argues the same thing. Jesus is very important to forgive us for our sins and he doesn’t hold grudges against us. At the end of Romans 5 it says that where sin abounds grace abounds. The more we sin…the more God has grace for us.