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).
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