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Blasts from the Past is the twelfth episode from Season 10 of Modern Family, it aired on January 16, 2019.

Summary[]

Phil and Claire decide to take a cycling tour through Italy before they become grandparents, and Dylan introduces them to his mom who has an interesting past. Meanwhile, Cameron and Mitchell discover some interesting reading material in Lily's room and decide to confront her about it, while Gloria and Jay discover their respective great uncles may have fought on opposing sides of a war.[1]

Plot[]

Phil and Claire are cycling in their living room, talking to each other excitedly about the upcoming trip to Italy the two have planned. Haley and Dylan interrupt them, however, by revealing they are moving in that day. Not only that, but Dylan's mother, Farrah has come over for a visit. Claire is immediately horrified at Farrah's zen attitude, which reminds her all too well of her late mother, DeDe. Phil recognizes Farrah as an attractive model from an old music video, leaving him flustered.

Meanwhile, Cameron and Mitchell are clearing out Lily's old baby things when they find a nude magazine under her pillow. Upon confrontation with her, Cam discovers it is an old magazine of Mitchell's. Jealous and upset, Cam goes to the gym. Mitch goes after him, discovering that Cam sits right in front of a window where attractive men are stretching. The two make up, admitting it's alright to simply look at attractive guys as long as they stay loyal to each other.

While this is happening, Gloria is telling Joe and Manny about their Great-Uncle Albero, who was a war hero. Jay overhears this, and interrupts to tell Joe the story of Jay's uncle, Erasmus, who was also a hero, but in the Alamo. Fed up with Jay's boasting ways, Gloria and Manny do some digging and discover Uncle Erasmus was nothing but a fleeing coward, much to Jay's disappointment. Deciding to get back at the two, Jay also does some digging on Great-Uncle Albero, and discovers he was a lying woman-chaser. Jay is about to inform his family the findings, but is halted when he sees how proud Joe is to be related to a war hero. Jay decides to let Joe believe in Great-Uncle Albero's heroism.

Back at the Dunphy's, Claire becomes overwhelmed at her house- not only with Farrah and her "hippie" lifestyle, but with Dylan's two ex-stepdaughters, who are in his custody once a month. Claire leaves and ends up at a bar where Phil follows to comfort her. The two have a long talk, where they eventually decide not to go to Italy in fear of what could go wrong in their absence. Phil optimistically informs Claire their home and family is a big adventure in itself, to which Claire agrees.

Main Cast[]

(The characters struck out do not appear in this episode)

  • Jay Pritchett
  • Gloria Pritchett
  • Manny Delgado
  • Joe Pritchett
  • Claire Dunphy
  • Phil Dunphy
  • Haley Dunphy
  • Alex Dunphy
  • Luke Dunphy
  • Mitchell Pritchett
  • Cameron Tucker
  • Lily Tucker-Pritchett

Guest Starring[]

Trivia[]

  • This is Haley's 200th episode.
  • Alex and Luke are absent in this episode though Alex is mentioned by Claire.
  • Phil and Claire speak Italian. Julie Bowen in real life is fluent in Italian.

Continuity[]

  • This episode was broadcasted exactly six years after "Party Crasher".
  • With this episode, we have seen or heard  at least one family member of each Haley's boyfriends. Andy's cousin called him in "Double Click", Rainer's daughter showed up in "The Alliance" and Haley met Arvin's parents in "The Escape". Dylan's nephew in "She Crazy" does not count as he was only mentioned.
  • Dylan's stepdaughters reappear from "Alone Time".
  • This marks the second episode after "The Alliance" in which a trip to Italy is planned and the second episode after "Me? Jealous?" in which we see a character kissing anybody in the mouth.
  • This is also the second episode in which a Pritchett-Tucker practices gym after "The Alliance" as well as the second episode in which Manny and Gloria both share an interview scene since "The Feud" and the second episode since "Sarge & Pea" in which a parent appears on a sexy videoclip though this time it is not a regular character.
  • Dylan's 39th appearance.

Cultural References[]

Reviews[]

  • TV Fanatic gave it 3.5 / 5.0
  • The AV Club gave it "B+" -- “Blast From The Past” is the kind of episode this season could use more of. Some of the stuff with Dylan’s mother doesn’t work, relying too much on hokey jokes about hippie-type mothers, but it’s largely a nice break from the overbearing, though well-handled, seriousness of previous episodes.

References[]

Gallery[]

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