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"Party Crasher" is the twelfth episode from Season 4 of Modern Family. It aired on January 16, 2013.

Summary[]

With the baby coming soon, Jay and Gloria go to great lengths to throw Manny an extra special surprise party for his 14th birthday—and there are plenty of surprises to go around. Meanwhile, Phil and Claire deal with a new much older guy that Haley has started hanging out with, and Cam becomes jealous of the special bond Lily seems to have with Mitch.

Plot[]

It's Manny's 14th birthday, and Jay and Gloria are planning a huge surprise party for him, given it'll be the last one where he's an only child. After giving him the brush-off regarding their plans for that night (Jay loves to fool "the little jerk"), they have to pick up everything, including the cake. But since they didn't have time to wait in the huge line at the cake shop, they scam a new mom out of her cake.

Haley will meet the rest of the family at the Pritchett abode, one hour later than they were told, according to Claire, since she is going out a date with one of her co-workers at the clothing store, Kenny, who is Phil's age ca.. A wicked ponytail and beard and custom jeans for him and Claire (PHIL: It feels like I'm wearing a diaper!) are enough to get him to look the other way. Claire accuses Phil of being okay with barely-legal Haley dating a much older man, given Phil's crush on Hermione Granger (Emma Watson). Phil angrily declares that he is "never telling Luke anything again".

Lily is going through a marriage phase, where she wants to have a wedding and marry her daddy. Sure enough, she takes Mitchell to a mock altar all dressed up and with wedding rings prepared. Cameron is clearly unhappy, which Mitchell attributes to his belief that Cam is struggling as a music teacher while he is doing well at his law firm. Cameron sarcastically holds to tradition and bitterly throws rice (rice krispies) to the happy couple, getting Lily in her eye with one and earning her pained anger. Later, in a childish bid to not feel left out, Cameron holds and flaunts to Mitchell a more elaborate wedding of his own with Lily after he bribed her with a Barbie electric car and other luxuries. He rushes through the ceremony, much to Mitch’s confusion, and goes to the reception line while Lily drives through it. She crashes, hurting herself. Cameron immediately relinquishes his accountability for Lily’s injury. (CAMERON: Please do not blame me. We always knew there would be a strong possibility she'd be a terrible driver.)

While the very late Jay and Gloria crashed out of the parking lot because they lost their ticket, everybody set up for the party at the house, except for Luke who filmed the whole thing and kept harassing Lily, who was now sporting a neck brace to go with her eyepatch, both thanks to Cam. Phil still couldn't see anything wrong with Haley going out with a "mentor."

PHIL: When I was 17, I was really close with my friend, Stacy's mom. Mrs. Robinson was a former cheerleader, so she knew just how to massage my legs after practice. She had her own homemade Ben-Gay that didn't burn, no matter where she rubbed it on me. If I had a chance to go over there, I'd never miss an opportunity.

CLAIRE: I think maybe you did.

Phil was still fine with Haley's choice of dates until he saw Kenny kissing Haley. Angrily, he wants to stop the relationship. (PHIL: I'm gonna fight him up real nice.) Claire was dying to see this, until Mitchell reminded her she dated a guy that old just to get a rise out of Jay, only he didn't say a word because he knew Claire would dump a guy who smelled like potato skins and said "supposably", in no time at all. Claire went to stop Phil, saying Haley was doing this to get back at them. Phil is heavily conflicted, particularly when Kenny says "nailed it" coming out of the bathroom and demands a high-five.

Mitchell confronts Cameron about the problems he was going through at school, but apparently the kids like him. Certainly the ones at Manny's party who serenaded him do, triggering another senseless argument with Mitch. (CAMERON: Yeah, it's been a nightmare. Thank you for assuming I'm terrible at my job.) It turns out, Cameron was enjoying his job so much that he forgot his tradition of dunking a cookie in milk with Lily every day at 2:30. He was not happy about it, to say the least, and he thinks Lily is resenting him for it, which is why he has been viewing Lily’s bond with Mitch as competition. But Mitch patiently reminded him Lily isn't a character on Dynasty and doesn't resent him. When Cameron moves a lounge chair to pick up a towel, he accidentally sends Lily into the pool. So she might resent him then. Luke's tape later proved that Lily, who calls Mitch “dad”, had cried out for "daddy," what she calls Cameron. So Cam was happy that he was supposedly Lily’s favourite again.

Jay and Gloria finally make it there, and Gloria goes over the plan to surprise Manny by turning the lights out and singing when he turns them on. Alex needs to write it down (sarcasm), but Manny got there earlier than planned. Manny enters with a female friend, who kisses him as an early birthday present. She turns the lights on and lets out a shriek, which Manny believes is due to a shriek. (MANNY: It's harsh, I know! I wanted to put in a better dimmer.) Seeing the family, she runs for the hills, and Manny was completely incensed for ruining his first kiss.

Luke mockingly assures him that he caught it all on tape. Gloria tries to talk to him, but Manny runs to his room. Gloria's baby is ready to come out, but she tries to hold it because she feels bad about Manny having to share her; now he might have to share a birthday as well. Jay tries to talk to Manny, saying at least Manny can prove he kissed a girl. Kenny certainly wasn't ingratiating himself to Claire or Phil, even admitting he acted more like a 14-year-old than Manny did. He even had a daughter that age. Phil resisting the urge to clip his ponytail with garden shears for running Haley's hand up his leg, Claire tries to keep him at bay. Gloria gets everybody to sing Happy Birthday to Manny, who has finally come out of his room, just in time to see Gloria's water break. She refused to leave, forcing Jay to drag her to the car, apologizing to Manny the whole way.

Everybody else makes it to the hospital in time to hear what they think is Gloria screaming. It turns out to be from Jay, whose hand Gloria was squeezing. Gloria was still trying to keep the baby inside until the following day so that he and Manny would not share a birthday, but Manny told her he had her to himself for 14 years and appreciated her efforts to keep a human being inside her just to make him feel better. (JAY: If we had actually forgotten his birthday, he'd be out kissing a cute brunette. Things work out!) Manny knew Gloria loved him and took her hand...and understood why Jay was screaming like a little girl. After Jay assures Gloria how much he loves her, Gloria wants the baby out.

Meanwhile in the lobby, Phil cannot stand Kenny and Haley's relationship any longer. (Seriously, he was massaging her thigh. I gotta side with Phil on this one.) Claire sticks to it, even giving Haley and Kenny their credit card for dinner at a remote location and a hotel. Phil was being driven mad by this game of chicken Claire was playing, and she was wrong about the iPod, he chases after them. Immediately after he leaves in one elevator, Haley returns in the other and freaks out at Claire for letting her get that far with Kenny, having now blown him off. She is convinced Phil and Claire just think of her as nothing but a disappointment after being expelled from college.

HALEY: I see the look on his face every day. He acts as if he doesn't want me around!

PHIL: (returning in the other elevator, panicked, and not seeing Haley) Give me the ticket. I'm going after her. This little 'chicken' game may work for your dad but it doesn't work for me! That's my little girl! I need her to know that no guy on Earth is good enough for her, much less a slimy middle-aged jeans salesman! (Haley, overhearing him, hugs him) What's this?

CLAIRE: Just enjoy it.

As for Jay and Gloria,

JAY: There's all kinds of milestones in life. The kind you expect to live through...first kiss, birthdays, graduations, if you're lucky a wedding or two, or even a new addition to the family. And then there's the kind you never dream you'd get to live through again.

The whole family enters Gloria's ward to find she has given birth to her and Jay's son. Everybody is very pleased with the newborn baby, and they all smile and fawn over him.

JAY (same interview): And that's the best kind of all. (A baby fuss sound is heard) (To his newborn son) Why, am I spoiling it for you? You'll see for yourself.

Gloria is seen cradling her newborn son, saying it was the most painful 20 minutes of her life. To Claire's disappointment, Gloria is skinny already. While the family debates on their relation to the baby, Jay ushers them out.

Main Cast[]

(The characters striked 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[]

  • Jason Mantzoukas as Kenny
  • Tim Banning as Bakery Employee
  • Bill Coelius as Parking Attendant
  • Krystal Gauvin as Manny's Girlfriend
  • Jamie Anderson as Mom
  • Karen McClain as Nurse
  • Laurel Coddington as Cameron's Student
  • Destinie Dominguez as Cameron's Student
  • Josiah Dominguez as Cameron's Student
  • Chloe Okura as Cameron's Student
  • Chris Shen as Cameron's Student
  • Julian Xavier as Cameron's Student

Continuity[]

  • Gloria finally gives birth a baby, after revealing that she was pregnant in "Baby on Board".
  • This is the second episode to revolve around Manny's birthday, after "Manny Get Your Gun".
  • Jay's closing monologue flashes back to:
    • Manny's first kiss (earlier in the episode).
    • Luke's birthday ("Fizbo").
    • Alex's graduation ("See You Next Fall").
    • Phil and Claire's re-wedding ("Hawaii").
    • Cam introducing baby Lily to the family ("Pilot").
  • This episode does not feature any recurring characters.

Trivia[]

  • Gloria gives birth to a boy, being Joe.
  • Manny shares his first kiss (which was actually Rico Rodriguez’s first ever kiss). This is also the first episode in which he celebrates his birthday since Season 2.
  • Haley's expulsion from college is mentioned several times ("Arrested").
  • This episode aired exactly six years before Blasts from the Past.
  • Kenny, Haley's co-worker and the central single-appearance character, is secretely called by Phil a "slimy middle-aged jeans salesman" just for being a man dating [Haley] a considerably younger than him female partner (Gloria and Jay, Haley and Rainer Shine, most Hollywood, general entertainment and politics-couples), despite this has always been normal in human history and society, while Claire in one scene is sarcastically and almost subtly guessing in one scene that his age could be "36-38", definitely too young to be "middle-aged" as she calls him, too. Both also denigrating his humble job as a pretext to demonize him more. The ending of the episode doesn't help and doesn't fix the possible ageist message in it.

Cultural References[]

  • Claire claims that Phil is attracted to Emma Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films.
  • Phil references Mrs. Robinson and the song "Stacy's Mom" when talking about older boyfriends.
  • Claire says that the more she and Phil ignore their dislike of Kenny being with Haley, the sooner Willie Nelson's on the road again.
  • Mitch points out that Lily is not a Dynasty character.
  • Phil says Claire was wrong about the iPod being a failure, and that he doesn't want to talk about her favorite planet, Pluto, which lost planet status in 2006, and corrects her pronunciation of Demi Moore's name.

Goofs[]

  • When Kenny gives Phil and Claire jeans, he only has two pairs of jeans in his bag, which just so happen to be exactly their sizes, despite never having met them.
  • Through Luke’s video, Cameron realises that Lily had called out “daddy” when he accidentally pushes her into the pool and deduces that she was calling for him for help as, according to him, she refers to him as “daddy” and Mitchell as “dad”. However, at the beginning of the episode, Lily calls Mitchell “daddy” before their play-wedding. So she may not have been crying out to Cameron for help.

Gallery[]


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