Perfect Pairs is the third episode from Season 11 of Modern Family. It aired on October 9, 2019.
Summary[]
Phil, Claire, Alex and Luke love having the twins around, but taking care of them is exhausting! However, when they realize the babies might help them with a few things on their to-do lists, they offer to give Haley the day off.[1]
Plot[]
Phil, Claire, Alex and Luke are all stressed not only from having to look after the twins but their own issues; Phil wants to put on a better magic act at a real estate banquet than he did the previous year, Claire wants to land a potential buyer for the closet company, Alex is applying for a potential job at NASA and Luke's much older girlfriend is sending him out to buy beer not knowing she's actually dating a teenager
Suddenly, looking after Poppy and George becomes much more appealing when the rest of the family realise they can use them to their advantage. Claire takes them to a Baby Yoga class where she is able to have a casual chat with her client without looking like she was targeting her, Alex skips lines at the DMV and Post Office to help with her application and Luke discovers that having a baby with him makes him look much older to store clerks. Although Hayley and Dylan are shocked when they find out the family are using the twins this way, this doesn't stop Phil from using them for the big finish in his magic act.
Jay and Gloria discover meet Sonia's fiancé Nestor however Gloria is worried that Nestor is a gold digger trying to get his hands on the money Sonia made selling Gloria's sauce. She warns Nestor off, telling him that she hates gold diggers who are just after money. It works and he calls off the wedding and leaves, however it turns out that Nestor himself is extremely rich and thought Gloria was trying to warn him that Sonia was the one after his money... and she turns out she actually was, having gone broke after ruining the business.
Meanwhile, Jay befriends the gardener after a discussion with Manny and lends him one of his tuxedos. When the gardener comes downstairs, Sonia believes that the gardener is also rich and leaves on a date with him although it isn't long before she finds out and hammers on the door ready to kill Gloria.
After a succession of weird prospective tenants for their upstairs apartment, Mitch and Cam are delighted to rent out to a gay couple who are essentially younger versions of themselves and have adopted a black daughter who is the same age as Lily. Another plus to the couple is that they pay six months rent upfront. However Mitch and Cam soon start to worry that the couple are outshining them in regards to their fitness and their cultured opinions and their attempts to keep up exhaust them. It is Lily who saves the day when she plays bridge with their daughter and cheats, causing the daughter to have a nervous breakdown since she's used to winning everything and can't handle losing to someone who had just learned the rules. The couple decide to move out to spare their daughter any more distress, even letting Mitch and Cam keep the upfront rent.
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 (Haley Marshall)
- Alex Dunphy
- Luke Dunphy
- Mitchell Pritchett
- Cameron Tucker
- Lily Tucker-Pritchett
- Dylan Marshall
Guest Starring[]
- Stephanie Beatriz as Sonia
- Stefanie Koenig as Sheryl
- Katie Wee as Sandy
- Francis Gonzalez as Nestor
- Christopher Gorham as Brad
- Matthew Wilkas as Paul
- Sanai Victoria as Vera
- Carson Brand as Gary
- Kristen Studard as Eunice
- Shane Yoon as Matthew
- Matt Cullen as Cher's fan
- PD Mani as Sailor
- Krishna Smirtha as Barmaid
- Sarah Cornell as Volunteer
- Rebecca Warm as Cat Lady
Trivia[]
- Joe does not appear in this episode
- Lily's 150th episode.
Continuity[]
- This episode aired exactly six years after Farm Strong.
- Phil's real estate banquet returns from Strangers on a Treadmill and Spring-a-Ding-Fling.
- Jay's miniature plane return from Come Fly with Me and ClosetCon '13.
- Sonia's fourth and final appearance (Fulgencio, The Old Man & the Tree, Valentine's Day 4: Twisted Sister and A Tale of Three Cities).
- Luke buys beer again (Phil's Sexy, Sexy House)
- Phil's passion for the magic returns after The Butler's Escape, Las Vegas, The Long Honeymoon, Ten Years Later and Winner Winner Turkey Dinner.
- Claire's yoga classes return from The Cover-Up and Yes-Woman which did not feature Joe. Also, she is also seen barefoot for the third time.
- The second episode in which a gardner sympathizes with a Pritchett-Delgado-Dunphy-Tucker member after Not in My House.
- This is the third episode in which Mitch and Cam meet a gay family who have adopted a child after Schooled and Sex, Lies & Kickball. Neither Unplugged nor Playdates count as in the former, one of the spouses is pregnant and in the latter, this is a straight family.
- This is the second episode to feature Mitchell and Lily in a scene when a teenager cries after The Cold which also was a third episode of his season.
- This is the second episode in which Phil has to redeem himself for a year after a previous performance after Basketball but the plot is reversed. While in the former, Phil failed during a match, in this episode, he fears to fail because he practiced to well last year.
- This marks the fifth episode in which Mitch or Cam is injured to the head after Do It Yourself (he was injured in the face), Heavy is the Head, Winner Winner Turkey Dinner and Royal Visit.
- Dylan's 48th appearance.
Cultural References[]
- Phil mentions buying Long Escrow Iced Tea at realtor bars, a reference to long escrow and the Long Island Ice Tea cocktail.[1]
- Cam hears Gauguin as "go again" when discussing Post-Impressionism.
- Mitch claims to run the Santa Monica Stairs; Cam mocking calls him "Rocky."
- The Cher show was called "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", after her 1971 hit. Cam accidentally quotes "If I Could Turn Back Time" (1989).
Reviews[]
- The A.V. Club gave it a "B": There’s so much potential for the show to explore who Gloria is: a woman who left Colombia, married rich, and now, as she’s getting older, is trying to figure out a career and a life that’s not defined by her family. That’s totally possible within the confines of the sitcom, and yet Modern Family never goes there. It just keeps hitting the same notes before occasionally dedicating a small portion of an episode to her career pursuits
References[]