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Spuds is the fourteenth episode from Season 11 of Modern Family. It aired on February 19, 2020.

Plot Summary[]

Phil and Claire take Haley and Dylan to dinner to reassure them they are not bad parents. While out to dinner, they run into Mitch and Cam who are chaperoning Lily's first date, as well as Jay and Gloria after attending Joe's school play.[1]

Episode Description[]

As Haley and Dylan fall asleep in front of a Lullaby and wake-up in order to see that their twins are awake in front of a gore film. The two worry about the effect this has had on Poppy and George (especially as the babies now start crushing insects and laughing at people getting hurt), so Phil and Claire decide to take them to Spuds, a restaurant she and Mitchell liked when they were kids.

At the same time, Lily is going on her first date with Mitch and Cam chaperoning from a distance. However Mitch is worried as he has learned Cam didn't get the head coach job in Missouri he interviewed for and is just waiting for Cam to get the bad news him which he knows will leave him depressed the rest of the night. By coincidence, they also happen to be going to Spuds and when they meet up with Phil, Claire, Hayley and Dylan they decide to combine their party.

Joe is performing in a school play about American history at the same time Jay has hurt his back. Jay and Gloria are the only family members in attendance (the other adults having given various excuses), and Jay ends up feeling worse after accidentally volunteering to take part in the play. Afterwards, they go to Spuds and are unimpressed to see the rest of the family had lied about being busy but decide to join them. Gloria slips some pain medication into Jay's drink after he was unwilling to take some earlier, only for him to take some himself just before and the overdose causes him to get over-emotional towards the family.

Over dinner, the adults try and reassure Hayley and Dylan that they're not bad parents by recounting their own experiences raising kids and the physical and emotional struggles they've had to live through over the years. They assure the two that kids are resilient and although they're bound to make mistakes they'll still be ok. At this point, Cam gets a phone call and leaves to take it.

Lily's date goes very well and she heads outside to have ice cream. Mitch sees Cam being emotional and consoles him about the job only to learn he didn't know he hadn't got it. Cam explains that the phone call was from their old adoption agency; their profile was accidentally reactivated and someone has chosen them to adopt their baby. They have twenty-four hours to respond, and although this is unexpected the two look at how well they've raised Lily and aren't entirely against the idea of having another child.

Main Cast[]

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

  • Jay Pritchett
  • Gloria Pritchett
  • Manny Delgado (Archive footage)
  • Joe Pritchett
  • Claire Dunphy
  • Phil Dunphy
  • Haley Dunphy (Haley Marshall)
  • Alex Dunphy (Archive footage)
  • Luke Dunphy (Archive footage)
  • Mitchell Pritchett
  • Cameron Tucker
  • Lily Tucker-Pritchett
  • Dylan Marshall

Guest Starring[]

  • Caspian Diamant as Randy
  • Kendall Foote as Teacher
  • Jaxon Goldenberg as Daniel
  • Dakota Hickman as Hawaiian Girl
  • Morgan Murphy as Waitress

Trivia[]

  • Alex, Luke and Manny only appear in archive footage.
  • This episode is dedicated to Marsha Kramer who portrayed Margaret.

Continuity[]

Cultural references[]

  • Haley and Dylan doze off while listening Lullaby's Song Brahms.
  • Jay cites Honest Abe.
  • Haley thinks an au pair is two nannies.
  • Longines met Marie Osmond at a Five Guys.
  • Gloria learns about Frederick Seward and the Alaska Purchase, James Wilkinson and the Louisiana Purchase, and Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans.

Reviews[]

  • The AV Club gave it "A-"

References[]

Gallery[]

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