The Long Honeymoon

"The Long Honeymoon"
Season	6
Episode	1
Total Episode Count	121
Written By	Danny Zuker
Directed By	Beth McCarthy-Miller
Production Code	6ARG01
Air Date	September 24, 2014
Episode Guide
← Previous	"The Wedding (Part 2)"
Next →	"Do Not Push"

"The Long Honeymoon" is the first episode from Season 6 premiere of Modern Family, it aired on September 24, 2014.

Plot Summary

This summer has been exceptionally blissful in the Dunphy house, Alex is away on a humanitarian trip and the rest of the family is getting along swimmingly, but when Alex comes home, there is an immediate shift in mood. Mitch and Cam have returned from their honeymoon and Mitch is acclimating to real life much quicker than the still lovey-dovey Cameron. Meanwhile, Gloria has taken issue with how little effort Jay puts into his appearance and decides to give him a taste of his own medicine.

Episode Description

The Dunphys are enjoying a perfect summer. Haley and Luke are getting along great, Haley's fashion video blog has 50,000 members, Claire gets so much done, she even has time to read, and Phil is enjoying the bounty of plums that are available in his garden. They are even eating cookies at breakfast. Meanwhile, Alex is enjoying her summer building homes for the poor. She comes home a week early because her tent got ruined and she had to sleep outside under a piece of plywood, she had been bitten by every outdoor creature alive, and she almost suffered the same fate of her tentmate, who got a nail gun in the foot and was stuck in the same spot until Alex got her out of it. She comes home and the luck runs out completely. Neither Phil nor Claire want to blame it on Alex, but later, they try to convince her to stick it out for another week and finish her summer project because she liked to finish things, but Alex sees right through it. Needless to say, she is beyond ticked off. And no amount of apology from anyone is going to stop her from leaving. This is until she sees the light on top of Haley's laptop, indicating the webcam is on. And it has been on all summer, meaning we now know why Haley has 50,000 visitors to her video blog. A fire has started in the oven, and it's Claire's book. The one she had only read two pages of because she binge-watched every Real Housewives series. And of course, Phil doesn't know how to operate the fire extinguisher very well. Phil and Luke insist she at least tries some of their rhubarb pie before she leaves, only they forget to take the leaves off the rhubarbs, which only Alex knows are poisonous. Given she now sees they will not have survived without her and are just living a life of delusion, she figures that is good enough to not go back under that piece of plywood while helping build homes.

Mitchell and Cameron have been back from their honeymoon for several weeks and it's almost like they were still on it. Well, Mitchell feels that way because Cameron is really overdoing it on the affection. Flowers every day, candlelit bath, tons of balloons, and Mitchell is already tired of it. Things do not get better when Cameron crashes the party at Mitchell's new law firm. Particularly given it's just a work party and he hasn't even had a chance to tell his new co-workers yet he is married. Cameron dancing with him at the party seems to answer it for them. Cameron has also an entire setup for their three-month anniversary, which Mitchell doesn't even know about. Confetti, cardboard cutouts of them in their tuxes, even Lily gets in on the act by dressing as a winged Cupid and shooting Mitchell with an arrow. Despite Claire's advice to not tell Cameron to tone it down, Mitchell can't take it anymore, and Cameron reacts very badly. But Mitchell finally gets him to admit why he was doing it. Cameron felt too much like they lost the romance to concentrate on raising Lily, but then the chance to get married means the romance returns for the last year. Cameron doesn't want to lose it again. Mitchell promises him he will not and agrees that both of them will be responsible for keeping the romance going. Mitchell's contribution? He finishes that dance with Cameron to Billy Ocean's "Carribean Queen", the song that was playing when Mitchell asked Cameron to move in with him. Cameron is touched, and they have a romantic dance.

Jay realizes that several of his Hawaiian shirts have disappeared and coincidentally end up on the backs of several of Gloria's cousins in Colombia, who insisted on skyping with Manny. Jay isn't happy, but Gloria thinks he could put more effort into his appearance like she does. But Jay figures she gets dolled up for herself rather than him. So she decides she will turn the tables and dresses like a complete bum. Unfortunately, she chooses the night when they are to have dinner with some important people from Jay's workplace to do it. Gloria will not back down, so Jay finally has to admit why he doesn't care about his appearance anymore. He has been trying, but he was in Barney's the other day and got laughed at by a couple of younger guys for trying to look good at his age. He figures he is old and no amount of sharp clothing can fix that, so why bother? Gloria slaps him on his face and tells him she gets mad when anybody thinks she married him just because of his money. This is only part of the reason. She thinks he is a sexy guy, and she wants him to keep trying to be that way for as long as he possibly can. He decides to take home his gorgeous disaster and prove how sexy he is...only to walk right into Gloria's birthday party, which Manny threw a week early to surprise her. Gloria screams and runs out of the house. And not 15 seconds later, she walks back in with a sexy dress, her hair done right, and her makeup exactly as she always has it.

Main Cast

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

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

Guest Starring

• Joe Wengert as Elliot
• Paolo Andino as Dan
• Katelyn Dunkin as Pretty Girl

Continuity

• This the second episode to revolve around a day of summer, after "Suddenly, Last Summer".
• Mitchell and Cameron have returned from their honeymoon several weeks ago, after they got married in "The Wedding (Part 2)".
• Phil's interest for magic reappears from "Up All Night", "The Butler's Escape", "Las Vegas", and "The Wedding (Part 2)".
• Dan and Elliot reappear from "Spring-a-Ding-Fling". It is their last appearance.
• Claire previously called Alex superstar in "See You Next Fall".
• Lily asks whether the family should stop throwing surprise parties, a reference to "Party Crasher."
• This is the first episode of Luke with his voice broken. And the first in which Gloria celebrates her birthday.

Cultural References

• Jay resembles to Harry Caray with his new pair of glasses.
• At an Applebee's, Billy Ocean's "Caribbean Queen" was playing when Mitchell asked Cameron to move in with him.
• Claire watches Real Housewives instead of reading War and Peace.

Gallery

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