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"Won't You Be Our Neighbor" is the fifth episode from Season 6 of Modern Family, it aired on October 22, 2014.

Plot Summary

Phil is selling the house next door and he and Claire are excited by the prospect of having wonderful new neighbors, but that quickly turns into panic when a loud and obnoxious couple come to look at the house. Jay forbids Manny to see his new girlfriend when he realizes she's the granddaughter of his biggest business rival, leading to a clash of the closet titans. Elsewhere, Mitch and Cam are determined to switch Lily out of Mrs. Plank's class since she is known to rule with an iron fist - not to mention she scares them too.

Episode Description

Jay (Ed O'Neill) makes a new invention for socks and plans to sell it but everything seems to fall apart for him when Manny's (Rico Rodriguez) new girlfriend, Sophie (Cheryl Cole), comes home and sees it. As it is revealed, Sophie is the granddaughter of Jay's longtime enemy and owner of the "Closets, Closets, Closets, Closets" company, Earl (Jon Polito). Jay is convinced that she will tell her grandfather about his invention and Earl will steal his idea. Jay demands from Manny to stop seeing Sophie but Gloria (Sofía Vergara) is determined to make the two men makeup and she arranges a dinner for them to talk and solve their differences.

Meanwhile, the neighbor of the Dunphys family, Jerry (Matt Besser), moves out after his divorce and asks Phil (Ty Burrell) to sell his house. Claire (Julie Bowen) is happy with the idea that they can choose their new neighbors and they do everything to impress a new couple, George (Ben Lawson) and Lisa (Fiona Gubelmann). The couple is ready to buy it when another couple, Ronnie (Steve Zahn) and Amber (Andrea Anders), comes and makes a better offer. Claire does not like them at all and asks Phil to not tell Jerry about the better offer and even though Phil agrees to do it, he can not lie to Jerry and tells him the truth. Ronnie and Amber buy the house and they move in, while the Dunphy family watches.

Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) find out that there is an opening in Ms. Sparrow's class and they want for Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) to take it since they believe that Lily is stressed out by her teacher, Mrs. Plank (Tyne Daly). Ms. Sparrow's class is more fun and the kids are happy there. Without asking Lily, they meet Mrs. Plank and they manage to move Lily to Mrs. Sparrow's class but they soon find out that Lily does not want to change teacher because she loves Mrs. Plank and she actually learns new and important things there. Cameron and Mitchell are forced to go back to Mrs. Plank and beg her to take Lily back.

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

Continuity

  • Jerry reappears from his very last appearance, "Halloween", which was 95 episodes ago.
  • Claire mentions that she scared an adult, which was previously mentioned in "Open House of Horrors".
  • Phil remembers Claire's friend Juliette when reminded that she is black. His attraction to black women appeared previously in a line in "Hit and Run": "I'll admit it. I'm turned on by powerful women. Michelle Obama, Oprah, Condoleezza Rice, Serena Williams... wait a minute...".
  • Fineas O' Connell's second appearance after Best Men, where he portrayed a musician who had a crush on Alex.

Trivia

  • This episode begins on a Sunday, according to Phil.
  • This is Earl Chambers's first appearance, but in Australia his name was Earl Norton. This also marks the Lafontaine's and Devon first appearance as well as Jerry's return.
  • Earl believes that Jay ignores Mitchell's sexuality and says that he is at least 40. In real life, Jesse Tyler Ferguson turned 39 the day this episode was aired and both he and Jon Polito (who plays Earl) are gay.
  • Jay formerly had another closet company which he formed with Earl until the latter betrayed the former and then the two men had their own companies: "Closet fornia".
  • Phil's realtor oath he resights at the end of the episode is a parody of the Boy Scout Oath.

Cultural References

  • Gloria mentions "burying the machete", apparently a Colombian version of "burying the hatchet".
  • Claire calls Jerry "Reefer Madness", a reference to the infamous anti-marijuana film.
  • Jay and Earl sold closets to Larry Hagman, while Earl later got a guest role on Dallas.
  • Mrs Plank calls Mitch and Cam "Mary Ann and Ginger", a reference to Gilligan's Island.

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