This week on “Modern Family,” there’s frat boys, duck laying and teenagers learning to drive.
Phil cares for the duck eggs that Luke got him a few weeks back, and no one wants to help him nor stay with him as he builds a duck village.
At Cam and Mitch’s, Cam is experiencing bromance with some college athletes who are members of his frat. They rent the apartment upstairs but, of course, spend time downstairs playing catch in the house. Mitch feels a certain kind of way about it because Cam gets all “manly” and acts differently.
At Gloria and Jays, Manny tells his mother about a crush he has on a girl that works at the coffee house. Gloria is all ears until her show comes on with her favorite actress, Mariela. Mariela is in town, and Gloria plans to visit her hotel and meet her so that they can become best friends.
Phil goes all out building a farm for his ducks so much so that he makes a mess that gets on Claire’s clothes. As he helps her clean off and listen to her talk about work stuff, Mitch and Lily come over as Phil has told them about a “super fun” project. Just as they fall victim to Phil’s obsession, Mitch gets out of it by giving Luke driving lessons. Lilly, however, still has to stay.
During Luke’s driving lesson, Mitch opens up to his teenage nephew about how he feels about Cam acting macho and is glad to get it off his chest. At their house, the frat boys ask Cam if he can help them out with a plan to distract their rivals, and he reluctantly says yes. Then, they throw back shots of tequila.
During Claire’s meeting, she pitches “creative ideas” against everyone’s knowledge (she’s corporate). Jay shoots down every idea in her presentation, as it is clear that she hasn’t done her researched. Everything she pitches has been done already, and she is super embarrassed as Jay dismisses everyone.
Gloria nervously waits for Mariela at he hotel and Manny sits with her. As he tells her how he was not able to talk to his crush, Chelsea, and that the world is different for people who look like his mother, her “crush” Mariela comes down the hall. Gloria makes a complete fool of herself. She is loud and can’t form her words. Her behavior is ironic after just got finished telling her son that he needs to have more confidence and just speak to his crush.
Cam makes his way to the frat boys’ rivals house posing at a pizza guy. He takes the boxes in and while he’s following through on his end, the frat boys distract them. Cam steals their goat, and they all run away.
Lily is not impressed with the duck village, which has a working lighthouse and everything. And by working I mean a candle on the top, which ends up starting a fire putting the duck eggs in danger. They roll off the table, and Phil saves them by the hair of his chin.
Back in the driving lesson with Luke, as Mitch talks through his feelings, he realizes he is jealous of Cam for being able to get along with everyone, and Cam changing his personality with every guest is because he’s easy to be around. As Luke drives, they see Cam walking the goat. They stop, Mitch gets out and apologizes to him for acting weird. Cam admits that Mitch is right, he does have a need to be liked by people and is the reason why he changes with every visitor, thus is why he is stuck walking a goat down the street dressed as a pizza guy. Cam and Mitch make up, and as Cam says he’s not going to bend to others anymore, the frat boys pull up. He tells them he’s going to return the goat because it’s not right, and if they are really his friends, they’ll understand. They pretty much tell him he’s whack and drives off.
Gloria finally comes out of the bathroom embarrassed after retreating there. She apologizes to Manny for telling him to be more confident, when she herself showed him the very opposite. But for him, his seeing his mom fall flat in front of Mariela gives him the courage to talk to his crush, because he sees that even condiment people are always confident. As they walk away, she runs right into Mariela and loses it again.
Phil pays a visit to the tool store to get some things to fix his village. As he thinks about the ducks, he calls Claire, who is home after a horrible day, and asks her to turn the eggs. She says no because she’s been through hell and not taking any more orders. Just then, the ducks hatch and Phil rushes home. Claire forgets all about her bad day and shares a sweet moment with Phil.
See that’s what life is about. The moments.