Career Day

"Career Day" is the twenty-first episode from Season 4 of Modern Family, it aired on May 1, 2013.
== Summary ==
Phil's attempts to woo Luke and Manny's class on Career Day get interesting with the arrival of rival real estate mogul Gil Thorpe, who soon sets his sights on helping out Claire. Cam and Mitch enlist the help of Haley to teach Lily a lesson about the tooth fairy. Jay sits down to tackle a lifelong dream.
==Plot ==
Lily has lost her first tooth, so it is time for Mitchell and Cameron to play Tooth Fairy. Of course, it would help if Lily would actually sleep. But she even has a butterfly net at the ready. (LILY: I've got nowhere to be.) But the Tooth Fairy did arrive complete with a glitter-filled envelope (much to Mitchell's consternation) and a hundred-dollar bill, which Cam has accidentally put in there. Cam says that he honestly has made a mistake in the dark of the night. So now they have to convince Lily to give back the money. They even go so far as having the Tooth Fairy pay a visit...played by Haley in a pink costume and wings. (spilling more glitter to Mitchell's annoyance) Lily isn't fooled, but Haley tells her she played her cards right. She may never get another visit from Santa, but she stuck to her guns about the money. Lily doesn't need presents under the tree, she could buy a scooter with her $100. It worked like a charm, and Haley merely asked if she could borrow the pink fairy costume. (HALEY: I'd rather not say.)
It is Career Day at Luke and Manny's school. Naturally, Phil is ecstatic. He even has a cutout sign where the kids can take pictures. (PHIL: I just thought I'd give the kids a chance to put their face on my body...eww, I just heard it too.) Haley and Alex somehow manage to avoid Phil at their Career Day. (HALEY: Cutbacks. ALEX: Nor'Easter.) But Phil still wants to do it the way his dad talked about running a grocery store and wearing two pricing guns like six-shooters. He even has a video where he interacts with a hip kid (played by him, of course) and taught "him" about real estate. That is, until Gil Thorpe interrupts him and throws off the timing of the video. Long story short, it is a disaster. 
Although Claire does admit it went better in school than when they rehearsed it. She even gets to spend two minutes talking about being a stay-at-home mom and deflecting some girls snide questions about it. But Gil supports her, saying a job like that would make him drink himself to death. And then he offers Claire a job being a liasion between the city and a developer he is working with. And no matter how much Phil has warned her that Thorpe is doing that to get his goat, Claire took the job.
Meanwhile, Jay has decided to skip the Career Day because stories about building closets aren't all that exciting. He claims he did it to pay the bills and never pursued his real passion: writing. Well, Gloria can let that sit still, particularly when Jay says "life getting in the way" (i.e. Gloria) was the reason he didn't pursue it. But since Jay has plenty of time these days and doesn't need to take three-hour naps on the weekends, he should try it. 
He even has a character in mind: Secret Agent Chuck Stone. As you no doubt already guessed, he gets some major writers' block. Fortunately, Manny is able to help him with a line or two, and before you know it, Manny is writing his spy story for him. This works out fine...until Gloria has started criticizing the work. Manny eventually gets offended enough to the point where he takes credit for the work.
Given Thorpe's constant texting and phoning to make Phil feel low about Claire going to work for him, Claire is in orbit because she has been out of the job market for over fifteen years and someone has recognized her talent, even a sleazebag like Gil Thorpe. Phil relents and says she can take the job. (PHIL: If it makes your Mom happy, I can handle a few phone calls.)
MANNY: We all weave a web of lies. Some we tell to try and help the ones we love, some we tell to try and fool ourselves. And some we tell because when you're out of bullets and staring down the barrel of a Kalashnikov, the only weapon you've got left is guile.
JAY: She's nuts. That's FANTASTIC!
Oh, and Claire has lasted all of one day on the job. Thorpe gives her no respect at all.
PHIL: You deserve so much better than that. So...what's for dinner?
==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==
*Rob Riggle as Gil Thorpe
*Autumn Withers as Mrs. Ebbert
*Piper Mackenzie Harris as Maureen
== Trivia==
* Alex only appears in a scene and in the tag.
==Continuity==
*Claire talks about running for city council ("Hit and Run" and "Election Day") and doing up the house ("Diamond in the Rough", "The Wow Factor" and the previous episode).
* Gil Thorpe's second appearance.
* This episode aired exactly six years before Commencement.
==Cultural References==
*Phil and Gil's rivalry is compared to Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding.
*Tom Berenger is mentioned by Jay.
==Gallery==
Category:Episodes
Category:Season 4
Category:Content