Mother's Day

"Mother's Day" is the twenty-first episode from Season 2 of Modern Family, it aired on May 4, 2011.
==Summary==
Gloria and Claire take the kids on a hike for Mother's Day where Gloria upsets Manny. Phil and Jay spend the day cooking. Meanwhile, Cam is upset that everyone (and Mitchell) sees him as the 'wife' and their partnership.
==Plot ==
It's Mother's Day and Claire had every intention of keeping (and using) every item the kids made her for Mother's Day, such as the white t-shirt with the painted hand prints over the breasts (which Haley made in kindergarten), the hat with 'Alex's Mommy' on it, and the coffee cup Luke made for her, which she discovered the hard way was actually a pencil holder. Manny insisted Jay give Gloria his present first and instantly regretted it, since Jay got her a diamond necklace. 
Manny was feeling very weak about giving her a necklace made of Froot Loops, even though she adored it and Jay tried to cover by saying his diamond necklace wasn't made of real diamonds. Which made Manny feel even more guilty, because he used generic Froot Loops. And Mitchell decided today would be Cameron's day. Cameron was offended by that, since he thought it meant he was not manly enough. Although Mitchell later reassures Cameron being stereotypically like a mom is okay, despite Mitch frequently referring to Cam as his wife or "Mrs. Pritchett".
CAMERON: You think of me as Lily's mother! I'm your wife! I'm a woman!
Mitchell tried to deny it, but complaining about "the wife" to co-workers or "Mrs. Pritchett" to Claire really didn't help. Cameron tossed him out. But Cam kept it up and Mitchell called him on it, as the big crime he committed was making Cam fluffy pancakes.
Phil lets us know Claire and Gloria took the kids on a hike, as Claire always tells him to take one when he asks her what she wants for Mother's Day. Jay and he will be at home preparing a huge feast for everybody. But dealing with Phil is easier than dealing with a bunch of kids who don't want to go on a hike and let you know about it. Nor is it tougher than dealing with Cameron meeting all the other couples with their kids and being included in the picture of the moms with their kids. Cameron snarls in the picture, and Gloria and Claire ditch the kids for whining too much and finish the hike on their own.
Jay isn't appreciating Phil's onion goggles or his Julia Child impersonations. Then Phil makes himself even less endearing by finding and reading a little card he found in the recipe book Jay's mother left him. ("The Recipe for the Perfect Mom," by Jay Francis Pritchett, age 9) Phil kept reading the ingredients for the perfect Mom, and Jay got eerily silent, not wanting to be seen showing his emotions.
PHIL: And then I saw it. He was crying.
Phil was upset with himself for shaming the proud lion so he tried hugging the proud lion. Jay was not receptive, as you may have guessed, and still insisted it was the onions.
Claire and Gloria get to a vantage point, and Claire gets very real all of a sudden, contemplating what it might be like to hit one of her kids. Gloria was not happy with where Claire's mind was going and claimed she would never contemplate hitting Manny, no matter how much he may annoy her sometimes. But Claire kept pressing her until Gloria admitted Manny was persnickety. And he follows her around too much. And the poetry was awful. She shouted to the canyon she wanted Manny to be a real boy, go outside, kick a soccer ball, steal something. It felt good to say it...to her. Not to Manny, who followed them on their trip and was not happy, to say the least. Gloria can't apologize, and it turns out her kids won't apologize. Haley and Alex figured out Claire's little game of taking them somewhere they didn't want to be, just so they'd complain about it, feel guilty and apologize, and give her choice the next time.
Cameron was still ticked about being offered a bouquet of flowers (which he accepted anyway), but Mitchell preached patience, as other parents still didn't know how to delineate Cam and Mitch's relationship. And when a couple of kids asks him if Cam could throw a ball (back to them), he takes offense and throws it, only to bean an old man on a bicycle 50 yards in the slot. And Cameron's maternal instincts kicked in.
Gloria was in full damage-control mode, trying to apologize to Manny, but he wasn't having it. Claire tried to intervene, telling Manny he needed to grow a bit and take the occasional criticism so he could grow and not be coddled. Manny accepted it...until Gloria blabbed about Claire wanting to hit her kids. And Gloria thinks Manny is the perfect kid who writes beautiful poetry. And Claire gets no love from her kids, either.
At the house, Mitchell shows Cameron a Mother's Day card, which he promptly rips to shreds...so Mitchell will have to buy Gloria another one. But Mitch doesn't think what Cam does makes him less of a man. Although the scotch he's drinking won't fool anybody, either. Phil lets it slip Jay cried when he saw the poem for his mother, and the family confronted him on it. He was upset, but Manny asked if Jay missed his mom.
JAY: Of course I miss her. She was a great lady, and she left me this fantastic recipe for sauce. One time, I had this Little League coach, and he was laying into me about something. I don't remember, but Mom comes charging out of the stands and goes up to the guy, I mean face-to-face...nose-to-nose, and she says "Nobody...and I mean NOBODY...yells at my little...boy..."
And Jay breaks down crying before he can finish the story. Gloria, Cam, and Phil go to hug him, while Haley, Alex, and Luke apologize to Claire and hug her. Mitchell's good, but thanks for asking, Manny.
==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
==Trivia==
* This episode takes place on Mother's Day, although that actual day in 2011 was May 8th.
* No recurring characters appear in this episode.
*It is revealed by Claire in this episode that Luke's real first name is Lucas, with Luke being a nickname.
==Continuity==
* This episode aired exactly five years before Promposal.
==Guest Starring==
*Todd Weeks as Rick
*Jean Villepique as Jen
*Elijah Ebe as Kid
==Gallery==
Category:Episodes
Category:Season 2
Category:Content
Category:Holiday Episodes