Modern Family Episode 1.18 Starry Night

Luke has to give a report on Vincent van Gogh and Haley needs 40 cupcakes for a fundraiser. Both projects are due tomorrow. Time to divide and conquer. Claire will help Haley if she can rely on Phil to work with Luke. No problem. Claire wants her loving husband to keep Luke focused, but Phil doesn't want to micromanage the situation. He'll give Luke some leeway to do his own thing. Sounds like a plan. A bad plan, according to Claire.

In order to get her mom to do all the work, Haley feigns incompetence in the kitchen. Her deception works to perfection as Claire takes over the entire cupcake-making operation. Alex joins the bake session with laptop in hand. She's been doing research on ADHD. The symptoms seem to fit more than one member of the family.

Phil hands his son a pencil to begin his creative journey in the life of van Gogh. But Luke is easily distracted. He wonders how they get the lead inside the pencil. It's a good question. Apparently, the pencil is originally created in two pieces and they glue them together around the lead. How do we know this? Well, Phil looked it up on the Internet. Yes, it seems like he has trouble focusing, too.

When Claire and Phil catch Luke in his room dismembering a Mr. Potato Head doll, they realize their boy can't do anything unless they stay on him. Actually, that's not quite accurate. Luke was simply gathering plastic ears for his awesome poster board tribute to van Gogh. You do know he lost a lobe back in 1888, don't you?

So, Luke is all set for school. Haley... not so much. Claire is hip to her cupcake con game and tosses everything she baked into the trash. Now that she showed her daughter what to do, Haley can bake the next batch by herself. Wonder if she'll add sprinkles.

Cameron is taking Gloria to dinner. He's desperately trying to make amends for an innocent comment he made a few weeks ago. He was criticizing a woman who went to Columbia University but it sounded like he was taking racial jabs at our favorite Colombian lady. Cam made reservations at a fancy restaurant, but Gloria would much rather go to a little Latin eatery in her old neighborhood.

The place Gloria picked isn't exactly a four-star restaurant. Okay, it's a total dive. But Gloria loves one of their super spicy dishes. Against the advice of the waiter, Cam orders a helping of the same fiery entree. That was a mistake. Cam's mouth is on fire after just a few bites. He screams, "I feel like I ate the sun!" Tears are streaming down his face. We're crying, too. Of course, ours tears come from laughing so hard.

Cameron feels horrible. He wanted to have this special night with Gloria so they'd end up as best buddies. As it turns out, Gloria thought they were great friends already. And it's good to have a friend with you when you're stranded in a tough neighborhood because someone stole the wheels off your car. Don't worry. Cam's insured.

Mitchell has plans to watch a meteor shower with his dad. It's the one father-son bonding thing they actually enjoy doing together. That explains why Mitchell is a tad disappointed to learn that Jay asked Manny to join them. He's taken aback even more as Manny assaults him with a barrage of verbal insults. It's because Jay had told his stepson that brothers often express love to each other through mockery and zingers. Kapow!

The evening under the stars goes from bad to worse when Mitchell gets sprayed by a skunk. He's forced to ditch his clothes and don a tight-fitting dress that was in the car. This leads to more mocking from both Manny and Jay.

In an effort to save the night, Jay tells Mitchell the reason he asked Manny to come stargazing with them. Manny had a rough week. A few classmates he thought were his friends think he's weird. Jay thought Mitchell would know just what to say to make Manny feel better. He does. They have a little heart-to-heart that ends just as the meteor shower begins. Guess things always work out for the best whenever the stars align.