Modern Family Episode 2.21 Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day, so Claire needs to take a hike. No, really! She and Gloria take all the kids on a long stroll through the local canyon. The younger hikers bicker all the way up the trail. This prompts Claire and Gloria to leave the kiddies in their dust as they continue their journey without them.

When the nature moms reach the top of the mountain, Claire admits that she sometimes feels like punching her children. Gloria is horrified to hear this. Well, at least she acts like she's horrified. After a little prompting from Claire, Gloria rattles off a laundry list of Manny-isms that annoy her. Too bad her boy overhears the whole thing. Oops!

Claire tries to convince Manny that his mom was only spouting some constructive criticism. Then Gloria says the only reason she said all those things is because Claire claimed she wanted to smack her kids. She was trying to make her feel better by inventing bad things about her own child. As for the Dunphy kids, they conspire to not apologize to their mom, as they thinks that's exactly what she wants. Even Luke promises not to cave.

Back at the Dunphy house, Phil and Jay are busy preparing a Mother's day feast. They are using an old family recipe Jay's mom left behind. Phil finds another set of instructions that have nothing to do with food. It's a recipe for the perfect mom by Jay Francis Pritchett, age 9. The sentimental note causes our favorite gruff chef to get a little misty. Jay quickly swipes Phil's onion goggles in a failed effort to hide his tears.

Mitchell serves Cameron breakfast in bed. This, of course, means he views his partner as a woman, or as a wife. At least, that's what Cam thinks. Mitchell steadfastly denies treating the big guy like the little woman. Things go from bad to worse during a weekend play date with a few other families. Cam gets drawn into a photo with the moms he hangs with during the week. We feel Shania Twain captured Cam's current state of mind best when she so eloquently said, "Man, I Feel Like a Woman."

In an attempt to show his manliness, Cameron heaves a football deep into the park. He effectively wipes out an elderly bike rider with his precision passing. Mitchell convinces Cam that just because he's caring and nurturing, it doesn't make him any less of a man. Speaking of being a man…

Phil lets the rest of the family know that he caught Jay tearing up. This becomes a bit of thing. Jay denies that he got emotional earlier, but tales of his mom at the dinner table start the waterworks all over again. Jay says, "You only get one mom." This has the Dunphy kids scrambling to hug Claire while a Cameron nuzzles the back of a sobbing Jay. He's just so darn nurturing.