Modern Family: Season 3, Episode 17 – Leap Day

Last night’s Modern Family was very timely. February 29th, or Leap Day, because a new Dunphy family holiday. But Phil was upset to see that the women of his house had developed the same “cycle.” The plan was to take the entire family to trapeze school, but that fell through when the mood was killed.

Meanwhile, Mitchell was doing his best to plan a birthday party for Cam, who was turning 10 (really 40, but he happens to have a Leap Day birthday!) Since four years ago wasn’t a great evening, Mitch was pulling out all the stops planning a party about Cam’s favorite movie, The Wizard of Oz. Hours before the party, Mitch remembered that Cam’s family had recently been involved in a tornado-related tragedy, so he did his best to throw a new party on a boat.

Gloria and Jay go to watch a soccer game at a bar, and Gloria gets into it with a fan of the opposing team. Jay steps in and diffuses the situation, which upsets Gloria because she wanted him to be more “manly” and protect her. After speaking on the phone to her ex-husband, Gloria realizes that Jay’s calm attitude is actually what she needs from him.

When the entire family shows up to Cam’s boat party, the captain informs them that he can’t fit that many people. Jay confronts him, but Gloria steps in and punches the captain in the face for calling Jay “grandpa.” As the party is a failure, Mitch takes Cam and the rest of the family to a nearby amusement park, where Cam can truly act like it’s his tenth birthday. (And Phil finally gets to take his trapeze lesson!)

When the story started moving toward the family going to an amusement park, I was actually thinking they’d have scenes at Disneyland. The cast of Modern Family was seen shooting a scene at Disneyland on Wednesday, so obviously that would have been an incredibly quick turnaround. But we can look forward to a future episode featuring these scenes.