Despite the fact that I was planning to write my thoughts post for each season three episode in order, I figured that I would go ahead and write my thoughts post for this episode since I can’t seem to stop watching it. Plus, this episode also addressed something I’ve been wondering about since the first time I watched the last episode that I wrote a thoughts post for, which was episode 3x05 “Hit and Run”. Anyway, here are my thoughts regarding this episode.
First off, I have say that I loved this episode for the most part. My favorite storyline from this episode was hands down Cameron and Mitchell trying to deal with the fact that Lily starts saying the F-Word repeatedly. I thought that storyline was hilarious. One of my favorite things about that storyline would definitely be Cameron and Mitchell’s differing reactions to the whole situation. I love that Cameron thought that it was hilarious and laughed every time Lily said the F-Word while Mitchell was absolutely horrified by the whole thing. Personally, I thought that Cameron’s thinking regarding the situation was very realistic in the sense that he acknowledged the fact that kids say those kind of things when they are little and that don’t necessarily understand what they are saying is inappropriate.
When I was little, I told one of my mom’s co-workers that I thought that she looked like a two-dollar hooker after I saw the movie My Girl because I thought she looked pretty and I didn’t understand that most people would consider that comment to be insulting. Luckily, the woman I said that to understood that I wasn’t trying to insult her and thought that it was funny that I said that to her. To this day, she still mentions that story from time to time and laughs about it. That’s definitely one of the most embarrassing childhood stories that my mom likes to tell people about me, but I digress.
While Cameron thought that it was hilarious, Mitchell was freaking out about how to deal with it and making empty threats in an attempt to get Lily to stop saying it, because she was supposed to be the flower girl in the wedding of a family friend and they were afraid that she would say it at the wedding. I loved it when Mitchell said that he has two children after Cameron kept thinking it was funny. That was hilarious. Ultimately, I thought that storyline had a great pay-off at the end of the episode when Lily did indeed say the F-Word at the wedding and pretty much the whole family, along with pretty much all of the other guests at the wedding, burst into laughter about the whole thing before Cameron grabbed Lily and ran out of the church with her while he was still laughing. The only people who didn’t laugh about it were Mitchell and the couple getting married. I can understand the bride and groom not laughing about it, because after all it was their wedding. I was just hoping that Mitchell would have laughed at least a little bit. I also felt like that moment really showed how smart Lily was and how she was able to figure out that every time she said the F-Word Cameron would laugh, so when she saw that he was crying, she said it because she felt like she needed to cheer him up and make him laugh even though she didn’t realize that Cameron wasn’t sad, he simply gets emotional at weddings.
I really liked the whole storyline with Phil, Hailey, Luke and Alex helping Claire get ready for her debate with Dwayne Bailey by holding a mock debate in their living room with Phil pretending to be Dwayne Bailey, because a lot of people apparently described Claire as being angry and unlikable in a poll that was done by some newspaper and they wanted to help her come across as being more likable. The whole scene where Claire and the rest of the family are doing the mock debate was beyond priceless, and it was definitely one of my favorite scenes from the entire episode. I also thought that the actual debate was hilarious, especially once they mentioned the whole thing about Phil accidentally going into the wrong hotel room in last season’s Valentine’s Day episode, “Bixby’s Back”. It was great getting to learn more about what happened after Phil got caught in the wrong hotel room, and I loved Phil’s whole speech that he gave at the debate about the incident. The part with the viral video of Phil’s speech autotuned was beyond priceless, especially considering the fact that Hailey had told Claire not to do anything that could become a viral video. One thing that I was hoping would happen was that Claire would get mad and use the F-Word while she was talking to Dwayne Bailey during the debate since Cameron and Mitchell were dealing with Lily saying the F-Word.
I also loved the moments between Claire and Alex in this episode, especially the conversation that they had where Claire told Alex that the reason why she wanted to run was to make her family proud, but instead she had embarrassed her family. I thought it was funny that Alex told Claire that she didn’t embarrass her and that she was proud of her, but was embarrassed by Phil’s speech at the debate.
The only thing that I didn’t like about this whole storyline was the fact that they hadn’t even mentioned Claire wanting to run for town council since episode 3x05 “Hit and Run”. Since so many episodes had passed, I was starting to think that the writers had decided to just drop the whole storyline with Claire wanting to run for town council without any explanation. I really wish that the writers had at least made an occasional reference to that storyline just to let the viewers know that Claire was still in the race for town council, even if they didn’t make Claire’s storyline in those episodes about the race itself. It just seemed a little sudden that they all of the sudden mentioned that a poll had been done on what people thought about Claire and that there was a debate coming up.
The main problem that I had with this episode was Gloria’s whole storyline with Jay thinking that the reason his dog, Stella, kept jumping in the pool was because she knew that Gloria didn’t like her. Personally, I feel like every storyline that they’ve had involving Gloria not liking Stella so far this season has always been the weakest aspect of those episodes. The only episode that’s had a storyline involving Stella that I actually really liked was episode 3x04 “Door to Door” when Gloria loses Stella and she looks for her with Cameron’s help, and that was mostly because of Cameron’s involvement with that storyline. One part of the episode involving this storyline that I did like was the part where Dwayne Bailey overhears Jay and Gloria talking about Jay thinking that Stella was suicidal and he tells them that dogs committing suicide is a real thing. Their conversation was hilarious. At the end of the episode, Jay, Gloria and Manny discovered that one of Stella’s dog toys had gotten caught in the pool filter and that she had been jumping in the pool in order to try and get her toy. I really hope that the writers stop doing storylines that revolve around Gloria not liking Stella, because they are definitely usually the weakest part of the episode.
Since most of my favorite lines in this episode are mainly funny when you think about the scene as a whole, I’m not going to include all of my favorite lines from the episode in the section with some of my favorite quotes, I’m just going to mostly refer to the scenes that they are in and include just a few of my favorite quotes in the quote section.
Here are a few of my other favorite things about this episode
- The whole scene where Claire is asking the family how is she angry and unlikable, especially when Phil starts to mention that the real estate agency he works for advertises in the newspaper that did the poll on what people think of Claire and he quickly says that they used to advertise in that newspaper when he sees that Claire is upset by what he’s saying. I love it when Phil starts to say something that upsets Claire and then he quickly tries to correct himself in midsentence.
- The whole scene where Claire is doing a mock debate with the rest of the family. I loved how they were using horns and the Operation board game to indicate when Claire was doing something wrong. The best part of that scene was definitely the whole debate that they had about what side of Claire’s face is the good side.
- The clip of the viral video that somebody made of Phil’s speech at Claire’s debate. I hope they include a longer version of the viral video on the season three DVD set.
- Luke thinking that he’s having a seizure while he looks at Lily in her blinking dress and Phil and Claire quickly blocking Luke’s view of Lily in her dress. I myself have had seizures in the past, so I thought that was funny.
- Cameron laughing every time Lily said the F-Word.
- Cameron and Mitchell’s conversation about what they should do about Lily being in the wedding, because they are afraid that she’ll say the F-word at the wedding.
- Claire talking to Lily and how Claire thought that Lily had seen the debate because she wasn’t saying anything to Claire before Cameron and Mitchell told everyone about Lily using the F-Word.
- Jay asking Manny to get him a towel, which he starts drying Stella off with before he realizes that he should give it to Gloria.
- The look that Mitchell had on his face every time Lily said the F-Word
- Jay putting a little life jacket on Stella so she wouldn’t drown in the pool. I thought that was cute.
- Jay’s reaction to hearing the story about Phil getting caught in the wrong hotel room.
Here are some of my favorite lines from this episode:
- Claire just found Phil with the newspapers while he’s on the phone with Mitchell.
Claire: Phil! What poll?
Phil: Too late. She knows.
Mitchell: Who told her?
Phil: What is this, a witch hunt?
Claire: Oh, my god!
Phil: (Weakly) I have to go.
- Cameron and Mitchell doing a couch interview, talking about Lily being the flower girl in a wedding.
Cameron: It’s every little girl’s dream to be a flower girl in a wedding.
Mitchell: It’s Lily’s chance to shine.
Cameron: I was a three-time ring bearer.
Mitchell: It’s Lily’s chance to shine.
- Cameron, Mitchell and Lily are all looking at Lily’s flower girl dress.
Cameron and Mitchell: Oh!
Lily: Pretty!
Mitchell: Oh, no, Cam—Cam, she’s gonna look like Little Bo Peep.
Cameron: Or Little Bo Cheap. Look at this fabric. It’s already pilling.
Mitchell: Maybe it’ll look better on.
Cameron: You mean turned on?
Mitchell: No, it does not—Cam!
Cameron turns on the lights on Lily’s flower girl dress.
Cameron: Oh!
Lily: I love it!
Cameron and Mitchell: No, you don’t.
Cameron: Oh, my gosh. Are we really gonna let her wear this?
Mitchell: You know what? If the bride wants to have a tacky wedding, she can have a tacky wedding. Lily will be the bright spot.
Cameron: Literally.
Mitchell: Heard it as soon as I said it.
- Cameron and Mitchell are talking about how Lily just said the F-word and the fact that Cameron laughed about it.
Mitchell: I cannot believe you laughed!
Cameron: I am sorry. But you know I have two weaknesses—Children cursing and old people rapping.
Mitchell: Cam, we have to tell her it’s a bad word.
Cameron: No. That just gives it more power. The less we make of it, the better. Let’s just pretend like it never happened.
Mitchell: Okay. Yeah, maybe it—Maybe it didn’t. Maybe we – Maybe we misheard.
Cameron: Yeah. Maybe she said “truck.” Or—or “Duck.” Or “Luck.” She could have said “Yuck.”
Lily: Daddy, can I have some ice cream?
Mitchell: No, Honey, if you’re hungry, you can have some fruit.
Lily: Fruit? (bleep).
Cameron gasps and runs away laughing.
Mitchell: I have two children.
- Phil, Hailey, Alex and Luke are talking to Claire before the debate.
Claire: Do any of you still believe in me?
Phil: Of course we do. We’re on your side.
Luke: The right side.
Claire: Mm.
Luke: Not the left.
- Jay talking to Phil and Alex about how Stella keeps jumping in the pool.
Jay: I’ve been thinking about it. I got a theory. She might be suicidal.
Gloria: What? That’s crazy. There’s no such thing as doggy suicide.
- Cameron and Mitchell are watching Claire’s debate on TV.
Cameron: This is my new favorite show.
Mitch: Shh!
- Phil talking to everyone at the debate about the incident at the hotel on Valentine’s Day.
Phil: I am Phil Dunphy, and I am not a pervert. I, like a lot of men in this town, enjoy making love to my wife. I mean, um…I mean with their wives. Not me, them. Look, I should probably just sit down and say nothing.
Claire: Mm!
Phil: But it’s too late. I am standing, and I’m obviously talking, and now you’re looking at me, and I feel the need to keep going. First of all…No charges were filed. Everyone had a good laugh – About the situation, not—Not about me.
Claire: Mm.
Phil: Everything’s fine down there. Anywho…Where were we?
- Cameron and Mitchell are at the wedding, talking to Phil and Claire about Lily saying the F-word.
Mitchell: Nope, she’s on verbal lockdown.
Claire: Oh?
Mitchell: (Whispers) She’s been dropping a certain curse word all day.
Claire: Mm.
Mitchell: Yeah. Yeah, so we’re just hoping the next one doesn’t happen during the wedding.
Phil: If it does, it’ll be the second most embarrassing thing to happen to our family today.
Claire: Phil, you said it wasn’t that bad.
Phi: That was in the car. We’re in a church now.
Claire: Honey…(Sighs)
- Phil is talking to Hailey at the wedding.
Phil: Ah. Some day, I’ll walk you down the aisle.
Hailey: If you’re not in perv jail.
All things considered this was a great episode for the most part. I didn’t really care for the whole Gloria and Stella storyline, and I really hope that the writers stop doing episodes where Gloria’s storylines revolve around her not liking Stella, because they’ve never been all that great. Luckily, the storyline with Cameron and Mitchell dealing with Lily using the F-word and the whole storyline with Claire getting ready for the town council debate and then having the actual debate were enough to balance out the lackluster Gloria and Stella storyline.
With that said, I give this episode a rating of A-.
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