Modern Family Recap: The End

We thought last week's episode of Modern Family was the season finale. Silly us! Turns out, THIS week's episode, called "The One That Got Away," was the final episode of Season 2. It featured Sofia Vergara's ass which was probably the best part.

This week was all about Jay's birthday and the total implausibility that an entire extended family would rally around a man for his, like, 65th birthday as if it were frikkin' Christmas Eve. Of course, everyone's plans to give Jay a great birthday backfire and they all end up in various pickles that require Jay to bail them out and miss his planned day of fishing alone.

Mitchell and Claire decide to retake a classic photo from their childhood to give to their dad, so they break into the backyard of their childhood home dressed in outfits that match the old picture, and get chased up a tree by a rottweiler. They spend the afternoon in their old treehouse, drinking the wine that was supposed to be Jay's birthday present, and lamenting the fact that they never got a dog, but Manny did. Their car gets towed and, eventually, Jay has to go pick them up.

Speaking of Manny's new dog, Stella, Jay has to pick her up at the groomer because Gloria is at the mall finding a tight dress to wear to his birthday party. (Stella repays Jay later by getting into his birthday cake.) Cameron, who was supposed to pick up the cake, got kicked out of the bakery for talking too loudly to Manny on his cellphone about how to pick up an eleven year-old girl.

Gloria runs into Phil at the mall and he decides to pretend she's his wife to impress his old college nemesis who happens to be there power walking.

Phil's nemesis tells him he remembers his old girlfriend Claire Pritchett and says that whoever ended up with her is a lucky guy. Phil realizes he's a big, old d-bag and spends the rest of the night ignoring Gloria and kissing Claire's ass.

As mentioned earlier, Manny is trying to get with a girl. She happens to be a jock, so Cameron gives him some pointers on catching a baseball. But when Manny lands a date with his dreamgirl to go to the batting cages, he decides to ask Jay to accompany him to an early practice session. When Mitchell later tells Cameron that spending the day with his sister made him remember the value of siblings, Cameron says they should have a boy. Family values! This show is so Republican in its gayness!

Probably the most anti-climactic storyline of the episode was the Dunphy kids' video tribute to their grandfather. Alex shot the video and didn't get any usable interviews from the rest of the family, so Luke used his "editing magic" to pull something together.