While we are still early in the season, so far this season the largest overarching plot that has carried over from episode to episode has been the new love triangle for Haley between her current boyfriend Arvin and her persistent ex-boyfriend Dylan. As you can probably tell from the title of the episode, this week that love triangle took center stage. Haley, having now escalated her dalliance with Dylan from a mere kiss to full on coitus (or as Dylan and later Haley would lead Phil to believe - just a second kiss), she is more confused than ever about what to do with her two relationships.
Unfortunately for Haley, her parents aren't making the decision much easier. Having always had a special place in his heart for Dylan, Phil can't help but try and fight for his cause with Haley by encouraging his daughter to meet with Dylan after having been "ghosting" him since their last time together. Pulling a move straight from the Phil Dunphy play book - Dylan would show up at the Dunphy household with a grand gesture, dressed in a heart costume to proclaim his love for Haley.
While Arvin would go on to admit that in despair following Haley's news, that he had also went out to a pub and kissed a fellow scientist. Haley would quickly forgive him, but Arvin was adamant that he still wanted to be with Haley. All the while, Phil had secluded Dylan in the office. Phil broke up Claire's manufactured romantic setting between Haley by encouraging Haley to help him get rid of a "doll" that she needed to do herself, for closure. "I did sleep with that thing since I was like 16," Haley admitted.
As Haley met with Dylan with the goal of letting him down, Dylan wasn't backing down and letting her go. Arvin checked in on Haley and "her doll" - finding out that the kiss wasn't as meaningless as she let him believe. The two beaus proceeded to take part in an awkward scuffle (Dylan still having a hard time moving around in that heart costume) until Haley broke it up. She vented her frustration towards her parents for continuing to meddle in her life and not let her make her own decisions. But as she kicked them out of the room, she joined them and pleaded for their help because she actually had no idea what to do.
Looking for advice from her parents on how they knew each other was "the one," Haley was finally able to come to her decision. For Phil, there was never a choice. Claire was was smart, strong, and she resented her father just enough to go for a guy like him. Plus, she was crazy hot. And for Claire, it was the fact that she was a sucker for guys who stay "stuff like that" and he was the nicest, most positive person who helped her find the fun in life. It was pretty clear from that moment that those things described one person in that triangle much more than the other. And in fact, it was Haley officially cutting Arvin loose.
But don't feel too sorry for Arvin. In his final scene, he realized that it may be for the best when Haley had no idea what he was referring to when he referenced this being his "origin story" for his rise to supervillainy.
Someone not in a love triangle was Manny, who had just one girlfriend who was decidedly not a fake Canadian girlfriend after all, as we realized in the second episode. But while she was not fake, she was one thing - annoying. At least to Jay, who was upset to find out that Sherry would be staying with them for a while as she tried to "make it in improv" since Manny's college would not let her live on campus.
However, it wasn't just Jay who was annoyed by Sherry. The fact that she was using them both as "inspiration" for her improv act was also getting to Gloria, who HATES being impersonated. But Gloria did not want to be the mom who hates his son's girlfriend, so she can't be the bad guy. So she encouraged Sherry to use Jay to craft her "grumpy old man" character knowing that it would tick Jay off and lead to him kicking her out. But much like in "Kiss & Tell" from earlier this season, Jay caught onto someone's plan against him and decided to work against it. Jay instead embraced the comedic styling of Manny's girlfriend.
This would lead to Gloria admitting to Jay that she was just as annoyed by her as Jay was - but neither wanted to be the bad guy. Jay was tired of always being the villain. But all it took was one last impression of Gloria for her to turn around and kick Sherry out of the office. And in true Modern Family timing, Manny walked in two seconds later with some great news. All that calligraphy he did for the Dean had paid off and he was going to let Sherry stay on campus. But the damage had been done as Sherry thought Gloria hates her.
"And scene!"
Elsewhere, Mitch & Cam were off to have dinner with one of Mitch's co-workers at the DA's Office - Trent. Mitch was really excited about the dinner since Trent had a 2nd chair opening on a really high profile case that Mitch wanted in on. It seemed too easy for Mitch since they were perfect matches - both were gay and both had two kids.
Of course, it's never that easy. Turns out Trent and his husband are a couple of uptight snobs with a really big and perfectly clean house, lots of priceless artifacts as decorations, and their two kids are actually two dogs named Devin and Denise. With Lily and Cal at their house for the dinner while Mitch was trying to impress felt eerily similar to Season 2's "Caught in the Act" with baby Lily's "juice" incident. Sure enough, just as Trent was about to offer Mitch that second chair...a crash is heard. Cal had gotten past Lily (by faking for the glass frog) and smashed another one of the expensive artifacts. Trent and his husband are clearly upset - after all, it was obviously irreplaceable since it was blessed by a shaman that had healed Trent's psoriasis which was now back.
While Trent and his husband were off lamenting their loss, Mitch began to panic about losing out on the case that could've had Ryan Gosling playing him in the movie adaptation. Looking to "make things even," Mitch encouraged Cam to bite his leg to make it look like one of the dogs had bit him. Unfortunately, Trent and his husband were watching on as Cam awkwardly gnawed on his own husband's leg. "If you're going to make us wait so long to eat, this shouldn't come as a surprise."
Cam and Mitch get to close out the episode for the tag with a sweet conversation about if they regretted having kids having scene Trent's lifestyle. They both realize they are grateful to have kids - just as "their last nice thing" is broken off screen. But instead of freaking out like Trent, Cam gleefully responds, "Thank God, we're free!"
Random Thoughts:
-After a weak outing last week, things were better this week with the focus on things that would actually effect the showing moving forward. Haley's dilemma felt real, though I don't think there was ever any doubt who she was going to choose. Arvin has been wrong from her from the beginning and they just really lacked the chemistry. Good to see even Arvin realized it at the end, to take away some of the sting of a broken heart.
-I half expected Phil to have come up with the heart costume idea, but nope - it was all Dylan. It's amazing how Claire, after all this time, still can't see the parallels between Phil/Claire and Dylan/Haley.
-As a parent of two kids myself, one that is especially wild...I could totally relate to the Cam & Mitch plot this week. I definitely know what it's like to not be able to have nice things, so their story hit home for me there.
-No Alex or Luke this week. Busy with college work I assume.
-Although, not on screen, Luke makes an impact on this episode with a running gag that he has mixed in some phony tips for Phil on what is hip lingo and emoji uses. Phil correctly knows "ghosted" but in the same scene tells Dylan he would throw him "a gab, you stab me?"
-Cam's suggestion for a gay lawyer dating website: Hungjurys.com
-When Gloria suggests Sherry will only be there until she makes it big off Improv, Jay's response is "We're only lucky enough to get one Wayne Brady in a life time."
-"How late are we? Goat loose in the house late or stubborn cow in the road late?" - Cam
-"So, this is the doll you slept with." - Arvin
"Hey, you're pretty handsome yourself." - Dylan
