Unplugged (Modern Family)

"Unplugged" is the fifth episode of the second season of the ABC sitcom, ''Modern Family'', and the 29th episode of the series overall. The episode originally aired October 20, 2010. It was written by series co-creator Steven Levitan and directed by Michael Spiller because of a line of dialogue of Vergara's character in which she relates Peruvians with violence. According to the Nielsen Media Research the episode received a 4.7 rating/13% share in the 18-49 demographic going down a tick from the previous episode, " Strangers on a Treadmill"

Plot

After getting tired of the over use of electronic gadgets at the table, Claire (Julie Bowen) and Phil (Ty Burrell) declare that no one is allowed to use electronics except the TV for a week. However, Phil turns it into a contest much to Claire's annoyance, and offers prizes: A car for Haley (Sarah Hyland), a new computer for Alex (Ariel Winter) and a chicken pot pie for Luke (Nolan Gould). Alex and Luke quickly give up leaving Phil, Claire and Haley in the contest.

Claire soon gets tired of calling to check on reservations to go see Phil's family and uses the computer before getting caught. Not long after, Claire and Phil catch Haley talking on the phone which prompts Phil to use the computer right away. However, Haley reveals to them she was only talking to a fake phone that she carved out of a bar of soap and colored black. As she celebrates that she is getting a new car, she is informed that her parents were bluffing.

The Pritchetts get annoyed by a neighbor's dog and go next door to see if he will shut the dog up. The neighbor says that the dog belongs to his soon-to-be-ex-wife, and that she will not be coming back for it. He also demands that they shut their parrot up (he had mistaken Gloria's high pitched voice with the squawking of a parrot).

Suddenly the dog goes missing, and Jay (Ed O'Neill) assumes that Gloria (Sofía Vergara) killed it (her family in Colombia were butchers so she is very used to killing animals, and Jay had witnessed that she killed a rat in the house with a shovel). He asks Manny ( Rico Rodriguez) if he thinks she did anything, which he initially denies. At night, Jay and Manny go to the garage to look for evidence of the dog's murder. Manny rats out Jay's plan to Gloria making her very angry. Gloria tells Jay that she gave the dog to a friend for a jar of pickles. To make her happy, Jay buys plane tickets to Colombia to see what her village is like. She says in an interview she does not want to go to her old village as it will prove Jay right.

Meanwhile, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) learn that all of Lily's friends have been put in preschool causing the couple to panic. Mitchell calls Claire to see if Wagon Wheel is a good school and asks her if she can get them an appointment. At Wagon Wheel the assistant tells them with their diversity (Mitchell and Cameron being gay and Lily being Asian) they can get into any preschool. Mitchell starts calling Cameron his life partner to seem even more diverse to make it into Billingsley, the expensive school nicknamed "the Harvard of preschools." They soon become beaten at their own game by an interracial, disabled lesbian couple with an adopted African American child. Cameron pretends to be one sixteenth Cherokee to seem more diverse in their interview. They eventually decide to go to Wagon Wheel after bombing the interview.

Production

The episode was written by co-creator, Steven Levitan & directed by Michael Spiller

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