Virgin Territory (Modern Family)
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"Virgin Territory" is the 16th episode of the third season of the
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...
sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...
''
Modern Family ''Modern Family'' is an American television sitcom, created by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, that aired on ABC for 11 seasons from September 23, 2009, to April 8, 2020. The series follows the lives of three diverse but interrelated fa ...
'' and the series' 64th episode overall. It aired on February 22, 2012. The episode was written by
Elaine Ko Elaine Ko is an American television writer and producer best known for her work on ''Modern Family'' and ''Only Murders in the Building''. Early life Ko is a Korean American, whose Korean name is Ko Yoon-ju. Career Ko's TV career began on th ...
and directed by
Jason Winer Jason Winer is an American director, producer, writer, actor, and comedian. He is best known for directing the pilot and 22 additional episodes of the American sitcom ''Modern Family'', and for the 2011 film ''Arthur''. Early life Winer was bor ...
. In the episode, Claire, Jay and Mitchell go on and confess past sins during a family brunch with Mitchell destroying one of the proudest moments of Jay's, scoring a hole-in-one at a golf game. Jay is furious about it and leaves while Mitchell decides to follow him to apologize and the two of them make up. Claire leaves for some "yoga" classes and Gloria follows her because she wants to join her. When Claire finds excuses to not do the classes with her, Gloria realizes that something is wrong and that Claire is lying. She goes back only to discover that Claire does not take yoga classes but practices at a shooting range, something that relaxes her. Luke and Manny try to get revenge on Lily for taking all the attention away from them but their plan backfires and Cameron gets injured instead while also breaking Lily's doll. Phil goes to the mall with Alex, Haley and Lily to fix the doll and on their way there, Alex accidentally reveals that Haley and Dylan have had sex, something that shocks Phil. "Virgin Territory" received positive reviews from the critics and it won the Writers Guild Award for Episodic Comedy, while Winer was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series.


Plot

At family brunch, confessions of past sins prompt Mitchell (
Jesse Tyler Ferguson Jesse Tyler Ferguson (born October 22, 1975) is an American actor. From 2009 to 2020, he portrayed List of Modern Family characters#Mitchell Pritchett, Mitchell Pritchett on the sitcom ''Modern Family'', for which he earned five consecutive nomin ...
) to ruin Jay's (
Ed O'Neill Edward Leonard O'Neill (born April 12, 1946) is an American actor, comedian, and former football player. Over his career, he has earned four Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe ...
)
hole in one In golf, a hole in one or hole-in-one (also known as an ace, mostly in American English) occurs when a ball hit from a tee to start a hole finishes in the cup. Holes-in-one most commonly occur on par 3 holes, the shortest distance holes on a sta ...
by confessing that he kicked the ball into the hole; Jay is upset and goes to the club to cool off. Luke (
Nolan Gould Nolan Gould (born October 28, 1998) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Luke Dunphy on the ABC sitcom ''Modern Family'' (2009–2020). Early life and education Gould was born in New York City, to Angela and Edwin Gould. Shortly ...
) and Manny ( Rico Rodriguez) set a trap to get Lily (
Aubrey Anderson-Emmons Aubrey Frances Anderson-Emmons (born June 2007) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Lily Tucker-Pritchett on ABC's ''Modern Family'' (2011–2020). Early life Anderson-Emmons is the daughter of Amy Anderson and Kent Emmons, w ...
) in trouble by framing her for spilling milk. Instead, Cameron (
Eric Stonestreet Eric Allen Stonestreet (born September 9, 1971) is an American actor. He is known for portraying Cameron Tucker in the ABC sitcom ''Modern Family'' (2009–2020), for which he received two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Com ...
) takes the bait, slips on the milk, injures his back, and breaks Lily's doll. Phil (
Ty Burrell Tyler Gerald Burrell (born August 22, 1967) is an American actor. Burrell is best known for playing Phil Dunphy on the ABC sitcom '' Modern Family'' (2009–2020), for which he won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in ...
) takes Alex (
Ariel Winter Ariel Winter Workman (born January 28, 1998) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Alex Dunphy in the ABC sitcom '' Modern Family'' (2009–2020), for which she and her several costars won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Ou ...
), Haley (
Sarah Hyland Sarah Jane Hyland (born November 24, 1990) is an American actress. Born in Manhattan, she attended the Professional Performing Arts School before having minor roles in the films '' Private Parts'' (1997), '' Annie'' (1999) and '' Blind Date'' ...
), and Lily to the store to repair it while Claire (
Julie Bowen Julie Bowen (born Julie Bowen Luetkemeyer; March 3, 1970) is an American actress. She starred as Claire Dunphy in the ABC sitcom '' Modern Family'' (2009–2020), for which she received widespread critical acclaim. She won the Primetime Emmy A ...
) leaves for
yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...
; Gloria (
Sofía Vergara Sofía Margarita Vergara Vergara (; born July 10, 1972) is a Colombian and American actress and television personality who received five nominations each at the Primetime Emmy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards. She is one of the highest-paid a ...
) asks to join her but is promptly dismissed. Cameron encourages Mitchell to reconcile with Jay at the club, but once he believes he's alone in the house, he reveals his back was never injured when he begins a frantic search for a
tupperware Tupperware is an American company that manufactures and internationally distributes preparation, storage, and serving containers for the kitchen and home. It was founded in 1942 by Earl Tupper, who developed his first bell-shaped container and ...
he insists Claire never returned to him. In the car, Alex accidentally reveals that Haley had sexual intercourse with her boyfriend, Dylan; Phil is horrified. At the mall, Haley feels guilty when Phil implies how disappointed he is; there is brief tension between the two before they reconcile and Phil tells Haley that he trusts her. Meanwhile, Alex finds a scientist doll and Phil agrees to purchase it for her. Arriving at her yoga studio, Claire is shocked to find that Gloria has followed her and insists on joining. Eventually, Claire confesses to Gloria that she doesn't go to yoga but instead goes to an indoor
shooting range A shooting range, firing range, gun range or shooting ground is a specialized facility, venue, or field designed specifically for firearm usage qualifications, training, practice, or competitions. Some shooting ranges are operated by milita ...
to relieve her stress. Gloria is supportive of Claire and surprises her by casually shooting a
bullseye Bullseye or Bull's Eye may refer to: Symbols * ◎ (Unicode U+25CE BULLSEYE), in the Geometric Shapes Unicode block * (Unicode U+0298 LATIN LETTER BILABIAL CLICK), the phonetic symbol for bilabial click Animals and plants * Bull's Eye, '' Eury ...
. At the club, Mitchell mistakenly reveals that false hole in one to Jay's friends. Over lunch, Jay dismisses Mitchell's theory that the hole in one was significant because they Mitchell had his first
beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...
later that night as part of the celebration, saying it was special simply because it was a hole in one. However, he reveals that Mitchell's actual first beer was on his fourteenth birthday--something Mitchell had forgotten--and was significant. Luke and Manny walk in on Cameron searching for the Tupperware, but he gives them his keys and offers to pay them to wash his car. Instead, Luke suggests taking the car down the street to impress Manny's crush. Awkwardly driving, Manny is successful until he hits a dead-end and, unable to do a
U-turn A U-turn in driving refers to performing a 180° rotation to reverse the direction of travel. It is called a "U-turn" because the maneuver looks like the U, letter U. In some areas, the maneuver is illegal, while in others, it is treated as ...
, is forced to reverse down the street and back past his crush. Inside the house, Cam finds his Tupperware on a top shelf and climbs on drawers to retrieve it. In the driveway, Claire almost catches Luke and Manny in the car, but is distracted by a crashing sound coming from the kitchen. Rushing inside, she finds Cameron and parts of her counter on the floor; he's satisfied to have found his Tupperware. Claire reveals to Phil that she'd known about Haley and Dylan for three months; he thanks her for not telling him.


Reception


Ratings

In its original American broadcast "Virgin Territory" was watched by 11.54 million; up 0.32 million from the previous episode.


Reviews

"Virgin Territory" received positive reviews. Leigh Raines of ''TV Fanatic'' rated the episode with 5/5. "I found this episode to be the perfect combination of funny and heartwarming. It never hurts to add realistic moments in every . That's what Modern Family is good at and I'm glad they embraced it so well this week." Meredith Blake from ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'' gave a B rate to the episode saying that the episode was very funny but it suffered from a bit of narrative entropy. Tim Martens of ''Custodian Film Critic'' rated the episode with 4/5 stating: "We really got to some deep subjects on this week’s “Modern Family.” .. this week’s episode (titled “Virgin Territory”) touches on all the secrets that are kept deep within a family." Shayelizatrotter from ''The Comedy Critic'' gave the episode an A− rate. "While this episode was, in my opinion, not as hilarious as the last, it was still full of great, comical moments!"


Accolades

This episode won the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Comedy.
Jason Winer Jason Winer is an American director, producer, writer, actor, and comedian. He is best known for directing the pilot and 22 additional episodes of the American sitcom ''Modern Family'', and for the 2011 film ''Arthur''. Early life Winer was bor ...
was nominated for a
Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...
for this episode.


References


External links

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"Virgin Territory"
at ABC.com {{WritersGuildofAmericaEpisodicComedyScreenplay 2010s 2012 American television episodes Modern Family season 3 episodes