Modern Family
Episode 16: Bad Hair
Day
Mini-Review
By: Carlos Uribe
Modern
Family is a show about three branches of a family.
Spoilers
Ahoy!
We
like to be seen in a positive light. This is basically what this
episode is about. The most obvious example is Gloria. She believes
that the family has seen her as a gold digger who likes to do shallow
activities. They think she just shops and get her hair done. This
perception has changed ever since she's had the baby. They see her
less as a trophy wife and more as a mother. She doesn't shop for fun
anymore but has to take care of two kids and take care of the home.
She likes to them to question how can she can do it all. There's a
moment in the episode where she throws away a free day to the spa
because she doesn't want to do anything to challenge that perception.
What she does do is fake an injury so she can secretly take that free
spa day. This allows her to be relaxed for when she goes back home
and discovers that her baby's haircut has been completely messed up.
She doesn't get angry as people expect but accepts the person who
took responsibility for “telling the truth”. Why doesn't she get
angry? It's all a part of her new image that she's trying to sell to
the family. This theme of image doesn't just show up with Gloria but
in just about every character's action in this episode. Luke is
hoping to get his parents to sign a letter that states he failed a
project because he doesn't want to get in trouble. He is hoping to
keep up the image that he's not failing. Manny is worried when he
bombs another audition to the point where he doesn't think he's a
good singer. Jay is able to build up his confidence of singing in
public which allows people to see him as talented. Jay himself wants
to be on a winning bowling team so he's seen as a good bowler by
sneaking a retired pro-bowling player into his team. Which is against
the league rules.
This
extends to the other two main plots. The first main plot has to do
with Cam and Mitchell. The two are hosting an Oscar party and Cam is
using Lily as a model. When she quits, the two decide to use Joe
because they're watching him after Gloria “twisted” her ankle.
The problem is when Lily glues Joe's wig into his actual hair. The
two have to figure out a way to get the wig off before Gloria
notices. When steam doesn't work, they realize that they have to
shave his head off. This only troubles them more because it gives Joe
a ridiculous haircut. We don't really see it until the end of the
episode but it basically justifies calling this episode Bad Hair Day.
They want to hide their involvement because they don't want Gloria
to punch them. This is them hoping to shift the perception of who was
behind the haircut so that she doesn't get angry with them. Mitchell
is the first one to pass the buck by agreeing to go to Missouri for
ten days if Cam does it. Cam doesn't want to do it so he gets Manny
to do it by giving him the role in the school play. Manny accepts but
he doesn't want his own mother angry at him so he gets Luke to do it
by offering to forge a signature on the letter Luke needs signed.
Only Luke doesn't allow Manny to finish the offer so he agrees to do
it in exchange for the cool pen. Luke chickens off and he gets Jay to
do it in exchange for not telling the league about the professional
bowler. They all basically accept to take the blame in order to save
their images-except Luke. Luke might have accepted the pen but he was
offered the chance to get out of having his parents find out about
the letter's contents. Manny wanted the role in the play to showoff
how talented he is while Jay wanted to keep his statue so that his
wife remains proud of him.
The
final main plot has to do with Phil and Claire. Claire goes to her
college reunion by herself where she runs into a professor that she
had slept with. She's happy that she's not with Phil so that she can
drink and enjoy herself without having to introduce Phil to everyone
and explain to him the inside jokes. Phil does surprise her when he
shows up but it gets awkward when he finds out that there's an
ex-boyfriend there. This is all important because there's a moment
where Claire admits what would have happened if the professor hadn't
broken up with her. She does get a brief image of what that would
have been like when she sees the professor's wife being completely
miserable. Their plot had to do with image but not the one they were
trying to present themselves but on how life could have turned out if
things had turned out differently. Bad Hair Day is a hilarious
episode of Modern Family that's all about perceptions and image.
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