'Modern Family' News, Updates, Spoilers: Dunphys Hiding Secrets from Each Other at NYC; Mitchell Framed for the Death of Cam's Grandma; and More
ABC's "Modern Family" has returned to the small screen with its Season 8 premiere, "A Tale of Three Cities." Once again, we meet everyone's favorite three-in-one clan: the Pritchetts, Dunphys, and the Pritchett-Tuckers, coming together from their globe-trotting just in time for Fathers' Day!
"Modern Family" Season 8 picks up from where we left them last season: Phil and Claire's family was in New York; Cam, Mitchell and Lily in Missouri; and Jay, Gloria, Manny and Joe in Mexico. As you would expect from this crazy trio families, those trips quickly doubled down into varying shades of disaster.
Dunphys at the Big Apple
The Dunphys had the most successful family trip out of three, despite having multiple phones stolen from them (this was, after all, shifty New York). When it was time to go back, Phil (Ty Burrell), Claire (Julie Bowen), Alex (Ariel Winter), Haley (Sarah Hyland) and Luke (Nolan Gould) decided to go different ways back home. Patriarch and matriarch took the car, while the three Dunphy kids flew back home.
Unknown to them, the Dunphy parties both secretly decided to extend their stay at the Big Apple. You'd think they'd eventually run into one another, but they successfully navigated their way through NYC with their own shenanigans. Funny tourist moments include Luke and Haley thinking about the Statue of Liberty's "paintbrush", and Phil gushing over the majesty of the "American pigeon."
Pritchetts in Mexico/Missouri
Meanwhile, Gloria (Sofia), Jay (Ed O'Neill), Manny (Rico Rodriguez) and Joe (Jeremy McGuire) are in Mexico for a family wedding. Jay brings up the hot sauce business to Gloria's crazy sister Sonia (Stephanie Beatriz). This angers Gloria, who cuts the trip short.
The Pritchett-Tuckers, however, got the morbid subplot. Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) visit Cameron's (Eric Stonestreet) family in Missouri for his dying grandma. When Cam's grandma passes away, Mitchell gets framed for causing her death.
Fathers' Day
All the families' loose ends tie together back at the Pritchett mansion as they reunite in time for Fathers' Day. Gloria and Jay find out that Sonia kidnapped Manny in exchange for the hot sauce business, to which Gloria merely says, "It's just a kidnap. It's normal in my family." But the two sisters eventually make up after confronting their real problem: daddy issues.
Phil and Luke, like the true father-son tandem they are, eventually told each other their own NYC secrets. Mitch and Cam, on the other hand, patch things up when he and Lily flew back in time for Fathers' Day. The episode ends with a big hug for everyone, as usual.
Overall, this episode of "Modern Family" was a good pilot to usher in the new season. Catch "Modern Family" Season 8, Episode 2 on Sept. 28!