Little Bo Bleep (18 Jan. 2012)

Claire's family tries to help her prepare for her political debate, Lily begins saying the "F word" right before her appearance as a flower girl at a wedding, and Jay begins to wonder if his dog Stella is suicidal.

Director:

Chris Koch

Writers:

Christopher Lloyd (creator), Steven Levitan (creator),

Stars:

Ed O'Neill, Sofía Vergara, Julie Bowen

Cast

Episode credited cast:
Ed O'Neill	...	Jay Pritchett
Sofía Vergara	...	Gloria Delgado-Pritchett
Julie Bowen	...	Claire Dunphy
Ty Burrell	...	Phil Dunphy
Jesse Tyler Ferguson	...	Mitchell Pritchett
Eric Stonestreet	...	Cameron Tucker
Sarah Hyland	...	Haley Dunphy
Ariel Winter	...	Alex Dunphy
Nolan Gould	...	Luke Dunphy
Rico Rodriguez	...	Manny Delgado
Aubrey Anderson-Emmons	...	Lily Tucker-Pritchett
David Cross	...	Duane Bailey
Johnny Ray Meeks	...	Man at Debate
Carol Abney	...	Woman at Debate
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
John Funk	...	Minister

Storyline

The family helps Claire prepare for her upcoming televised debate with Duane Bailey for the town council seat, but will they do more harm than good? Lily is going to be a precious flower girl for the first time, but the problem is she's just discovered her first expletive and Mitch and Cam don't know how best to deal with this new parenting test. And Jay is very concerned with Stella's recent strange behavior and puts the blame on Gloria.

---

Plot Keywords:

flower girl | wedding | jumping into a pool with clothes on | swimming pool | child swearing

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

Details

Release Date:

18 January 2012 (USA)

Company Credits

Did You Know?

Quotes

Gloria Delgado-Pritchett: Why are you swimming in your clothes?
Jay Pritchett: Because I'm self-conscious about my body. Stella fell in the pool.
Manny Delgado: It's my fault. I let her out, and then I got caught up in my couponing.
Jay Pritchett: Any coupons for swim lessons? 'Cause Stella needs some.
Gloria Delgado-Pritchett: Seriously. Manny you teach to swim by throwing him in the pool but the dog gets swimming lessons?
Manny Delgado: I gotta say, it was unpleasant but effective.

---

Connections

References Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (1999)

User Reviews

Bleeping funny

After ignoring Claire running for city council for quite some time, Little Bo Bleep finally gets back to the story. Claire is in a debate up against her opponent played by David Cross of Arrested Development fame. There was never much hope for Claire winning this race; it would change the show and a loss would be funnier. Besides, how often do housewives get elected? We begin to see the humour in defeat here as Claire's campaign unravels; the voters find her "angry and unlikeable" in a poll, and then she is embarrassed in the debate when Phil's near-arrest in Bixby's Back is brought up. That was actually one of the weaker episodes of season 2, but this public shaming was probably the funniest thing to come out of it. Claire may not win the race, but it's not for nothing, because she's won Alex's approval.

As well, this episode benefits from a new talking Lily, as the 3-year-old begins dropping the F-bomb. I thought it was going to be just once, but she actually says it several times (the actress is really saying "fudge"). To a degree it's shock value, but a decent storyline comes out of it as Lily serves as the flower girl in the world's tackiest wedding. Who are the bride and groom? The episode doesn't say. Finally, the third storyline features Jay's new dog repeatedly jumping into the pool without knowing how to swim. Clearly the dog really was swimming, but this storyline works overall. Even if it's not as sexy as feline AIDS.