Baby on Board (23 May 2012)

Jay and Manny are left to accompany Lily at her recital as Mitchell and Cameron bring Gloria along as translator as they adopt a Mexican child. Meanwhile, Haley has a surprise announcement about her plans after high school.

Director:

Steven Levitan

Writers:

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

Stars:

Ed O'Neill, Sofía Vergara, Julie Bowen

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
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
Reid Ewing	...	Dylan
Terri Hoyos	...	Abuela
Linda Elena Tovar	...	Juanita
Albert Marrero Jr.	...	Ranch Hand

Storyline

Jay and Manny are left to accompany Lily at her recital as Mitchell and Cameron bring Gloria along as translator as they adopt a Mexican child. Meanwhile, Haley has a surprise announcement about her plans after high school.

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Plot Keywords:

recital | catholic priest | prom | dancing | prom date | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 May 2012 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Levitan / Lloyd, 20th Century Fox Television

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

Did You Know?

Quotes

Dylan: I know you're worried, but I'm designing T-shirts now, and they're going to be huge... and medium and small.

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Connections

References Wonder Woman (1975)

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Soundtracks

"Funky Celebration"
(uncredited)
Administered by Bob Mair

User Reviews

I'm telling you it's mighty nice, each trip's a trip to paradise, with my Baby on Board

And so season 3 of Modern Family comes to an end, with fewer great episodes than seasons 1 and 2 but with enough good episodes and reasonable consistency to make the Blu-ray somewhat tempting. Baby on Board is in a way a climactic moment as Haley's prom and replies to college applications arrive and as Cam and Mitch get news they're getting their second baby.

Alas, the baby storyline falls through and poor Cam and Mitch are back at pretty much where they were at the season 2 finale. It's a surprise but a fairly disappointing one. Nevertheless, it is handled well. Right off the bat I'll say it's nice to see them together for a whole episode without them constantly bickering; their perpetual state of fighting began to get tiresome this season. The soap opera parody was funny in a zany kind of way. But of course it's also tragic, and the episode allows Cam and Mitch to have their reaction, with a bittersweet scene in which Cam calls Mitch his rock.

At the Dunphy household (my favourite one), Haley is skipping her prom but Alex is actually going with an older boy. Alex should be about 15 now, an age where she understandably wants to be taken seriously as a woman, annoyed when the family laughs off her threats to sleep with her date. Still, Phil calling his underage daughter sexy was a delightfully awkward moment. Despite wanting to be seen as matured, however, Alex isn't really ready for sex, as evident when her prom date turns out to be gay. It's a shame to see this storyline just evaporate after 8 minutes, but of course there's only so much you can fit into a sitcom episode. Meanwhile, Haley seems to also be acting more mature, impressing Phil and Claire until they learn Haley wants to move in with Dylan. Phil's warnings about the consequences are bizarre, but funny.

Meanwhile, the end of the episode delivers the biggest twist of all- Gloria is pregnant! This is obviously going to have a major impact on the show, with the main cast growing even bigger, and one hopes the show can adapt well to it. Jay, in particular, will have to adjust to being an elderly parent of a newborn. I'm not sure what to expect for season 4; hopefully they won't let us down. At any rate, Baby on Board is itself a nice episode, consistently funny, and well written by Abraham Higginbotham.