Fears
Modern Family episode
Gloria, Jay and Manny riding a roller coaster.
Season	1
Episode	16
Writer:	Steven Levitan
Director:	Reggie Hudlin
Production Code	1ARG18
Airdate	March 3, 2010
Episode List
previous "My Funky Valentine"	next "Truth Be Told"

Fears is the sixteenth episode of Modern Family.

The episode was written by co-creator, Steven Levitan and directed by Reggie Hudlin. The episode aired March 3, 2010 and achieved a Nielsen Rating of 3.5/9 and 8.08 million viewers. The episode got positive reviews from critics.

SummaryEdit

Phil ends up losing Luke's toy searching for treasure in the crawlspace underneath the house. Haley takes her drivers test, Manny tries to get over his fear of roller coasters and Lily says "Mommy", which upsets Cameron and Mitchell.

SynopsisEdit

What are you afraid of?

ALEX: Global warming...and getting a "B".

CLAIRE: The phone ringing in the middle of the night.

PHIL: I'm too much of a perfectionist (Claire: "Honey, this isn't a job interview.") Oh, man. Job interviews.

JAY: Nothing. (Gloria: Yeah right. What about the pigeons?) Oh, I don't like them. They're shifty.

CAMERON: Losing Mitchell.

MITCHELL: Hotel bedspreads.

HALEY: Never getting my driver's license...or getting it and the picture sucks.

MANNY: Dying alone.

Haley is very nervous about taking that test, since she doesn't want to be driven around by Claire anymore, who, like, always hassles her about, like, her use of the word 'like'. But then, it beats Phil and Luke going under the house to see the unknown 'collection' that is under the house. Phil buys jumpsuits and headband lights for Luke and himself. However, they are afraid of whatever wild animals seem to be escaping from underneath the house.

Mitchell and Cameron are trying to straighten up for their pediatrician, who was coming over for brunch, and they wanted to improve on their not-so-good first impressions from last time. Even getting rid of the girlish doll their two lesbian friends brought over was crucial, although they didn't want to stereotype.

Naturally, Mitchell thinks it's weird, but Cameron is trying to score brownie points by making brownies for her. It works for Cameron's dentist, as does the fact that Cameron's dentist has the hots for him. Fortunately, their pediatrician seemed to appreciate the gesture, as well as Cameron telling her she has a great figure. And Lily is as cute as ever until she invokes every gay dad's worst nightmare while Dr. Miura was holding Lily: her first word is "mommy."

In spite of Dr. Miura's reassurances, Cameron is still beside himself.

CAMERON: Maybe (sniffle) we're not providing her (sob) with the feminine energy (cry) she needs.

Suddenly, Cameron blames Dr. Miura, because she's Asian...a fact well-established the last time, which is why they're having the brunch in the first place. Mitchell breaks out his Drama Queen-English translator to say that perhaps Lily bonded with her orphanage's handlers for the first six months she was born, and Dr. Miura might have brought that out in her. Dr. Miura tries to downplay it and Mitchell and Cameron agree...until Lily says 'mommy' again. Even Mitchell can't be the strong one now. Dr. Miura finally tells them that her mother wanted her to go the traditional route, and she relied more on her father for advice on going to med school.

DR. MIURA: The only way my mother will ever be happy with me is if I'm some Asian stereotype. And that just isn't me. (right before knocking over a bunch of garbage cans with her car).

While Jay takes Manny to the pier to fish, since he was too afraid to go to a birthday party at an amusement park, and Haley takes her third driver's test with the instructor who flunked her the first two times, Phil is trying not to go underneath the house but also not seem afraid in front of Luke. His solution is hooking up a video camera to a remote-controlled truck and do a Mars Rover imitation. And the odds of the truck getting stuck underneath?

It turns out, Gloria had an ulterior motive for taking Jay and Manny to the pier to fish: the roller coaster was there. Manny was still afraid, but Gloria eventually talks him into it. But now suddenly Jay has a bad back and an inner-ear thing. But now Gloria goes off.

GLORIA: Oh for God's sake, fine! Here! Take my girlie purse, and my floppy hat, and if you need it, there's the ladies' room!

While Haley begs and pleads for a fourth chance to take her test, Alex doesn't want to go to a dance at school, despite Gloria's insistence. Alex tries to come up with every anti-establishment reason for doing it, but Claire goes on until she breaks down and admits she's afraid of not being asked to dance. Claire gives her the same advice she gave Haley: just take three deep breaths and do it.

Phil is ready to give up, but somehow Luke gets the courage to go into the crawl space. Unfortunately, he gets caught by a hot water pipe, and Phil has to brave the dark and the spiders to get him out. And the collection? Initially, dead bodies. Actually, they were the previous owner's Halloween decorations.

PHIL: Everybody's afraid of something, right? Heights, clowns, tight spaces. Those are things you get over. But then, there's are children. Will they fit in? Will they be safe? Those are fears you never get past. So sometimes, all you can do is take a deep breath, hold them close, and hope for the best. Sometimes things don't work out. But you gotta love it when they do...

...like Cam and Mitchell finding out that Lily wasn't rejecting them but was imitating her doll, which says "mommy."

ProductionEdit

The episode is written by Steven Levitan, who co-created the show making it his fourth written episode for the season and directed by Reggie Hudlin. It was originally supposed to air March 3, 2010, but was moved up a week. It was the sixteenth episode produced for the season.

ReceptionEdit

Its original American broadcast, "Fears" was viewed by 8.08 million viewers getting a 18-49 Nielsen Rating of 3.5/9 15% percent down from the last original episode and also becoming the least viewed episode of the season after Fizbo and Not in My House, but the most viewed program on ABC. The episode ranked 20th in the 18-49 weekly ratings with 4.523 million viewers from the rating. Robert Canning of IGN gave the episode an 8.7 saying it was "Great" and "Modern Family has always been adept at adding those touching moments to the laughs. Good to know the series hasn't missed a step during its Olympic down time." Jason Hughes of The TV Squad gave the episode a positive review saying "In 16 episodes, most of which were fantastic, this was the first one to choke out a genuine emotional response from me. Phil's closing monologue was touching, and touched on another fear that all parents face: the fear of your children growing up too fast. That, and the fear that they're going to kill someone in your car." Donna Bowman gave the episode a A- saying it was "The voice over about fear being an essential part of parenting rang true, and was illustrated perfectly with Manny's (and Jay's) coaster ride, Alex being asked to dance ("but what if they don't?" she asks her mother hesitantly after putting on a brave face all day), and Haley driving off on her own. We have to be there to rescue our children, and then we have to stand back and try to act like we don't think they need rescuing." Lesley Savage of Entertainment Weekly gave the episode a positive review and said "I don’t know about you guys, but I really missed my Family these past two weeks, and this episode was the perfect welcome back. It kept things in the family, no cameos, no big stunts, just each member doing what they do best. And it started off with a bang — with everyone stating what his or her greatest fears were."

See AlsoEdit

• Season 1