Modern Family season 9, episode 22: Clash of Swords

In the season 9 finale of Modern Family there were big changes for Pritchett’s Closets and a huge change for the family.

This season finale of Modern Family brought two major changes for the show in a season that was light on them. We expected to see more advancement on Haley’s relationship front but that was not addressed at all.

At the start of the episode, Gloria is preparing for Joe’s birthday party while Manny is preparing for a cross-country trip. At Cam and Mitch’s house, Cam’s sister has ended up back in jail so they are having to take care of Cal. Cal is a big boy for his age and is country strong. When he hugs them he tackles them. Mitch and Phil are headed to Herocon and this is Mitch’s first time being brave enough to go full-nerd.

Pritchett’s competition

Jay comes into the office because he thinks there is a group of kids coming to speak with him about the business. Instead, he sees a group of young tech guys who are coming to buy them out. They tell the Pritchetts about smart closet technology and how it’s going to make them obsolete. Jay shuts it down immediately and tells them to leave. Before they leave however, they give them their buyout terms. The Pritchetts have 48 hours to make a decision.

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Dinosaur party

Gloria and Joe arrive at his birthday party and see there’s one beside theirs as well. Both are dinosaur themed but it’s clear the person throwing the other one spared no expense. Gloria has to keep Joe from going to the other party when Dr. Donna Duncan (Jane Krakowski) comes out. She’s a rival of Gloria’s and immediately rubs it in Gloria’s face that her party is terrible by comparison.

The closet

Jay and Claire realize that the tech kids stole their receptionist and head over to get her. When they arrive, she tells them that she likes it there. The owner of the company takes this opportunity to show the Pritchetts their closet. It has a body scanner that scans Jay’s body and spits out an outfit in his size based on the weather.

Outside in the car, Claire works on convincing Jay that they should merge with the kids. She realizes that the kids will need their infrastructure so they have some leverage. Jay is reluctant because he doesn’t want to be the old out-of-touch guy at the company but Claire is able to show him that those kids are still just nerds at the end of the day.

Gloria accepts defeat

Back at the party, Joe and his friends are depressed. Cam arrives with his nephew and asks if the kids are being punished, not realizing that this is just the party. Dr. Donna comes in and apparently Cam knows her too. He realizes that she tricked him into telling her all of the details of Gloria’s party so she’d be able to upstage her.

Cam decides to call his friend who is a party planner and have some entertainment sent over. He says that the friend was throwing a Peter Pan party for a kid and can send the entertainment right over. Unfortunately, Cam heard incorrectly and that was not a kids party that was being thrown. It was party for an adult named kit and male strippers show up to Joe’s party.

At this point Gloria sends the kids away to Dr. Donna’s party. They’ve been damaged enough.

Herocon

At Herocon, Phil is able to get Mitch to overcome his fears and go in. He knows people since he’s a regular but he accidentally bumps into a prop called “The Foolmaker.” He is not worried about its powers because it is a prop but then proceeds to make a fool of himself. His biggest mistake comes when he wanders into a Q&A and accidentally gets a spoiler out of the creator of their favorite show, Clash of Swords.

He and Mitch got separated before Phil did all of this damage and Mitch is having a great time when the word gets back to him. He doesn’t realize Phil is the culprit and leads the mob to come get him. However, when he realizes it’s Phil he is able to talk them down and they give Phil back his all access pass.

Revelations

At the end of the episode, all of the adults show up at Joe’s party. Mitch sits down with Cam and confesses that he went to Herocon. They talk about why he was afraid to admit it and how hard people can be on a kid who is different. The talk makes Cam realize that things will be hard for his nephew and the two decide that they have to take him in permanently.

At this same time Claire arrives with the news that Pritchett’s Closets will be merging with a tech company.

Next: Black-ish season finale recap

Conclusion

For the most part this was a pretty standard episode of Modern Family. The show is already renewed for its 10th season and it could definitely be the last. The two big revelations don’t help that case however. Mitch and Cam taking in Cal likely means he’ll be a regular on the show next year, though this season barely featured Lily. At the Dunphy household, Haley looks like she’s headed for marriage but the other two kids are in limbo. The merger with the tech company is sure to create some fun scenarios for Jay and Claire. These moves don’t feel like the moves of a show heading into its final season. We’ll likely have to wait until next year for answers.

Modern Family will return in the fall.