S09.E14: Written in the Stars

[incandescent]

Quote

Phil thinks that Gloria is upset at Jay for dropping the ball on Valentine's Day, so he convinces Jay to spice things up with a little role playing that doesn't go off as planned. Meanwhile, Mitch and Cam may have unwittingly ruined Luke's Valentine's Day date and are forced to make things right.

[voiceover]

Eeeeeeyyyeeeeuuuwww!!!!!

I mean, I know he's a little boy, but that's his biological sister.  Maybe someone else will explain why I should've thought this was cuter than it was.

And for whatever reason, I would be less grossed out by the age difference between Alex and the Professor.  Haley & this guy seemed a bit of Rainer Reset.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

5 minutes ago, voiceover said:

Eeeeeeyyyeeeeuuuwww!!!!!

I mean, I know he's a little boy, but that's his biological sister.  Maybe someone else will explain why I should've thought this was cuter than it was.

And for whatever reason, I would be less grossed out by the age difference between Alex and the Professor.  Haley & this guy seemed a bit of Rainer Reset.

Alex is in the professor's class, and she can't be so oblivious as to not recognize that dating him would be the end of his career.

In the early days of this show we were supposed to think that Manny's romantic interest in Haley was creepy because she was his step-niece.  Joe's romantic interest in Claire is far worse.

[incandescent]

18 minutes ago, voiceover said:

Eeeeeeyyyeeeeuuuwww!!!!!

I mean, I know he's a little boy, but that's his biological sister.  Maybe someone else will explain why I should've thought this was cuter than it was.

 

See, normally I'd say that a child his age has trouble differentiating between liking someone platonically or romantically, so they can develop a "crush" on anyone who they think is cool and who plays with them...

But then Modern Family also had Manny crush on Haley. And they had Lily crush on Manny— which led to Manny thinking that Alex was making a pass at him. And they had Luke and Alex run a foot fetish business together. So I'm not giving them any leeway for how creepy and incestuous they get.

[voiceover]

17 minutes ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Alex is in the professor's class, and she can't be so oblivious as to not recognize that dating him would be the end of his career.

Eh.  Loss of integrity is a different argument (as far as loss of job, that's a Can you keep it secret/Can you wait until the end of the semester? argument).  Unfortunately I get the logistics of this.  

I guess I just like him with Alex more.  With Haley, not at all.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

5 minutes ago, voiceover said:

27 minutes ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Alex is in the professor's class, and she can't be so oblivious as to not recognize that dating him would be the end of his career.

Eh.  Loss of integrity is a different argument (as far as loss of job, that's a Can you keep it secret/Can you wait until the end of the semester? argument).  Unfortunately I get the logistics of this.  

I guess I just like him with Alex more.  With Haley, not at all.

I actually believe that colleges forbid any professor from dating any student, whether in their class or not.  And how does Alex think he would continue to grade her while dating her?  It just makes her seem stupid.

[incandescent]

4 minutes ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

I actually believe that colleges forbid any professor from dating any student, whether in their class or not.  And how does Alex think he would continue to grade her while dating her?  It just makes her seem stupid.

Depends on the college. This applied more to the TA's (since professor's didn't do any grading anyway), but the rule at my school was that you could date a student, even one in your own class, but one of your colleagues had to be the one grading said student's work.

I think it's stupid on her part, regardless. Unless she were to keep it secret, her classmates would absolutely be judging her any time she opened her mouth in lecture, and question any good grades she got in the class no matter who did the marking.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 2/28/2018 at 11:28 PM, incandescent said:

Depends on the college. This applied more to the TA's (since professor's didn't do any grading anyway), but the rule at my school was that you could date a student, even one in your own class, but one of your colleagues had to be the one grading said student's work.

I think it's stupid on her part, regardless. Unless she were to keep it secret, her classmates would absolutely be judging her any time she opened her mouth in lecture, and question any good grades she got in the class no matter who did the marking.

How long ago was that?  I feel that colleges are very careful these days about such things.  For instance, if a student in a class you are teaching is dating another faculty member, you might feel pressure to give said student a higher grade than he deserves.  Or if a student breaks up with a faculty member, she might perceive that other professors are treating her differently.  Most colleges would want to avoid even the appearance of impropriety as well as the danger of a lawsuit. 

On 2/28/2018 at 10:55 PM, incandescent said:

See, normally I'd say that a child his age has trouble differentiating between liking someone platonically or romantically, so they can develop a "crush" on anyone who they think is cool and who plays with them...

And they also made a little boy act like a lounge lizard!  What movies is he watching?  That's just gross.

Actually, he might be channeling Manny.

Edited March 2, 2018 by ItCouldBeWorse

[incandescent]

3 minutes ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

How long ago was that?  I feel that colleges are very careful these days about such things.  For instance, if a student in a class you are teaching is dating another faculty member, you might feel pressure to give said student a higher grade than he deserves.  Or of a student breaks up with a faculty member, she might perceive that other professors are treating her differently.  Most colleges would want to avoid even the appearance of impropriety as well as the danger of a lawsuit. 

Less than 5 years ago. I didn't think it was a good rule, for the same reasons you listed, but it was what it was. I really think my school did it with the idea that an undergrad dating a master's student who ran a tutorial was far more likely than an undergrad dating a full professor.

[VCRTracking]

Y'know, I'm not saying the show seems to hate Alex but........it seems to hate Alex.

[Mystery]

The only time I laughed, and it was derisively, was when Manny wondered if this kind of stuff goes on when he's not around. Is there *any* time when he's not around? He's the character I think the show hates. 

[voiceover]

3 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

I actually believe that colleges forbid any professor from dating any student, whether in their class or not.  And how does Alex think he would continue to grade her while dating her?  It just makes her seem stupid.

"Forbid"? Yes.  Still happens.  A lot.

[VCRTracking]

21 minutes ago, voiceover said:

4 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

I actually believe that colleges forbid any professor from dating any student, whether in their class or not.  And how does Alex think he would continue to grade her while dating her?  It just makes her seem stupid.

"Forbid"? Yes.  Still happens.  A lot.

It makes me think of Ross Gellar being informed by his colleagues that it's against the rules to date a student "Really? It's not just "frowned upon'?"

Edited March 1, 2018 by VCRTracking

[biakbiak]

I like Hailey and the professor amd maybe she will grow some. It would be nice if Alex could have a relationship that she didn't feel the need to hide. 

[voiceover]

47 minutes ago, VCRTracking said:

It makes me think of Ross Gellar being informed by his colleagues that it's against the rules to date a student "Really? It's not just "frowned upon'?"

Ha!  Exactly.  Depends upon department, Dept Head, Dean, etc.

It's more the utter terror of a sexual harassment charge, keeps a lot of the male profs with their doors nailed open and their flies wired shut.

Back to the show:  the Manny/Haley and Manny/Lily crushes, while off, were between non-biological family members.  I was okay with those plot points because they made sense & were rather glancing, as series moments go.  The train incident with Alex-- not so much.  Manny had been a part of the family for years at that point.

The Joe-as-lounge lizard-over-Claire thing made me wince because they share a parent.  Joe crushing on Alex or Haley, not as bad.

48 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

 It would be nice if Alex could have a relationship that she didn't feel the need to hide. 

This.  After all this time, her best relationship was clearly Sanjay.

[DarkRaichu]

9 hours ago, voiceover said:

Eeeeeeyyyeeeeuuuwww!!!!!

I mean, I know he's a little boy, but that's his biological sister.  Maybe someone else will explain why I should've thought this was cuter than it was.

And for whatever reason, I would be less grossed out by the age difference between Alex and the Professor.  Haley & this guy seemed a bit of Rainer Reset.

It is the Game of Thrones of sitcoms :D  But what can you expect when he grows up with Manny as role model.

I do not have any problem with the age difference, but the storyline is shaping up to be a love triangle with Alex as the loser.  It does not have to be a triangle

 

6 hours ago, Mystery said:

The only time I laughed, and it was derisively, was when Manny wondered if this kind of stuff goes on when he's not around. Is there *any* time when he's not around? He's the character I think the show hates. 

Lol.  The show is contractually obligated to pay the actors but clearly runs out of story ideas for Manny, Alex, and Lilly about 2 seasons ago :D

Edited March 1, 2018 by DarkRaichu

[readster]

1 hour ago, DarkRaichu said:

It is the Game of Thrones of sitcoms :D  But what can you expect when he grows up with Manny as role model.

I do not have any problem with the age difference, but the storyline is shaping up to be a love triangle with Alex as the loser.  It does not have to be a triangle

 

Lol.  The show is contractually obligated to pay the actors but clearly runs out of story ideas for Manny, Alex, and Lilly about 2 seasons ago :D

 

The entire episode and where they want to go with Alex's professor's storyline is a mess and is heading towards complete: "WTF were they thinking." Professors or even TAs at colleges to junior colleges is almost forbidden. There is much worry about sexual harassment or even said students feeling burned and want restitution anyway they can. Something that happened in my former college was a campus cop who was dating a student. Granted the cop was 23 and the student was 21, but he ethically realized he couldn't date her with her being a student and she went to great lengths to get back at him. It took almost 8 years to get resolved and finally ended because the student's former two roommates said that she purposely did it and nothing was "forced" by the former officer in question. But it caused so much back lashed for the campus police and the former officer as he tried to move on with his life. Leading to not only policy changes, but several higher ups losing their jobs or asking to resign. So this entire thing with Alex's professor or previous with Manny's professor is not only wrong, but being in California ,they were would be screwed career wise. The writers think this is funny or "charming" or they have to continue to paint Alex as this over oblivious nerd with no sense of ethics and being a bitch when it doesn't go her way. It is just old, one more year and Modern Family comes to an end, but as this episode proved, they should have called it last year. Don't get me started on Joe, that was just horrible. 

Edited March 1, 2018 by readster

[tennisgurl]

"What kind of freak show goes on here when I`m not around?!?!"

Well, considering this shows weird thing about incest, I can think of a few messed up, Lannister style shenanigans! Seriously, it was creepy enough when Lily had a crush on Manny, and Manny had a crush on Haley, now Joe has a crush on Claire? At least Manny, Lily, and Haley arent biologically related, this is just...creepy. Really, Joe having what he thinks is a crush on Claire would make sense, in that little kids develop attachments to any cool adult of their preferred gender, but the had him taking it super far, acting like a tiny Manny at his worst. I know we make jokes about how much time this family spends together, but its gotten to the point where its starting to get a little inbred-ish. What is up with this? 

Its really obvious that the writers have run out of stories for the kids, they just keep hitting the same notes without much lasting development. Everytime they show signs of growing up or doing something different, they just fall back on the same traits. Luke is dumb, Manny is 50 and obsessed with his mom, and Alex will always be smart but with no chance at a social life, which Haley has no future, but is catnip for any dude in the tri state area. 

[Traveller519]

I could kind of get Joe having a crush on Claire, as we've seen in the past, she gives him lots of attention. He's the surrogate for that one last shot at having a child she knows she truly doesn't want. So she gets to spoil him and fawn over him, and doesn't need to ever be the bad cop. And with the amount these people hang around one another, she's pretty consistently in his life. Still........................ It was really weird to see it play out. I've got to imagine Jay bought him the robe and taught him how to comb his hair, since he loves having his mini-Jay around.

Claire trying to get her dad to shush-up about her high school ways was pretty good though, especially with the two call-backs.

I did kind of like how well Jay took to the Role-Play, and Phil (and Clive) giving him the emotional support to continue.

 

Alex and Luke. I'd really like to see both of them get a meaningful relationship, instead of just ones played for jokes

[Mrs. Hanson]

14 hours ago, incandescent said:

Less than 5 years ago. I didn't think it was a good rule, for the same reasons you listed, but it was what it was. I really think my school did it with the idea that an undergrad dating a master's student who ran a tutorial was far more likely than an undergrad dating a full professor.

My hubby dated a professor at the end of his grad school years - she never taught him, never in the same fields.  It would have been late 80's.   She was not fired.  

Per Modern Family - California is a big state.  Can't Hailey find someone to date her own age and who is not going to get fired for it?

I liked Phil in this episode - and Phil, too.

[AriAu]

Quote

I could kind of get Joe having a crush on Claire, as we've seen in the past, she gives him lots of attention. He's the surrogate for that one last shot at having a child she knows she truly doesn't want. So she gets to spoil him and fawn over him, and doesn't need to ever be the bad cop. And with the amount these people hang around one another, she's pretty consistently in his life. Still........................ It was really weird to see it play out. I've got to imagine Jay bought him the robe and taught him how to comb his hair, since he loves having his mini-Jay around.

Was the Joe story line creepy....yes, but the lines were kinda funny and he is good at delivering them. Couple that with Phil's gift for physical comedy and I gotta admit that I laughed....but note that the part about Joe being a mini-Jay makes the whole thing much creepier!

 

Quote

Y'know, I'm not saying the show seems to hate Alex but........it seems to hate Alex.

Could not possibly agree more! She gets crapped on all the time, her relationships always need to be hidden, they dress her as dowdy as possible, her lines are not funny and we don't even know if she is succeeding. In high school, we knew she was straight As (yada yada), but we don't even know if she is doing well, getting internships etc.. They don't let anything stand out for her.

Was glad to see that Cam/Mitch's gossip/bitchiness came back to bite them.

[Ions Earring]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

"...acting like a tiny Manny at his worst."

 

Bingo. For a lot of this season, Manny was like a side character, which makes him easier for me! to ignore. The writers writing Joe like a mini Manny (ew) is like replacing Coke with Pepsi for dietary reasons. They should send him and Manny upstairs to find Judy Winslow and never be seen again. 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

1 hour ago, Mrs. Hanson said:

My hubby dated a professor at the end of his grad school years - she never taught him, never in the same fields.  It would have been late 80's.   She was not fired.  

Late 80's were a very different time. There hadn't been as many lawsuits, or as great an awareness of the various forms sexual harassment could take (I'm not implying that your husband was harassed.)

[Madding crowd]

I'm not a huge fan of Alex, but she isn't owed the professor just because she is smart. Some people like someone totally different from themselves and maybe there are things about Haley that appeal to the guy. And Haley is not his student so no real worries there.

I thought the Joe story was creepy because kids can get crushes but they don''t really act like lounge lizards, putting on music, dimming lights etc. I do like Phil and Claire and their quirky fun and Mitch and Cam seemed to be enjoying their Valentines day. I don't believe Gloria would not want something romantic from Jay and just be happy with Valentine's from the kids, she isn't the type. 

[biakbiak]

4 hours ago, Mrs. Hanson said:

Modern Family - California is a big state.  Can't Hailey find someone to date her own age and who is not going to get fired for it?

Hailey doesnt attend Caltech he isnt getting fired for datimg a famiky member of a student. 

3 hours ago, AriAu said:

but we don't even know if she is doing well, getting internships etc.. They don't let anything stand out for her.

There was a episode earlier this season when Claire and Phil were worrued about her that was all about her succeeding.

[Blakeston]

Colleges generally take major issue with professors dating students nowadays - but that doesn't mean it would be inaccurate to show a teacher and student being romantically involved. It happens all the time, and probably always will.

Regardless, it would only be an issue if he actually became involved with Alex, and thus far, he hasn't. (On the other hand, Manny dating his movement teacher definitely crossed that line.)

I thought Phil handled the Joe situation terribly. Probably not a good idea to convince a creepy 6-year-old that he could easily seduce his 40-something family member.

Edited March 2, 2018 by Blakeston

[Nordly Beaumont]

2 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

I thought the Joe story was creepy because kids can get crushes but they don''t really act like lounge lizards, putting on music, dimming lights etc.

I didn't think it was creepy, just stupid. Like you say, that's not how a kid with a crush acts. He'd just want to have Claire come to his room and look at all his toys and then probably show her how fast he can run or high he can jump. 

[AriAu]

Quote

I didn't think it was creepy, just stupid. Like you say, that's not how a kid with a crush acts. He'd just want to have Claire come to his room and look at all his toys and then probably show her how fast he can run or high he can jump. 

But those things are accurate but not that funny and this show is (supposed to be) a sitcom). It was creepy, but a little bit funny just the same.

[DarkRaichu]

Apparently Alex is the Haley of Caltech' Robotics Department :D

[biakbiak]

I found the Claire/Joe storyline a lot less creepy than Gloria's relationship with her children for the run of the series.

[Quickbeam]

“General Eisenhower, Father of the American Highway System”....or words to that effect, gut laugh for me. No one delivers a line like Ed. 

Edited March 2, 2018 by Quickbeam

[possibilities]

After that big romantic speech from Mitch, that was the most awkward, perfunctory kiss I've ever seen.

[Commando Cody]

Did this show forget that Claire is Joe's sister? 

[hoodooznoodooz]

14 hours ago, Nordly Beaumont said:

I didn't think it was creepy, just stupid. Like you say, that's not how a kid with a crush acts. He'd just want to have Claire come to his room and look at all his toys and then probably show her how fast he can run or high he can jump. 

I agree.  For me, the most significant factor is that Joe has not gone through puberty. When he's dimming lights, sporting the lounge lizard robe, it's the equivalent of putting on a Superman cape or "flexing his muscles" to imitate The Hulk. Ultimately, he just wants Claire to read him a bedtime story or admire his Lego building skills. 

[Mrs. Hanson]

20 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Late 80's were a very different time. There hadn't been as many lawsuits, or as great an awareness of the various forms sexual harassment could take (I'm not implying that your husband was harassed.)

Agreed on the late 80's!  And trust me.....my hubby was the pursuer!  LOL!

[Kimmmmmm]

On March 1, 2018 at 7:25 PM, Nordly Beaumont said:

I didn't think it was creepy, just stupid. Like you say, that's not how a kid with a crush acts. He'd just want to have Claire come to his room and look at all his toys and then probably show her how fast he can run or high he can jump. 

I think it was creepy AND stupid...but then, I think it has as much to do with his lousy acting as the fact that he's badly written. 

[UncleChuck]

Quote

Per Modern Family - California is a big state.  Can't Hailey find someone to date her own age and who is not going to get fired for it?

Well, Haley is not the professor's student, not even a student at the University, so no one is getting fired.  And she celebrated her 21st birthday in 2014 which would make her at least 24, possibly 25 by now.  The professor was not some ole geezer but a very young guy.  Universities are chock full of Professors who earned their Ph.D. by their mid-twenties so he could easily be just in his early 30s and still have done some rewarded research.  30ish to mid twenties is not much of an age difference.

Of course, we still think of dumb Haley as a kid, so...

[Commando Cody]

I don't really watch the repeats of this show, so over the years, I may be remembering incorrectly, but I thought Haley was good at plenty of things - mostly involving fashion. For some reason the show never went anywhere with it.  That kind of bothered me when Haley was feeling like she didn't have anything to offer. She could have had plenty of opportunities, but the writers dropped everything that involved her potential to succeed. 

[jhlipton]

On 3/1/2018 at 11:52 AM, AriAu said:

Was glad to see that Cam/Mitch's gossip/bitchiness came back to bite them.

You mean "cattiness".  LOL

[biakbiak]

10 hours ago, Commando Cody said:

I don't really watch the repeats of this show, so over the years, I may be remembering incorrectly, but I thought Haley was good at plenty of things - mostly involving fashion. For some reason the show never went anywhere with it.  That kind of bothered me when Haley was feeling like she didn't have anything to offer. She could have had plenty of opportunities, but the writers dropped everything that involved her potential to succeed. 

She currently is working for a Goop like website run by Mira Sorvino but being a 24 year old college dropout it would still be natural to feel inferior to soneone receiving an award from NASA.

[SnarkySheep]

How is Joe suddenly six years old? Wasn't he still in preschool last season? Besides, we know that he was born on Manny's 14th birthday...and Manny is not 20.

[TV Anonymous]

On 2/28/2018 at 11:55 PM, incandescent said:

See, normally I'd say that a child his age has trouble differentiating between liking someone platonically or romantically, so they can develop a "crush" on anyone who they think is cool and who plays with them...

But then Modern Family also had Manny crush on Haley. And they had Lily crush on Manny— which led to Manny thinking that Alex was making a pass at him. And they had Luke and Alex run a foot fetish business together. So I'm not giving them any leeway for how creepy and incestuous they get.

Manny are not related by blood to Haley, Alex or Lily. He can get married with any of them if he and any of the girls want to (after reaching the age of majority). But Claire and Joe are half-siblings. They are blood-related. It is much ickier as it is actually a taboo.

[biakbiak]

2 hours ago, SnarkySheep said:

How is Joe suddenly six years old? Wasn't he still in preschool last season? Besides, we know that he was born on Manny's 14th birthday...and Manny is not 20.

He shpuld be five, he was born in January of 2013.

[Everleigh]

On 3/1/2018 at 2:52 PM, AriAu said:

Could not possibly agree more! She gets crapped on all the time, her relationships always need to be hidden, they dress her as dowdy as possible, her lines are not funny and we don't even know if she is succeeding. In high school, we knew she was straight As (yada yada), but we don't even know if she is doing well, getting internships etc.. They don't let anything stand out for her.

 

2

I feel like the show is intentionally punishing Ariel Winter for how she dresses and presents herself in real life. It's like she tried to push against the image of the dowdy little sister by dressing sexy and posting more "grown up" things on social media, and the show just seems to have doubled down on the buttoned-up nerd trope, instead of having Alex come into her own in college which is what I thought they'd eventually do. 

 

On 3/1/2018 at 5:10 PM, Madding crowd said:

I'm not a huge fan of Alex, but she isn't owed the professor just because she is smart. Some people like someone totally different from themselves and maybe there are things about Haley that appeal to the guy. And Haley is not his student so no real worries there.

 

Of course not, but personally, I think Alex and the professor just make more sense. Opposites attract and all but Haley couldn't even follow a conversation with the guy so what could they possibly have to talk about? It's hard to understand what exactly about Haley, other than her looks, caught the professor's interests, and I'm just over Haley's thing being that she's cute. They need to make her more than that. (I really wish I remembered the guy's name so I didn't have to keep writing the professor.) 

And of course Haley's even Joe's second choice for his incestuous crush, despite being completely self-involved and not the type that would show a child much attention. They couldn't throw Alex a bone there and have the kid pick her? 

 

On 3/2/2018 at 12:47 AM, Commando Cody said:

Did this show forget that Claire is Joe's sister? 

Yeah seemed odd that they didn't even mention that.  

[CleoCaesar]

3 minutes ago, Everleigh said:

Opposites attract and all but Haley couldn't even follow a conversation with the guy so what could they possibly have to talk about? It's hard to understand what exactly about Haley, other than her looks, caught the professor's interests, and I'm just over Haley's thing being that she's cute.

My thoughts exactly. Haley's looks apparently are so incredible that every non-related to Haley man on the show has fallen for her. It's gotten very old. The only realistic relationship progression (acquaintances to friends to attracted to each other) was Haley and Andy (and even then, he was cheating on Beth and they were sneaking around).

[possibilities]

The only relationship I've ever liked for Haley was her and Dylan. That made sense.

[Nijntje]

It seems that we got a different episode in Canada. The video on demand from my provider had this episode listed, but the actual one that played is the upcoming spanking episode.

[Marley]

The Joe stuff was super gross. That’s his sister and Jes not cute having a little kid act like that. Joe has always bugged me tho.

Obviously you don’t have to be the same as Someone to have a good relationship with them but I don’t even get why the professor is so obsessed with Haley. Did I miss the part where she won him over with  something. She’s cute yea but other than that she’s an idiot and doesn’t really have any sense of humour. I don’t get it.

Not a lot of laughs this season.

[nilyank]

9 hours ago, possibilities said:

The only relationship I've ever liked for Haley was her and Dylan. That made sense

I loved Dylan since he first sang that totally inappropriate song that he wrote to Haley in season 1.

Phil loved him and Claire treated him the way Jay treats Phil.

But he is now married with step-children, so that is out.

[incandescent]

9 hours ago, Nijntje said:

It seems that we got a different episode in Canada. The video on demand from my provider had this episode listed, but the actual one that played is the upcoming spanking episode.

I watched live in Canada and got this episode.