| "Caught in the Act" | |||
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| Modern Family episode | |||
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 13 |
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| Directed by | Michael Spiller | ||
| Written by | Steven Levitan Jeffrey Richman |
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| Production code | 2ARG13 | ||
| Original air date | January 19, 2011[1] | ||
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Rachael Harris as Amelia |
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| Season 2 episodes | |||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of Modern Family episodes | |||
"Caught in the Act" is the thirteenth episode of the second season of the American television comedy series, Modern Family and the 36th overall episode of the series. Co-creator Steven Levitan and Jeffrey Richman wrote the episode, and Michael Spiller directed it. The episode originally aired on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in the United States on January 19, 2011. It featured guest star Rachael Harris as restaurant owner, Amelia.
In the episode, Gloria and Jay are about to go on vacation while Manny is away visiting his father, but their plans are interrupted when they accidentally send an insulting email to Claire. When they go to the Dunphys' house to apologize, they find Claire and Phil in a state of dismay because their kids have just walked in on them having sex. Meanwhile, Mitchell and Cameron have trouble getting reservations at a popular new restaurant so they try to ingratiate themselves with the restaurant's owner, who is one of the parents at Lily's preschool.
"Caught in the Act" received mixed reviews from critics. According to the Nielsen Media Research, "Caught in the Act" dropped four percent in the ratings from the last episode of the series to air in its regular timeslot and received a 4.6 rating/12% share in the 18-49 demographic. Despite this, the episode won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.
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The Dunphy kids prepare a nice anniversary breakfast for their parents, but end up walking in on Phil and Claire having sex. Luke is not quite sure what is going on but does not fail to remark that Phil had the same face as when he smells a new car, while Haley and Alex are reeling with shock and horror because they know exactly what they saw. Claire is much more upset about the kids seeing them than Phil is, largely due to her memory of walking in on Jay and her mom making love when she was a child. While Claire and Phil hide out in their bedroom, the kids leave the house and talk about what happened on a gas station bench, with Luke noting that he would rather have parents who do that than parents who are divorced like many of his friends; they make a deal to sit smiling-faced through Claire's subsequent address to them (while thinking about something else), which makes Claire happy—along with Phil stating that every anniversary with her makes him happy. In the end, the kids come up with an ideal anniversary present: a lock for their parents' bedroom door. However, the lock makes a loud ricochet sound when Phil and Claire use it, thus horrifying the Dunphy brood anew as an indicator of unseen parental sex.
Jay and Gloria's vacation to Las Vegas (and a three-tower restaurant wine room) is ruined when a brutally honest email is accidentally sent out by Gloria; Gloria is mad at Claire for being too officious regarding an upcoming school bake sale and Jay offers to type out a diplomatic version of her ideas which turns out to be very acerbic because he only wrote what Gloria told him word-for-word before she had any chance of even looking it through. They first call Claire to apologize but she will not take the call, so Gloria makes Jay turn back (not before he had criticized Phil for not standing up to his wife). When they show up at the Dunphys', Gloria starts apologizing, however as she refers that "that has happened to her before with another woman" triggers a huge misunderstanding between them because Claire thinks Gloria is referring to the sex show while Gloria is actually referring to the e-mail; after offering "her cupcakes" for them to taste and that she is willing to join Phil and Claire, she comes to realize about her mistake, so she tells Jay the real reasons behind Claire and Phil's state and then goes to Claire's computer to delete the e-mail. Claire then confronts Jay for burying her own accidental sight of him making love to his wife, and Phil figures out what Gloria was really looking for. Gloria and Jay lie that the e-mail was a naked picture of Gloria, which nearly causes Phil to pass out. In the end, the e-mail is deleted without further Claire-Gloria acrimony.
Mitch and Cam have been unhappy with dinner lately, as Cam explains that Mitchell's long hours, the work involved in getting ready to go out with Lily, and their unwillingness to go back into traffic limits them to walking and that limits them to a nearby shawarma joint. But good news beckons when they learn that the eponymous owner of the hot new eatery, Amelia's, is the mom of a little boy in Lily's preschool, and they set up a playdate with the ulterior motive of getting Amelia to get them a table at the restaurant. Just as Amelia is on the verge of telling them how they can get into the restaurant, she has to take a phone call. Mitch and Cam accidentally hear her telephone conversation over a baby monitor, and realize Amelia is an incredibly angry woman. When they agree to watch her son Jackson while she goes to deal with the contractor who enraged her, they see that one of Lily's juice boxes has burst and spilled red liquid all over a carpet that Cam recognizes as a $50,000 alpaca-hand-made rug that used to belong to either Diane Keaton or Anjelica Houston (but probably also to Joan Collins). The guys ponder whether to move the entire carpet around to hide the stain but agree to face the consequences with the truth. When Amelia gets back she sees the stain and they quickly blame it on Jackson by lying that he took one of Lily's strawberry juice packs and drank some before spilling the rest. When Amelia hears this, Cam and Mitch learn that Jackson is allergic to strawberries and needs an immediate injection to prevent catastrophe, so they hold the poor kid down as Amelia prepares to inject him before finally admitting their ruse. With a table at "Amelia's" forever lost to them, they end up glumly returning for more shawarma and indifferent customer service.[1]
"Caught in the Act" was written by series co-creator Steven Levitan and co-producer Jeffrey Richman.[1] The episode was also directed by Michael Spiller.[1] The episode was Levitan's sixth writing credit for the series.[2] and Richman's second.[3] The episode aired January 19, 2011 on the American Broadcasting Company.[1] This episode of Modern Family was filmed on December 2,[4] and December 3, 2010.[5] In August 2010, series co-creator and executive producer, Levitan revealed the Dunphy plot to TV Guide.[6] Four months later, more details of the plot were revealed to TV Guide while filming the episode.[7] The Dunphy plot was based on an incident when Levitan's daughter walked in on him and his wife having sex, which they kept quiet about for a long period of time.[8] The Mitchell-Cameron plot was also based on a real-life incident. Co-writer Richman had "spilled wine on a friend's expensive rug then tried to turn the rug so that the stain was hidden under a piece of furniture".[8] In an interview, Richman stated that:
"After having pitched the story from my life and finding out I had done something so unlikable, to have actual characters on television do that, I realized America wouldn't like them. That made me think twice about what to pitch next time."
Rico Rodriguez II doesn't appear in this episode, due to his contract only calling for him to appear in only 22 episodes of the season.[9]
In its original American broadcast, "Caught in the Act" was viewed by an estimated 10.94 million households and received a 4.6 rating/12% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49 making it one of the few shows to not decline in the ratings against American Idol.[10] Despite this, the episode dropped 4% from "Slow Down Your Neighbors" which was the last episode of the series to air in its regular timeslot.[11][12] Added with the DVR viewers, the episode received a 6.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic, adding a 1.7 rating to the original viewership.[13]
The episode received mixed reviews from television critics. TV Squad writer Joel Keller wrote of the episode that it was "the first real clunker the show's had this season". He criticized Gloria's plot writing that "misunderstanding should have been funnier. But for some reason, it didn't hit with me. Maybe because the situations seemed forced together, or maybe Jay taking the bullet for Gloria by saying the e-mail she was trying to delete was one of her naked [...] was too easy of an out for Gloria. But that plot just fell flat."[14] John Teti of The A.V. Club gave the episode a more positive review. He mainly liked the Pritchett's and the Dunphy's storyline, but critizised Mitchell and Cameron's storyline saying "Look, Eric Stonestreet and Jesse Tyler Ferguson can make almost anything [...] enjoyable to watch, but their talents are wasted by running them through this same shtick again. They deserve better."[9] He ultimately gave the episode a B.[9] Despite the lukewarm reviews, the episode was nominated at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, and won.[15]
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