Episode no. Season 7
Episode 9 Production code 7ARG11 | Directed by Gail Mancuso Original air date December 9, 2015 | |
Written by Andy Gordon
Jon Pollack | ||
"White Christmas" is the ninth episode of the seventh season and the 153th episode overall of the American sitcom Modern Family. It aired on December 9, 2015 on American Broadcasting Company (ABC). The episode is directed by Gail Mancuso and written by Jon Pollack and (Andy Gordon).
Plot
As Christmas approaches, the whole family and Andy go to a mountain that Gloria (Sofía Vergara) is renting from another family in order to celebrate her first Christmas as an American citizen. Nothing goes the way they expect.
First, there isn't a single snowflake as they arrive, and instead they suffer from strong warmth. Then, Fig Wilson (Andrea Martin), a relative of the family who let Gloria rent the mountain shows up, apparently forgotten by her relatives, and Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) invites her to stay with them despite the fact that she is very unpleasant and pessimistic. Alex (Ariel Winter) fears that she might be like her in the future and unsuccessfully tries to behave like a nice person. At the same time, Cameron and Mitchell’s (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) Christmas song was spoiled the last year due to Mitchell being totally intoxicated. They plan to sing it perfectly this time, but are constantly interrupted by minor incidents until Fig and Alex sing it instead, making them upset.
Jay (Ed O'Neill) has an announcement to make. He decides to retire. Claire (Julie Bowen) hopes to be his successor, but Jay decides to give the company to Chuck Finney instead. Jay reveals in private to Gloria that it’s a test and there’s no Chuck Finney, but Claire believes that Finney is a real person and is very mad at her dad.
Luke (Nolan Gould) and Manny (Rico Rodriguez) decide to trick and manipulate Lilly (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons) by letting her believe that a forgotten boy has been locked in a room for many years. Though Lilly remains skeptical, she discovers Haley (Sarah Hyland) and Andy (Adam DeVine) making out in said room. This makes Phil (Ty Burrell) very angry and he gives Andy an ultimatum.
He has to tell Beth (Laura Ashley Samuels) that he does not want to be with her anymore or leave the house. Andy chooses the first option, since Gloria surprised him with Beth’s coming. But before he can speak, Beth tells him that their romance is over, because she cheated on him with two other guys. This saddens Andy until Gloria reminds him how lucky he is to have Haley as his girlfriend. As Jay and Claire make amends, snow finally seems to fall from the sky, and Joe is the only one not to notice that it’s actually ashes from a forest fire.