April 8th 2020 has now etched its way into television history, marking the moment the curtain closed on one of America’s most beloved sitcoms. Modern Family bid viewers a final farewell on Wednesday night after an outstanding eleven year run with a landmark two hour event, comprising of the exclusive retrospective documentary ‘A Modern Farewell’ and a one hour, double episode series finale. It was a goodbye full of laughter and tears as the entire family faced the joys of new beginnings, and the hardships of letting go.
The finale picks up a month after Mitch (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cam (Eric Stonestreet) have adopted their newborn son, Rex, and are happily settling into their new house. A spanner is quickly thrown in the works, however, when Cam receives an offer for his dream job, the head coaching position at Missouri State University, and is only given until the end of the day to make the life changing decision of whether to accept or decline.
Over at the Dunphy household, we see that Phil (Ty Burrell) and Claire (Julie Bowen) have taken up residence in Phil’s trusty RV in order to escape the reining chaos in their packed household, where Alex (Ariel Winter), Luke (Nolan Gould), Haley (Sarah Hyland), Dylan (Reid Ewing), and baby twins, Poppy and George all reside. With things clearly reaching overcapacity, the pair announce that someone needs to move out and leave the kids to decide amongst themselves.
Change is also imminent for the Delgado Pritchett’s as Joe (Jeremy Maguire) receives a swish new haircut, much to Gloria’s (Sofia Vergara) dismay, and Manny (Rico Rodriguez) is ready to embark on his year long travels with his biological father, Javier. All the while Jay (Ed O’Neil) is secretly learning Spanish in a touching effort to surprise his wife by joining her in Columbia for the summer.
After a heartfelt conversation, a nudge from Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons), and one final show-stopping karaoke performance, Cam ultimately takes the job in Missouri and the Tucker Pritchett’s prepare for their new adventure. The situation only really hits home for Claire when the Dunphy kids all announce that they’re planning to move out: Haley and Dylan opting to buy their own place, Luke getting accepted into the university of Oregon, and Alex’s research team being relocated to Switzerland. It sets in that there will be significant distance between the family for the foreseeable future.
When Mitch and Cam’s moving day arrives, the group gather in the Dunphy home to say their goodbyes – a process that becomes thankfully elongated due to multiple flight delays. Over the remaining 20 minutes, we’re treated to some final antics: Claire and Mitch go on a mission to retrieve their coveted figure skating trophy, Haley and Alex play one last prank on Luke for old times sake, and Phil shares one more awkward interaction with Jay. Each moment devolves into the difficult realisation that this part of their lives is coming to an end, with Jay as ever offering some sage advice to his son-in-law, “maybe start thinking about what you want your next chapter to be.”
One last family photo is snapped before the group share an extremely tearful embrace, Gloria wondering “why is this so hard?” to which Jay candidly answers “because not everybody gets to have what we have.” We’re finally given one last monologue from the family patriarch as Haley and Dylan are shown moving into Mitch and Cam’s old apartment. Parallels between where the show began and end are pictured as Mitch, Cam, Lilly, and baby Rex board their flight (with cream puffs in hand), Jay and Gloria cheer Joe on at his soccer match, and Phil and Claire look over their strikingly empty calendar.
In an emotional moment prior, Claire helplessly asked “They’re really all leaving, what are we going to do?” Phil then reassures her by saying “What people have always done, leave the porch light on, they’ll come back.”
And that’s exactly how our wonderful Modern Family leave us: with the porch light on and the comfort of knowing they’ll always be there to come back too.
