'Modern Family' Season 7, episode 6 recap: 'The More You Ignore Me'

In this week’s episode of “Modern Family,” Phil and Claire Dunphy deal with their rebellious teenagers. Meanwhile, Jay Pritchett gives his wife and his son an unexpected burst of inspiration.

In the episode titled “The More You Ignore Me,” Phil (Ty Burrell) and Claire (Julie Bowen) are shocked to learn that their son, Luke (Nolan Gould) had been arrested. It turns out that he sneaked out with Phil’s car and got caught driving without a licence.

Phil punishes Luke by grounding him and making him work to pay off the $300 fine. Claire points out that she actually likes that Luke is showing off a little rebellious streak. Phil takes this the wrong way and is offended that Claire doesn’t want his kids to grow up more like him. He thinks that his wife doesn’t find him dangerous and exciting enough.

While Phil and Claire are on the way to get the impounded car, they spot their daughter, Alex (Ariel Winter), entering a liquor store. She gets into a sketchy-looking van and they follow her. The two of them are freaked out and they start to worry about what their kids are up to.

They lose the van during the chase but they are surprised to find it parked on their driveway. They confront Alex in her room and Phil immediately goes for the closet. True enough, a boy is hiding there, and Phil punches him in the face without hesitation.

Unfortunately, it’s only Reuben (Spenser McNeil), Alex’s nerdy new boyfriend. Alex freaks out about her parents’ behaviour, and they start accusing her of being shady. When they question her about the liquor store, it turns out that she was only getting ice for Reuben’s sprained ankle.

Luckily, despite a broken nose, Reuben is fine. Claire gives Phil some assurance that he’s man enough for her and he doesn’t need to worry about looking manly enough. Incidentally, the ducks that he hatched in a previous episode, finally start following him around instead of Claire.

Elsewhere, Mitch (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cam (Eric Stonestreet) sell hot sauce at the farmer’s market with dismal results. To add insult to injury, their annoying rivals, Andrew and Simon, make a killing with their artisanal trout jerky.

Simon offers Mitch a job at his firm and Mitch is on the fence about accepting it. He is desperate for cash flow but he knows that he will suffer if he needs to work under Simon. He is also considering putting up his own firm, but he knows it’s a big risk.

At the Delgado-Pritchett household, Jay Pritchett (Ed O'Neill) tries to record a video for his appearance at the Titans of Industry Awards. He tries to think of the right thing to say, and Mitch and his wife Gloria (Sofia Vergara) give him some inspiration.

Over dinner, Mitch and Cam discover that Gloria’s heirloom hot sauce is worlds better than the one that they were trying to sell. Cam becomes competitive and destroys Gloria’s recipe. Later, he has a change of heart and talks her into recalling the recipe. He encourages her to recreate the sauce and sell it at the market.

When Mitch brings up the idea of putting up his new firm, Jay says he doubts that Mitch can do it. He suggests that his son should just accept the job offer from the lousy boss. At the same time, Gloria brings up her business idea for her sauce.

Jay puts them down and they both end up pushing ahead with their business ideas, just to prove him wrong. The incident inspires Jay to use that as his message for his video. “When someone tells you that you can’t do something, it helps drive you,” he concludes.

Elsewhere, Haley (Sarah Hyland) and Dylan (Reid Ewing) run into Beth and Andy at the movies. Haley sees that Andy is no longer hung up on her and she asks him about it. Andy explains how he’s moved forward with his relationship with Beth. This shakes up Haley and she begins to reconsider her own relationship. She breaks up with Dylan after she concludes that their relationship has not been progressing in the right direction.

“Modern Family” airs every Wednesday at 9 pm ET on ABC.

Contact the writer at feedback@ibtimes.com.au or leave a comment below.