Modern Family Episode 3.23 Tableau Vivant

Mitchell has been providing discount legal work for Phil's office as a favor. He's been late with a couple of reports, so everyone thinks he's lazy. Nice guy Phil is looking for a way to gently fire his slacker brother-in-law. As it turns out, Mitch was tardy with those reports on purpose so he would seem less appealing to his temporary colleagues. In other words, he was looking to get out.

When Mitchell shows up at the office, Phil fires him as the elevator doors close. Too bad they don't close all the way. Mitchell is stuck inside the elevator for two hours listening to snide comments from all the office workers. In other news, Luke is getting a medal because he put out a fire at school. It happens to be a mini-inferno that he started. Only Manny knows the truth. He wants Luke to let his conscience be his guide. It's not much for guiding him to a confession.

Jay is very proud to have had a sandwich named after him at a local deli. Gloria doesn't like it. She took only a nibble of the sandwich, but it's the overly-friendly relationship that her hubby has with the waitress, Maxine, that truly leaves a bad taste in her mouth. The woman knows things about Jay that he never shares with Gloria. This leads to a little brouhaha where Gloria learns that Jay believes she can get a little loud on occasion. No problem. Gloria will just stop talking to him altogether.

Claire wants to discipline Lily for repeatedly flicking the light switches on and off in her house. Cameron says they are trying an approach where they don't say "no" to their child. This leads to an argument about parenting methods. Claire believes her point will be made once Lily flips the garbage disposal switch while Cam has his hand caught down the drain. She has a big laugh once Lily makes her move, as it's only a light switch that's flipped.

Alex is trying to impress her art teacher with a living version of a famous painting. She's using her own family to create a picture-perfect portrait of a Norman Rockwell dinner scene. It's supposed to be a silent representation of a loving family. Unfortunately, all of Alex's art models are busy sniping with each other during the show. She ends up getting a B-minus. But at least the teacher got her name right on his disapproving comment.

The entire family is supposed to meet up at the deli to try Jay's sandwich. The separate discussions that take place during the drive over have all the family members reflecting on what's bothering them. Everyone is partially to blame for what went down earlier. That's why everyone makes up by the time they arrive at the restaurant. Gloria orders Jay Pritchett sandwiches for everyone. The whole scene kinda reminds us of a Norman Rockwell painting.