Game Changer (Modern Family)

It is April 3 and Phil's birthday coincides with the launch of the new Apple iPad. Being an early adopter and a technophile, Phil wants to wake up early to get in line for the product at the local Apple store. Claire wants him to have a relaxing birthday so she takes it upon herself to wake up early and go buy the product. She does wake up early, but quickly falls back to sleep on the couch; it is not until the family wakes up and is making breakfast that she manages to sneak out of the house to get in line. However, the local store has sold out by the time she gets there, so she returns empty-handed. After being confronted by Phil, she makes it her mission to get one for the rest of the day. Phil decides to go to the batting cages to cool off and mistakenly believes a child's birthday party is for him – only adding to his unhappiness, so he eats a 'Game changer', (a pancake with bacon and golden syrup) to cheer himself up.

Jay has purchased a chess set for Phil. Jay decides to challenge Manny not knowing that Manny is a good player. Gloria, not wanting Jay to be a sore loser, tells Manny to throw the game. When Jay keeps trying to get Manny to try a child's version of chess, Manny is insulted and challenges Jay to a rematch. Manny states that if he wins, he gets Jay's watch and beats Jay in four moves. Gloria tells Jay she is also an excellent player but lets Jay think he is better. Jay – believing he is winning – decides to call the game because he does not want an unhappy wife while Gloria reveals that she would have beaten him in two moves. She says to the camera "I'm an excellent chess player, but a better wife".

The night before Phil's birthday, Cameron and Mitchell hear a man's voice coming from Lily's room. They believe that it might be a burglar. They then discover that there was no burglar; just a signal accidentally received from a neighboring house by the baby monitor. The next day, Mitchell asks Jay to help him toughen up so that if it actually happens in the future, he can take more appropriate action while Cameron keeps listening to conversations from the baby monitor. He discovers that a misunderstanding may cause a divorce and decides to tell the wife the truth before anything bad happens.

Meanwhile, Claire comes home without an iPad. However, Luke manages to convince a man online that his father was dying and his last wish was an iPad – so the man brought a second iPad over and gave it to Luke to give to Phil. That night, during the party, she brings out the iPad to a delighted Phil.

In the end, Mitchell and Cameron listen to the couple talk about how Cameron must be an angel, but Cameron quickly turns it off when the couple realizes that he may have been a creepy pervert.

The episode was written by Joe Lawson & Alex Herschlag, Joe Lawson's third writing credit and Alex's first writing credit. It was directed by Kevin Sullivan.[1]

The episode includes guest stars Kevin Fry-Bowers as the security guard at the Apple Store, Jason Antoon as Clark, Whitney Claire Kaufman as Sarah, Tyrel Jackson Williams as Little Phil, Harrison White as the postman and Zak Boggan as the kid outside the batting cage.[2] Although the iPad was prominently featured, Apple Inc. did not pay for product placement within this episode.[3]

• "Game Changer" at ABC.com
• "Game Changer" at IMDb