Grill, Interrupted

Gathering at Jay's (Ed O'Neill) house for his birthday, Claire (Julie Bowen) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) decide to pay their father back the money he loaned them for the down payment on their respective houses. Mitchell intends on using the money that Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) has received from a recently deceased distant relative, and Phil (Ty Burrell) starts to believe the money problems are what have caused the slight rift between himself and Jay. After Phil's present (a new, state-of-the-art barbecue grill) backfires, he, Claire, Mitchell and Cameron all begin arguing in the driveway about the various monetary issues that have surfaced that day.

Luke (Nolan Gould) and Manny (Rico Rodriguez) come up with a plan to steal and drink a bottle of Gloria's (Sofia Vergara) tequila. Before they can take it, she swaps it out with water so she can teach them a lesson, leaving Luke and Manny suffering a placebo intoxication. When they are "drunk" enough, Gloria makes them believe that the bottle of tequila had a deadly worm inside it that probably got drunk by them. The only way to kill the worm once you had drunk it, is by taking an ice cold bath, something that Luke and Manny rush to do. Gloria appears and takes a photo of the boys being in the tub together, threatening them to post it online if they attempt to steal from her or get drunk underage again.

Meanwhile, Andy (Adam Devine) wants to talk to Haley (Sarah Hyland) about his feelings, since it is the first time he will see her after the events of "Closet? You'll Love It!", where Haley told him that he has a shot with her while she thought he was sleeping. Andy is nervous and Haley appearing with her new boyfriend Will (Nick Ballard) does not help the situation. A series of mishaps leaves Andy and Haley in bed together and, later, Haley removing her clothes due to a drink spillage, but Will does not suspect Andy, nor feeling threatened by him. When Haley leaves the room, Will asks Andy to help him come up with a message for a card for Haley, but once Will leaves Haley struggles to read the handwriting. She asks Andy to read it to her and gets frustrated about how clingy Will is already after only two weeks of dating. Haley kisses Andy on the cheek and heads downstairs, leaving him both disappointed and hopeful.

Alex (Ariel Winter) finds out she has been accepted into Caltech, but she is acting strange after her parents' reaction. Claire blames herself for never praising Alex's achievements because she expects them from her, and begins to overtly praise Alex in front of the whole family, leaving Alex embarrassed and irritated. Jay later finds her with a bottle of tequila, the placebo bottle that Gloria swapped out earlier with water, in his new car in the garage. When confronted, Jay explains the bottle of water in the tequila bottle, commenting that drinking will not help her with her problems. Alex expresses worry about being the least intelligent person at her new college and talks about how scared she is. Jay reassures her that she will do great at college and drives her out of the garage into the yard in front of the bickering family. He tells her that the family needs a leader and one day he will not be around to do it anymore, implying that in the future she will be the one to keep the family in check because she is the only one who can do it.

• Afterbuzz's discussion about "Grill, Interrupted" on YouTube
• "Grill, Interrupted" at IMDb
• "Grill, Interrupted" at ABC.com