Integrity (Modern Family)

Plot

Jay worries about not having a conventionally masculine son when Manny mourns a girlfriend and Gloria dresses Joe like a girl. Phil, running errands with Jay to get Lily's Princess Castle for Joe, is upset that Claire refuses to let him buy a new Pac-Man game. On the road, the two bond over their difficulties and exchange advice, until Phil misinterprets Jay's words and unties the castle from the car. The castle falls onto the road, where a truck hits and destroys it.

Haley feels disrespected by her boss Gavin Sinclair, who treats his plant better than his employees. Gloria suggests Haley stand up for herself, but Haley notes that Gloria cannot fully understand because Haley lives with her parents and lacks a rich husband. Gloria's choleric personality then forces Gavin to apologize to Haley. Luke feels bad because Manny's girlfriend hit on him, but Claire misinterprets his mood as trouble accepting that Alex receives medals while he gets nothing.

Claire visits Principal Brown, who remembers Alex and Haley but not Luke. When Claire fails to bribe him to give Luke an award, she pushes the car of the Integrity Award winner into a handicapped parking space. The Principal then gives the award to Luke. Luke reveals he did not want an award and had the worst day of his life. Believing Manny is the culprit, Luke prepares to fight him until Claire confesses the truth.

Reception

In its original American broadcast, "Integrity" drew 8.00 million viewers, a drop of 0.85 from the prior episode. Critical reception was mixed. Whitney Evans of TV Fanatic gave it 4/5, noting that while some storylines worked better than others, the episode's many pieces came together nicely by the end. She highlighted the Phil and Jay pairing, calling their dynamic one of the show's strongest and saying she could watch Phil try to high-five Jay repeatedly without it getting old.

Lisa Fernandes of Next Projection rated it 7.5/10, focusing on the Joe plot where Jay reacts to Gloria painting Joe's toenails red and wanting Lily's Princess Castle. She called the gender politics embarrassing but noted decent humor, singling out Ariel Winter for delivering the episode's biggest laugh with Alex's multiple acceptance speeches during the credits. David Kallison of The A.V. Club gave it a C+, also criticizing the Joe storyline. He found it odd that the episode seemed set up to mock Jay's fears but instead sidestepped and partly excused them, calling it a missed chance to address a real, relatable issue and lacking narrative cohesion.