"Goodnight Gracie" is the 24th and final episode of the fourth season of the American sitcom Modern Family, and the series' 96th episode overall. It aired on May 22, 2013. It was written by Steven Levitan and Jeffrey Richman, and directed by Levitan.

Plot

Phil's (Ty Burrell) mother passes away and the whole family flies to Florida for the funeral.

When they get there, Jay (Ed O'Neill) runs into a woman who seems familiar to him but he cannot put his finger on where he has met the woman before. While talking to her, he remembers that he lost his virginity to her when he was 18 but she has trouble remembering him. Jay tries unsuccessfully to make her remember him, since it is revealed that many boys also lost their virginity to her back then.

An arrest warrant is pending in Florida for Gloria (Sofia Vergara), because after moving and subletting her room in a house there, her roommate turned their apartment into a brothel. Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) agrees to represent her in court, and at Gloria's urging, he ends up negotiating the acquittal of numerous other defendants to the increasing ire of the judge. When he finally comes to represent Gloria, the judge settles the case since she can not stand to hear him anymore. After his success at the court, Mitchell regains confidence in his ability as a criminal defense attorney and wants to return to the court.

Cam (Eric Stonestreet) meets a few residents of the retirement community and when he sees that they have some common interests; subsequently, he spends time with them, talking about books and playing Mahjong. The women are insatiable gossips, just like Cam, and the stories he overhears are proved valuable later.

In the meantime, Phil's mother left gifts with attached notes for Phil and her grandkids, Haley (Sarah Hyland), Alex (Ariel Winter) and Luke (Nolan Gould). In Phil's letter she writes about the last thing she would want him to do for her, which is to set up his father, Frank (Fred Willard), with Annie Fitzsimmons, a woman who is a neighbor of them so he will not be alone. Phil does not like the idea at all, but Claire (Julie Bowen) says that he has to honor his mother's wish, especially since it is her last one. As they arrive to the woman's house, a man answers the door and Claire is left stunned; she then pretends to be selling vacuum cleaners. Later, Cam shares his gossips with Phil and Claire and it is revealed that the man who answered the door earlier was not the woman's boyfriend but in fact her brother. Consequently, Phil heads over to her house with the offer, but it is unknown whether the woman accepted it or not.

Haley's letter was accompanied by a necklace, Luke's by a pocket watch and Alex's by a lighter with a note saying "this is a lighter." Alex, who was very close to her grandmother, is hurt by the seemingly shallow gift. Alex asks Frank about the note, and he notices it is in fact a letter which, in the humid environment in Florida, has become stuck together. In the letter, Gracie tells the story of how she got a hold of the lighter (by stealing it from her favorite actor, Paul Newman, who ate at the restaurant where she was then waitressing) and encourages Alex to "break the rules" sometimes (which she does by setting off fireworks during the funeral even though the memorial service guide specifically asked them to do otherwise).

Reception

References

External links

• "Goodnight Gracie" at IMDb
• "Goodnight Gracie" at ABC.com