Modern Family series finale recap: How does it all end?

After 12 years, 11 seasons, 250 episodes, 22 Emmys, and forever changing the landscape of TV, ABC’s superhit sitcom Modern Family came to a bittersweet end with a two-hour series finale event on Wednesday.

“Life is full of change. Some big, some small. I learned a long time ago you can fight it or you can try to make the best of it. And that’s all a little easier if you’ve got people who love you helping you face whatever life throws at you,” said Jay in the bittersweet emotional final moments of Modern Family, where the characters embarked in new journeys while everything came full circle.

The episode picks up few weeks after Mitch and Cam have adopted their new baby boy who they named after the street of the house they just moved in, Rexford. Mitch seems happier than ever, and they seem to be loving their new life here, although Cam soon finds out that he’s gotten his dream job as a football coach in Missouri. But even though Cam really wants to take this job, he doesn’t want to disappoint Mitch and decides to turn it down without even telling him about it.

But knowing Cam, we were all wondering how long he will be able to last before spitting it out. In a dramatic classic Modern Family scene where Mitch expresses his gratitude and feeling towards Cam for pushing for the baby and the house and for everything that’s the reason behind how happy he is, Cam reveals everything and Mitch decides that this is his chance to give up something for Cam and support his dream and thus the Pritchetts are officially moving to Missouri.

Meanwhile, it’s been way too crowded at the Dunphys where Phil and Claire ask their kids to decide which one of them should move out even though none of them wanted to leave. But after they heard the news that Mitch and Cam were leaving, they decided that they are losing enough family as it is and none of their kids should move out just yet.

Although it is too late as the Dunphy kids are already getting ready to embark on their own adventures, Alex’s research team is moving to Switzerland. And romance is on the horizon for Alex and Arvin.

And apparently, Cam and Mitch put in a good word for Hailey and Dylan who will be moving into their old place. And who would have thought? But Luke got accepted to the University of Oregon! This is a big change for Claire and Phil, who will be all alone for the first time ever since they had Hailey six months into their marriage.

In an emotional scene delivered fantastically by Ty and Julie, they too decide that maybe its time for them to start their new adventure together and go on the cross country trip that they always wanted to go on and get selfies with the mascots of all the major league baseball teams.

For Gloria, it’s the perfect time to go out in the world and conquer it without any guilt of not being able to take care of everybody while Jay stays at home and holds down the fort. Jay is also learning Spanish so that he can go on a vacation together to Colombia with Gloria and Joe, and it is truly a full-circle moment when he surprises Gloria with his new skill.

Manny is going on his own personal year-long adventure. But not before saying a proper goodbye to Luke, when Luke asks him about the fact that he never wrote a poem a for him. He answers by saying, “Don’t you get it? They were all for you.” Talk about full-circle moments.

Before the episode ends, and everybody goes on their own adventures. We see the entire ensemble gathered around at Phil and Claire’s to say their final goodbyes to Mitch and Cam before they head out.

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This was one of the most impactful scenes of the entire show, as they are all hugging and crying, and as even we were crying looking at our screens, and we assume pretty much everybody who has been a fan for so long burst into tears when Jay said that both of his sons are leaving.

Although this wasn’t their final goodbye as Mitch and Cam’s flight is delayed countless times where we get to see some really wholesome moments like the Dunphy kids getting all emotional about leaving each other and recreating the Woofie video.

Soon, it is time for their final goodbyes and the tears started running high as Gloria asks that why is it so hard even when they have done this like seven times already and Jay answers, “Because not everybody gets to have what we have.” This is it for now.

They don’t know when they will be together again, and even in the world full of revivals and reboots, we might never see them ever again. This is it. Saying goodbye to a TV show like Modern Family that has personally inspired you so much and has been there for you for such a long time is hard.

And we’ll never forget Modern Family, we can surely say that there are gonna be countless rewatches for us, because to fans like us it really was comfort food. It was a happy place.

The final scene was of the Dunphy house with its porch light still on, which was a callback to what Phil said earlier in the episode to the heartbroken Claire about their kids leaving, he told her to leave the porch light on. “They come back,” he said.

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