For the past 11 seasons, we’ve watched Luke Dunphy grow up from an enthusiastic little boy to a driven young man in ABC’s Modern Family. As the only son and youngest child in the family, Luke had a special bond with his parents that his two sisters didn’t have. Claire always had a soft spot for Luke, even in his darkest times (something that she would never have whenever Haley got into trouble) and Phil saw Luke as a younger version of himself.
With his parents wrapped around his finger, Luke got into quite a bit of mischief growing up, which made his parents do some pretty wild things in return. Although the final season of Modern Family isn’t quite over yet, we’re taking a look at 10 of the worst moments between Phil, Claire, and good ole’ Luke.
LUKE THREW A PARTY WITHOUT TELLING THEM
In the episode “The Party,” Claire and Gloria are going away for a spa weekend and Phil is going to a movie premiere with Mitchell. With both parents out of the house, Mitchell and Cameron ask Luke and Manny if they can watch Lily, which they accept.
However, after Claire smells something fishy, she leaves the spa weekend and heads back home to interrogate her son and Manny. After searching the house and trying to catch Luke in a lie, it’s finally revealed that he threw a party in the house and everyone was hiding in his bedroom. With the cat out of the bag, Claire was pissed but she was also happy that her motherly intuition was on point.
PHIL FORCED HIS HOBBIES ON LUKE
No matter what happens in life, Luke and Phil will always be close. But when Luke was growing up, Phil tried his hardest to get Luke into the same kinds of things he was interested in (i.e. magic and dance lessons). Luke was intrigued by magic for a while until he grew out of it.
When he told Phil he wanted to quit magic, Phil took the news to heart and refused to accept it. The same thing happened when Luke was of age to begin dance lessons. Phil loved dancing and thought his son would too but when Luke showed a general disinterest in it, Phil secretly signed him up anyway.
LUKE TURNED DOWN HIS FIRST COLLEGE OPPORTUNITY
For as intelligent and successful as Phil and Claire are, two out of three of their children dance to the beat of their own drums. Haley barely got into college and when she did, she got herself kicked out. Alex, of course, successfully went to college and graduated top of her class. Lastly, Luke’s higher education took some time.
After being rejected from every school, Phil decided to have a talk with the dean of his alma matter to make an exception for Luke and it actually worked. The problem is, Luke knew Phil and Claire greased the wheels for his acceptance and turned down his first opportunity at school, something that scared the Dunphys.
PHIL & CLAIRE PUT LUKE IN AN UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATION WITH PAIGE
To be fair, everyone was confused during the whole Paige saga. Luke liked Paige, the viewers thought Paige liked Luke, Luke thought Paige liked him but she actually liked Phil, and Paige thought Claire was accepting of her relationship with her husband. It was a real rollercoaster.
Nevertheless, Luke doesn’t bring too many women home so it was a big deal when he brought Paige over. It was just unfortunate when Phil took matters into his own hands and blew the entire night up into a dramatic event. Even Claire didn’t realize that the things she was saying were actually adding fuel to the fire.
LUKE DISSPEAERED OVERNIGHT
After a night on the town with Manny goes awry, Manny returns to the Dunphy household the following morning looking for Luke. However, he’s not home. Manny finally has the courage to tell Phil that Luke went missing in a bad side of town, sending everyone’s minds into overdrive.
Phil, Manny, and Gloria go back to the area in the daylight and search all day for Luke. After a couple of hours, they finally find him on the rooftop of a business. He apparently got stuck up there while looking for the bathroom and his phone was dead. As a parent, it’s hard not to be mad at your kid for putting them through such turmoil.
PHIL & CLAIRE ENJOYED SPENDING MORE TIME WITH ANDY
Andy quickly became a member of the family when he was hired by Jay and Gloria to be Joe’s nanny. He was sweet, reliable, and great with little Joe. He was also exactly like Phil, which is why Haley and Claire ended up loving him so much.
When Andy wasn’t working, he was typically playing around with Phil and complimenting Claire. They all had a lot in common and he was even interested in real estate. With Luke growing up and looking for independence, he wasn’t spending as much time with his dad. But seeing his dad become BFFs with Andy overnight deeply upset Luke, which led to a hard heart-to-heart about growing up.
LUKE LIED ABOUT HIS WHEREABOUTS
In the fifth season, Luke tells Phil and Claire that he and Manny are going over to their friend’s place. The nosey parents didn’t believe him and tracked his phone, which led them to an old warehouse where Haley says people go to smoke.
Using a drone, Phil and Claire drove to the warehouse and spied on Luke only to find him making a zombie movie with his friends. Phil and Claire knew they were in the wrong immediately and tried escaping but Luke recognized the drone. He later confronted them and was disappointed that they didn’t trust him.
CLAIRE WON HIM AN EMBARRASSING AWARD
It’s the end of the school year and Alex can’t stop bragging about all of the awards she’s going to leave with once she graduates. Fearing for Luke’s self-esteem, Claire heads down to talk to the school’s principal about the possibility of Luke getting an award.
The principal admitted Luke was in the running for the Integrity Award but was right behind Scott Wheeler (whom Claire calls a “nark”). To make sure Luke got the award, she pushed Wheeler’s car into a ’no parking’ zone. However, Luke was humiliated about getting the Integrity Award and was even madder at his mom for making it happen.
LUKE GOT ARRESTED
Could it possibly get any worse for the Dunphys than the time Haley got arrested for underage drinking and assaulting a police officer? Well, kind of.
In the seventh season, Luke was also arrested for driving a car without a license. Luke was more upset about not being able to visit Sarah Fisher than the fact that he got arrested, but it was something that obviously disappointed his parents.
PHIL BECAME UPSET AT LUKE FOR OUTDOING HIM
As the father of the house, Phil is supposed to encourage greatness out of his children. That was a hard thing for him to do, however, when his son started outdoing him in all the activities he loved. Luke began playing full songs on the banjo (something that Phil wanted to be good at but wasn’t) and was even nailing the “Dunphy Tuck” on the trampoline.
The Dunphy Tuck took years for Phil to perfect and he was jealous that his young and able son nailed it on the first try. Luke became confused as to why his dad was mad at him for thriving, which made Phil take a long, hard look in the mirror.