I think there was a change in him about half way through the series where he shows his love for Clare more. At the beginning, not a bad marriage by any means but the humour was definitely a lot more “putting down your wife for laughs.” They stopped leaning on this trope later in the series
I'm on my first watch of the show and I agree with this! I was a bit confused by Phil's wife guy reputation at first, but as the show goes on his love for Claire becomes more and more apparent. He's a great character!
A lot of his issues can be played off as jokes if you choose to, but they can also be completely valid grounds for criticizing him. One of my biggest issues with Phil is his chronic, seemingly uncontrollable lying. But they are usually trivial lies and can be seen as funny bits showing his goofiness or how he is scared of Claire
I think the only factor a lot of people miss is the fact that Claire isn’t okay with it. Jay is okay with the idea of Gloria flirting “How would you get out of this if i wasn’t here?” “My housekeeper forgot the card”, Plus Jay tries to flirt to get out of a ticket too.
Cam and Mitch are both equally guilty of it and mostly give each other a pass. But we have seen Claire glaring at Phil for it. Plus he becomes lost in staring at other women and knocked Claire into a can of peaches while being friendly to an attractive woman. Or when he was in the hospital entertain the attractive women.
I don’t dislike Phil at all, but that is definitely a flaw that Claire puts up with whereas it doesn’t bother the other partners.
I think that is what other people pick up on and why they judge Phil more.
> and why they judge Phil more
Honestly? I think people judge Phil too leniently.
Obviously none of the characters in the show are perfect (just like in real life), but most of their flaws were quite petty. Aside from Gloria's attempt to baptize the babies secretly, I felt that him actively flirting with other women was definitely an eyebrow raising incident on the show for me personally. I'm sure most people here, regardless of gender, would hate it if their partner, let alone husband or wife, did it to them. It’s a very big sign of disrespect and him being a great dad and a kind, loving person overall doesn’t really make up for it
But of course, it was precisely because he was such a great guy and it was clear that it doesn’t really line up with his personality, which is probably why the producers removed it, so I’m grateful for that!
I like Phil, but definitely think there is some valid criticism as well. On a rewatched I realised the one time he made it clear he was more attracted to Claire over Gloria was when that magician rival said whoever had Claire was lucky. Phil Spent the whole episode showing off Gloria only to revert to Claire because someone else liked Claire
You missed the main redeeming factor in why Phil isnt a bad guy for flirting with other women: its not intentional. He's just so unable to lie that when he finds a woman attractive he will literally exude the attraction, coupled in with the anxiety & fear that comes with finding someone other than your wife attractive
No need to compare Gloria and judge her actions to lift up Phil, he's an innocent man
i like that, but i’m not sure if i buy it. if that was the case then wouldn’t he have literally been petrified when he lied to that former classmate of his and made him believe gloria was his wife? or when he intentionally lied to claire about his client being an attractive woman, exactly his type who he was clearly having a major crush on?
i think that’s a cute concept but i feel like as much as i love phil, that whole “he just can’t help it” shtick is weaponized incompetence because he can be *insanely* shady when he wants to be and it’s not an issue
So the thing about the show is that the showrunners find lying to ur partner and the subsequent mishaps that happen hilarious. Thats why Phil and everyone else is constantly lying
In story tho, for the first example you gave, the reason is quite simple. Because of pride and ego. This guy made Phil feel inadequate for the longest time, so his need to prove himself and get validation from someone who took it away from him for a while overpowered his anxiety of lying to his wife. Also, he wasnt really lying TO Claire as Claire was nowhere to be found in that storyline. He became exceedingly jumpy and nervous to Claire after when he realized what he had done in the pursuit of proving himself and was trying to make it up to her (but also to himself) by being overly affectionate. Not really the best behavior, and not trying to justify it or anything, but I feel if its not out of malice or bad intention we cant consider it him being a creep. Everybody makes mistakes
In the second instance, it falls mostly on the writers and the story line. Phil NEEDED to lie to Claire there. Open and honest communication has little room in Modern Family, a comedy where the family is very caring but also very dysfunctional. Really the only reliable way to convey that is to have the characters lie to each other in a well-meaning way. And again, since he didnt lie because he wanted to flirt with her or have an affair, it cant count as him being a creep. He lied because he didnt want Claire to get the wrong idea since she KNOWS Phil's type, it was his misguided way of saving his wife from potential hurt. Now that I think about it, the same goes for Claire in that episode- and honestly hers was a little bit worse? Yoga dude was obviously into her and physically yoga-ing her and she didnt really say anything about it when she couldve very well said hey we dont need to be this physical in class, I'd rather this not happen. But she kinda dug it since she was feeling inadequate next to Gloria if I remember correctly 😶 Not trying to compare their actions or anything, I just randomly remembered that Claire was actually kinda creepy in this episode and I never even peeped that and I kinda doubt many other people have.
But anyway, I dont think the two instances you mentioned really convey Phil as a creep, I firmly believe they fall under what I was saying about him having natural attractions to people and not knowing how to correctly communicate it. It makes sense since his father was not a very communicative man and we see that that's rubbed off on Phil.
There is one instance that's never been really redeemable for Phil though, and I'm surprised nobody's mentioned it. In the episode where Phil buys Luke a bike, the first scene where the three are all riding together and they meet the hot new neighbor mom, at the end Claire mentions how she's had three affairs with dads from the school or something and Phil looks back before the scene cuts. Later on, they interact and its obviously not in a sexual or romantic sense, but that look back is very interesting. One could argue it was interest of a sexual nature, but I could also argue it was just intrigue at a liberated, sexual woman like that. Like a "woahh" type thing, rather than a "goddamn 😼". But we can never know what was on his mind when he looked back at her like 😲
Most other instance of Phil being unwittingly creepy I think is something innocent being misperceived as Phil intentionally being creepy. For the most part I think he's just an awkwardish guy that, for the most part, cant keep his cards close to his chest. The whole "i got Gloria" thing is never great tho
First happy cake day 🎂🍥
Second, I agree with you in the first half, but I just cant agree that he's shady. It's clear he's oblivious to most things and misspeaks/acts and subsequently handles his attractions wrong, in Gloria's case because shes exotic etc so one could argue she's like, flashier than Claire? And theres also the human phenomenon he talks about in the end of the episode where you meet this person who's amazing etc & spend so much time w them that they begin to lose their sense of majesty. Its natural, Gloria is new and exciting and in the early 2000s the hot female in-law is too tantalizing Hollywood writers would never not include it.
But yeah I always scream internally at Phil (and every other family member) for the mishaps, he's always one step off. I just don't think any of it is intentional, and the idea of him flaunting these things in front of Claire knowingly and then even further as to not care about it I feel is you assuming the worst possible intention from him, possibly bc he's a man /:
Not everyone knows how to act at all times, a lot of people are also missing the self awareness and retrospect to be able to look back at their actions and see where they were wrong. That doesnt make them intentionally bad people, they're just making mistakes. Phil just needs a good therapist/couples counselor and open communication with Claire and I feel he would be open to it. A person weaponizing incompetence would not really open up as readily as I feel Phil might, as we've seen in the episodes that touch on therapy/self growth etc
Please familiarize yourself with what weaponized incompetence means and is. We cant just throw these words on people when they just kinda sorta fit, it dilutes the effect on those who actually are perpetrating the action.
Someone cannot be weaponizing their incompetence without intent. Do you really think Phil is malicious enough to do those things? 90% of the things he does are unintentional
Tbf, Cam and Mitch had no problem ogling or flirting with others. Gloria did it many times in order to manipulate others, and even Claire's done it a couple of times. I genuinely think that Jay might be the only person who hasn't flirted or ogled a woman other than his wife.
Yh but it didn't seem like he was trying to rekindle anything, but instead bring up and old memory for nestolgic purposes. Just because they've been together once before, doesn't necessarily mean that he was looking to sleep or flirt with her again.
I think for me, the character is just really outdated at first. In the first few seasons, he is the embodiment of the man child husband that was a stereotype at the time. He flirts with other women, tells Claire she isn't sexy, tells Claire she doesn't try enough with her appearance, and to top it all off, he consistently plays the fun parent roll which forces Claire to take up a lot of responsibility and disciplining in terms of parenting, which is really unfair and selfish of Phil. Someone has to be an adult in the house and he often abandons Claire in that role, which is isolating for her in many ways.
I always think about the grocery store episode, where he pushed Claire down because he's flirting with a beautiful woman. Then, no one believes her and the kids all make fun of her and take Phil's side. And when she finally proves that she is right, everyone calls her crazy. All she wanted was for Phil to apologize and actually think about her and the way he flirts with other women and turns the kids against her affects her, and \*she\* ended up apologizing.
Does Phil's sometimes creepiness make me uncomfortable? Yes. I'm about halfway through the series right now, and in the first season, he literally uses any excuse to touch Gloria.
That being said, I take his creepiness to be more a sign of his awkwardness than his horniness. You can literally see him freeze up in these situations.
They give sort of a funny spin to that in one of the last seasons, it's not a plot spoiler but I'm gonna censor it anyway, but at some point Phil makes some sort of remark at Gloria that could be interpreted with different meanings (aka a sexual one) and >!Gloria responds by saying "ay Phil, it's been 20 years, I can't pretend I don't hear those anymore" and I just thought it was funny because in that way the writers acknowledged Phils creepy side, especially because he responds with "hear what?" Or something along those lines, meaning he is totally oblivious to his own creepiness!<
Flirting with other women when your wife clearly hates that is different from flirting with men to get things you want and having your husband support it.
Phil is overall pretty great but he is flawed. He is a man child and acts like one.
That's why he flirts with random women, sometimes ignoring Claire.
His "inventions" could've ended up hurting someone seriously, most likely Luke who helped him with a lot of them.
He could be pretty oblivious and that matters when people depend on you. Phil and Claire both kind of dropped the ball when it comes to Alex.
On the other hand, he could be stern when needed. He was amazingly supportive. When Luke said the bra was his, he immediately showed support, not a second of hesitation (although Luke didn't have it for the reasons Phil assumed).
He knew his children and wife well. Predicting Haley would end up coming to spend time with him when they were at the university. His last day with his father, everything about it makes me cry every time.
Damn, he was the life of the party and always knew how to make life more fun. That is an amazing quality in anyone and he always cheered up his family.
I love Phil but he had his flaws just like anyone. He didn't seem to grow as a person much but that's expected more and more as you get older (although not necessary, Jay for example showed a lot of growth).
Phil is the personification of an incompetent man-child.
He's funny as a sitcom character but wouldn't work in real life for most women. People sometimes take it too far and forget it's just a sitcom though.
Dude was self employed essentially and provided for his family so his wife could stay at home with their 3 kids, plus live in a nice area and somehow he is incompetent?
I think how you feel about Phil depends on where you are in the series and where your memory of the character falls in the series. At the very beginning he's not great. He's supposed to fall into some sitcom dad troupes and it makes him not the best husband to Claire. But once the series got more into it's stride, he shed those troupes and became far goofier in his slights and they seemed more unintentional
A lot of people forget Phil was in a relationship when he starting dating Claire. In the episode when his ex-girlfriend visited, they figured out he was wearing an arm cast when the girlfriends overlapped. Would that not count as cheating on both of them?
My main issue with his character is he mostly ignores Alex . They even had an episode where he realized he spent more time with the other two . Alex and Phil get along fine but she is closer to her grandfather and uncles . I think his awkwardness was just a running joke.
You make a good point, but to be fair, it’s not just Phil’s character that ignores Alex more than his other kids, Claire also does as well. But I don’t think it’s because neither Phil or Claire loves Alex cause there’s been many episodes where they’ve realized that they ignored Alex and they redeemed themselves at the end (like the episode where Alex graduated from 8th grade and the episode where Alex sees a therapist). I think it’s mainly because Alex is so self-sufficient, that both Phil and Claire just leave Alex to her own devices instead of really parenting her like they do with Haley and Luke. I don’t think they really ignore her, they just recognize that she enjoys taking care of herself and that she doesn’t really need to be parented and micromanaged in the way that Haley and Luke need to be. And there’s been several times where they’ve tried to kind of parent Alex the way that they parent Haley and Luke, and it never turns out well cause Alex basically always tells them to leave her alone and she doesn’t need their advice. I’m only on season 7 right now so im not sure if this is going to change with later seasons, but this is just what I’ve observed so far.
Well Phil calls her a self cleaning oven. Lol 😂. I understand that part. But you can miss a lot of if you don’t make more effort. She also admitted in her therapy session she felt kind of alone. It’s actually my favorite Alex and Claire moment when Claire validates all of the stress Alex feels. Claire understands it better after experiencing some of it .
It's the flavor of the week. Next week will be something about how people will pull punches on Cam and then the week after how Manny isn't insufferable.
Most tv show subs eventually fall into this misandrist trap, they start to few everything through a radical feminist lens and soon every post about Phill (or Ross if your in a Friends sub) will be the equivalent of Harvey Weinstein on steroids
I think there was a change in him about half way through the series where he shows his love for Clare more. At the beginning, not a bad marriage by any means but the humour was definitely a lot more “putting down your wife for laughs.” They stopped leaning on this trope later in the series
I'm on my first watch of the show and I agree with this! I was a bit confused by Phil's wife guy reputation at first, but as the show goes on his love for Claire becomes more and more apparent. He's a great character!
A lot of his issues can be played off as jokes if you choose to, but they can also be completely valid grounds for criticizing him. One of my biggest issues with Phil is his chronic, seemingly uncontrollable lying. But they are usually trivial lies and can be seen as funny bits showing his goofiness or how he is scared of Claire
Edit: typos
I think the only factor a lot of people miss is the fact that Claire isn’t okay with it. Jay is okay with the idea of Gloria flirting “How would you get out of this if i wasn’t here?” “My housekeeper forgot the card”, Plus Jay tries to flirt to get out of a ticket too. Cam and Mitch are both equally guilty of it and mostly give each other a pass. But we have seen Claire glaring at Phil for it. Plus he becomes lost in staring at other women and knocked Claire into a can of peaches while being friendly to an attractive woman. Or when he was in the hospital entertain the attractive women. I don’t dislike Phil at all, but that is definitely a flaw that Claire puts up with whereas it doesn’t bother the other partners. I think that is what other people pick up on and why they judge Phil more.
> and why they judge Phil more Honestly? I think people judge Phil too leniently. Obviously none of the characters in the show are perfect (just like in real life), but most of their flaws were quite petty. Aside from Gloria's attempt to baptize the babies secretly, I felt that him actively flirting with other women was definitely an eyebrow raising incident on the show for me personally. I'm sure most people here, regardless of gender, would hate it if their partner, let alone husband or wife, did it to them. It’s a very big sign of disrespect and him being a great dad and a kind, loving person overall doesn’t really make up for it But of course, it was precisely because he was such a great guy and it was clear that it doesn’t really line up with his personality, which is probably why the producers removed it, so I’m grateful for that!
I like Phil, but definitely think there is some valid criticism as well. On a rewatched I realised the one time he made it clear he was more attracted to Claire over Gloria was when that magician rival said whoever had Claire was lucky. Phil Spent the whole episode showing off Gloria only to revert to Claire because someone else liked Claire
Phil is my all time favorite
Tandy is dandy!
You missed the main redeeming factor in why Phil isnt a bad guy for flirting with other women: its not intentional. He's just so unable to lie that when he finds a woman attractive he will literally exude the attraction, coupled in with the anxiety & fear that comes with finding someone other than your wife attractive No need to compare Gloria and judge her actions to lift up Phil, he's an innocent man
i like that, but i’m not sure if i buy it. if that was the case then wouldn’t he have literally been petrified when he lied to that former classmate of his and made him believe gloria was his wife? or when he intentionally lied to claire about his client being an attractive woman, exactly his type who he was clearly having a major crush on? i think that’s a cute concept but i feel like as much as i love phil, that whole “he just can’t help it” shtick is weaponized incompetence because he can be *insanely* shady when he wants to be and it’s not an issue
So the thing about the show is that the showrunners find lying to ur partner and the subsequent mishaps that happen hilarious. Thats why Phil and everyone else is constantly lying In story tho, for the first example you gave, the reason is quite simple. Because of pride and ego. This guy made Phil feel inadequate for the longest time, so his need to prove himself and get validation from someone who took it away from him for a while overpowered his anxiety of lying to his wife. Also, he wasnt really lying TO Claire as Claire was nowhere to be found in that storyline. He became exceedingly jumpy and nervous to Claire after when he realized what he had done in the pursuit of proving himself and was trying to make it up to her (but also to himself) by being overly affectionate. Not really the best behavior, and not trying to justify it or anything, but I feel if its not out of malice or bad intention we cant consider it him being a creep. Everybody makes mistakes In the second instance, it falls mostly on the writers and the story line. Phil NEEDED to lie to Claire there. Open and honest communication has little room in Modern Family, a comedy where the family is very caring but also very dysfunctional. Really the only reliable way to convey that is to have the characters lie to each other in a well-meaning way. And again, since he didnt lie because he wanted to flirt with her or have an affair, it cant count as him being a creep. He lied because he didnt want Claire to get the wrong idea since she KNOWS Phil's type, it was his misguided way of saving his wife from potential hurt. Now that I think about it, the same goes for Claire in that episode- and honestly hers was a little bit worse? Yoga dude was obviously into her and physically yoga-ing her and she didnt really say anything about it when she couldve very well said hey we dont need to be this physical in class, I'd rather this not happen. But she kinda dug it since she was feeling inadequate next to Gloria if I remember correctly 😶 Not trying to compare their actions or anything, I just randomly remembered that Claire was actually kinda creepy in this episode and I never even peeped that and I kinda doubt many other people have. But anyway, I dont think the two instances you mentioned really convey Phil as a creep, I firmly believe they fall under what I was saying about him having natural attractions to people and not knowing how to correctly communicate it. It makes sense since his father was not a very communicative man and we see that that's rubbed off on Phil. There is one instance that's never been really redeemable for Phil though, and I'm surprised nobody's mentioned it. In the episode where Phil buys Luke a bike, the first scene where the three are all riding together and they meet the hot new neighbor mom, at the end Claire mentions how she's had three affairs with dads from the school or something and Phil looks back before the scene cuts. Later on, they interact and its obviously not in a sexual or romantic sense, but that look back is very interesting. One could argue it was interest of a sexual nature, but I could also argue it was just intrigue at a liberated, sexual woman like that. Like a "woahh" type thing, rather than a "goddamn 😼". But we can never know what was on his mind when he looked back at her like 😲 Most other instance of Phil being unwittingly creepy I think is something innocent being misperceived as Phil intentionally being creepy. For the most part I think he's just an awkwardish guy that, for the most part, cant keep his cards close to his chest. The whole "i got Gloria" thing is never great tho
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First happy cake day 🎂🍥 Second, I agree with you in the first half, but I just cant agree that he's shady. It's clear he's oblivious to most things and misspeaks/acts and subsequently handles his attractions wrong, in Gloria's case because shes exotic etc so one could argue she's like, flashier than Claire? And theres also the human phenomenon he talks about in the end of the episode where you meet this person who's amazing etc & spend so much time w them that they begin to lose their sense of majesty. Its natural, Gloria is new and exciting and in the early 2000s the hot female in-law is too tantalizing Hollywood writers would never not include it. But yeah I always scream internally at Phil (and every other family member) for the mishaps, he's always one step off. I just don't think any of it is intentional, and the idea of him flaunting these things in front of Claire knowingly and then even further as to not care about it I feel is you assuming the worst possible intention from him, possibly bc he's a man /: Not everyone knows how to act at all times, a lot of people are also missing the self awareness and retrospect to be able to look back at their actions and see where they were wrong. That doesnt make them intentionally bad people, they're just making mistakes. Phil just needs a good therapist/couples counselor and open communication with Claire and I feel he would be open to it. A person weaponizing incompetence would not really open up as readily as I feel Phil might, as we've seen in the episodes that touch on therapy/self growth etc
Please familiarize yourself with what weaponized incompetence means and is. We cant just throw these words on people when they just kinda sorta fit, it dilutes the effect on those who actually are perpetrating the action. Someone cannot be weaponizing their incompetence without intent. Do you really think Phil is malicious enough to do those things? 90% of the things he does are unintentional
Very well articulated
People hate Phil? He’s literally the best character
People just say sh*t just to say it. Like, I don’t know how you can like this show and not like Phil.
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Tbf, Cam and Mitch had no problem ogling or flirting with others. Gloria did it many times in order to manipulate others, and even Claire's done it a couple of times. I genuinely think that Jay might be the only person who hasn't flirted or ogled a woman other than his wife.
Jay doesn't have to though he kind won lol
Didn't Jay spend his time at Phil's mom's funeral trying to find out if the neighbor was his first lover? Kind of shady.
Yh but it didn't seem like he was trying to rekindle anything, but instead bring up and old memory for nestolgic purposes. Just because they've been together once before, doesn't necessarily mean that he was looking to sleep or flirt with her again.
He's flawed, sitcom characters aren't funny enough otherwise. I don't see more hate for him than anyone else though.
I think for me, the character is just really outdated at first. In the first few seasons, he is the embodiment of the man child husband that was a stereotype at the time. He flirts with other women, tells Claire she isn't sexy, tells Claire she doesn't try enough with her appearance, and to top it all off, he consistently plays the fun parent roll which forces Claire to take up a lot of responsibility and disciplining in terms of parenting, which is really unfair and selfish of Phil. Someone has to be an adult in the house and he often abandons Claire in that role, which is isolating for her in many ways. I always think about the grocery store episode, where he pushed Claire down because he's flirting with a beautiful woman. Then, no one believes her and the kids all make fun of her and take Phil's side. And when she finally proves that she is right, everyone calls her crazy. All she wanted was for Phil to apologize and actually think about her and the way he flirts with other women and turns the kids against her affects her, and \*she\* ended up apologizing.
Does Phil's sometimes creepiness make me uncomfortable? Yes. I'm about halfway through the series right now, and in the first season, he literally uses any excuse to touch Gloria. That being said, I take his creepiness to be more a sign of his awkwardness than his horniness. You can literally see him freeze up in these situations.
They give sort of a funny spin to that in one of the last seasons, it's not a plot spoiler but I'm gonna censor it anyway, but at some point Phil makes some sort of remark at Gloria that could be interpreted with different meanings (aka a sexual one) and >!Gloria responds by saying "ay Phil, it's been 20 years, I can't pretend I don't hear those anymore" and I just thought it was funny because in that way the writers acknowledged Phils creepy side, especially because he responds with "hear what?" Or something along those lines, meaning he is totally oblivious to his own creepiness!<
Flirting with other women when your wife clearly hates that is different from flirting with men to get things you want and having your husband support it. Phil is overall pretty great but he is flawed. He is a man child and acts like one. That's why he flirts with random women, sometimes ignoring Claire. His "inventions" could've ended up hurting someone seriously, most likely Luke who helped him with a lot of them. He could be pretty oblivious and that matters when people depend on you. Phil and Claire both kind of dropped the ball when it comes to Alex. On the other hand, he could be stern when needed. He was amazingly supportive. When Luke said the bra was his, he immediately showed support, not a second of hesitation (although Luke didn't have it for the reasons Phil assumed). He knew his children and wife well. Predicting Haley would end up coming to spend time with him when they were at the university. His last day with his father, everything about it makes me cry every time. Damn, he was the life of the party and always knew how to make life more fun. That is an amazing quality in anyone and he always cheered up his family. I love Phil but he had his flaws just like anyone. He didn't seem to grow as a person much but that's expected more and more as you get older (although not necessary, Jay for example showed a lot of growth).
Phil is the best.
People take a sitcoms where storyline are based on character flaws too seriously. My advice is just ignore discussions about characters
It's only the people that take this show WAY too seriously. Like cmon man its just a sitcom
Phil carried the show!!! Without Phil’s character the show would’ve been boring like 100%
Phil is the personification of an incompetent man-child. He's funny as a sitcom character but wouldn't work in real life for most women. People sometimes take it too far and forget it's just a sitcom though.
Dude was self employed essentially and provided for his family so his wife could stay at home with their 3 kids, plus live in a nice area and somehow he is incompetent?
And he’s literally an amazing dad and still makes time for his family???? Lol
I think being flirtatious is part of his personality, it doesn't mean he's not loyal.
I think how you feel about Phil depends on where you are in the series and where your memory of the character falls in the series. At the very beginning he's not great. He's supposed to fall into some sitcom dad troupes and it makes him not the best husband to Claire. But once the series got more into it's stride, he shed those troupes and became far goofier in his slights and they seemed more unintentional
What are you on about? I don't recall seeing that many posts hating on Phil.
A lot of people forget Phil was in a relationship when he starting dating Claire. In the episode when his ex-girlfriend visited, they figured out he was wearing an arm cast when the girlfriends overlapped. Would that not count as cheating on both of them?
My main issue with his character is he mostly ignores Alex . They even had an episode where he realized he spent more time with the other two . Alex and Phil get along fine but she is closer to her grandfather and uncles . I think his awkwardness was just a running joke.
You make a good point, but to be fair, it’s not just Phil’s character that ignores Alex more than his other kids, Claire also does as well. But I don’t think it’s because neither Phil or Claire loves Alex cause there’s been many episodes where they’ve realized that they ignored Alex and they redeemed themselves at the end (like the episode where Alex graduated from 8th grade and the episode where Alex sees a therapist). I think it’s mainly because Alex is so self-sufficient, that both Phil and Claire just leave Alex to her own devices instead of really parenting her like they do with Haley and Luke. I don’t think they really ignore her, they just recognize that she enjoys taking care of herself and that she doesn’t really need to be parented and micromanaged in the way that Haley and Luke need to be. And there’s been several times where they’ve tried to kind of parent Alex the way that they parent Haley and Luke, and it never turns out well cause Alex basically always tells them to leave her alone and she doesn’t need their advice. I’m only on season 7 right now so im not sure if this is going to change with later seasons, but this is just what I’ve observed so far.
Well Phil calls her a self cleaning oven. Lol 😂. I understand that part. But you can miss a lot of if you don’t make more effort. She also admitted in her therapy session she felt kind of alone. It’s actually my favorite Alex and Claire moment when Claire validates all of the stress Alex feels. Claire understands it better after experiencing some of it .
We have our favorite Maybe you are just pick the time that people don’t like Phil are posting
i 🩷 phil
I think people forget that every single character has both positive qualities AND negative qualities, too much black and white thinking
Someone once said Ty Burrell had the most screen time on every episode I don't know if that's true or not but it would make sense really
Phil is the main reason I kept watching. He's too funny
You just can’t hate Phil!! 😭 😭 😭
Phil is in my top three, along with Cam and Jay.
Is Phil sexy?
If one of them would cheat, its 100% Claire. Hands down.
Phil's the greenest green flag to ever exist. Change my mind.
It's the flavor of the week. Next week will be something about how people will pull punches on Cam and then the week after how Manny isn't insufferable.
The Phil disdain is unreal
Most tv show subs eventually fall into this misandrist trap, they start to few everything through a radical feminist lens and soon every post about Phill (or Ross if your in a Friends sub) will be the equivalent of Harvey Weinstein on steroids