Out of all the characters on Modern Family, Alex Dunphy has the hardest time. Nobody really appreciates her as they continuously mock her for her lack of social life, make her feel ashamed for being smart, yet still reap the rewards of her job. It’s no wonder Alex tries to get her revenge on them.
However, Alex can cross the line herself when she takes a joke too far and intentionally hurts her family. From her and Ben’s erotic body painting to the Senior Ditch Day incident, keep reading to discover the worst things Alex did to her family.
The erotic body painting
Alex and Claire were got into it after the science fanatic decided to date Claire’s assistant, Ben. Instead of talking to her mother like any mature person would, Alex decides to get revenge on Claire by using the erotic paint kit the former CEO won at a bachelorette party.
Not only does she make Ben uncomfortable but the awkwardness increases when Claire decides to hang it on the wall. Phil decides to put a stop to the fight when Alex and Claire continue to use Ben in their fight. It looked petty and childish.
Forgetting Mitch’s birthday
It’s an easy mistake to make to forget your friend’s birthday because they are people who can just come and go. However, to forget the birthday of your close family is a little unforgivable. Especially when it is your supposedly favorite uncle.
In the episode “Playdates,” Alex, Haley, and Luke try and give Mitchell a perfect day after the lawyer cashes in a homemade coupon they gave him as a belated birthday gift. They decide to spend the day taking a tour of celebrity homes, visiting Barbara Streisand’s and Ray Liotta’s. However, they soon apologize when the day goes awry. Considering Alex prides herself on her organization skills, she should have hung her head in shame.
The Birthday party incident
We all know Alex is a perfectionist. She strives to be the best and has strong ambitions for the future. However, sometimes she places too much pressure on herself and lashes out at those around her. This is most evident in “Under Pressure” when Alex visits a therapist after she has a breakdown at her birthday party.
The family feels like they have to walk on eggshells around her when she is in study mode, so they arrange to have a short sweet 16 party for her. Instead of appreciating the gesture, Alex lashes out at her family for pulling her away from her studies. She didn’t even apologize the next day.
The Senior Ditch Day incident
Again, Alex’s perfectionist attitude comes out once more when she decides to ditch Senior Ditch Day to work on her college application forms. However, Haley, Phil, and Luke decide to trick her into celebrating the day, first stopping off at an old theatre Phil helped to build.
While Luke and Phil try to retrieve a slab with Haley and Alex’s handprints, the sisters get into a fight when Alex plans to ditch them all to go back to school. Everyone knows that Alex was desperate to get to college but that didn’t mean she had to make her family feel like she wanted to get away from them.
Used Claire for money
Teen Alex proved she could be as ruthless as she is now when she made Claire feel like an embarrassment. In the episode “Benched,” Claire decides to take Alex shopping and spend some time with her. However, Alex requests that Claire should leave when she spots her friends in the mall.
After Claire makes her feelings known, Alex apologizes and says that she still loves her. Yet, once again, this proves to be a ploy to try and get some money out of her. It does seem to work until Claire decides to get her back at the student and embarrasses her in front of her friends. What goes around comes around.
The job interview incident
The way Alex behaves towards her family, one would think she was ashamed of them. A prime example of this being in the episode “Did the Chicken Cross the Road?” when the Dunphys have to participate in a family interview so Alex can procure a job.
Alex seems to be unnerved when Phil and Claire start going off script and rushes to get rid of the interviewer. She then has a go at Haley, bragging about living in the basement and ridiculing Luke’s intelligence (despite his observations proving correct). Luke didn’t even say anything during the interview so it was uncalled for.
Leaving her niece and nephew with a stranger
Alex is known to be one of the most responsible people on the show. However, she made one of the most reckless decisions when she left her niece and nephew in the hands of a stranger. This all came about in “Perfect Pairs” when all the Dunphys offer to babysit Haley’s twins while she has a break.
Alex decides to use the twins to help her complete a job application, with their presence allowing her to use the carpooling lane so she can get to the DMV and the post office. Later on, the viewer finds out that Alex decided to leave the babies with a DMV guard, who ends up giving one baby a bite of his hot dog. Safe to say, she won’t be on babysitting duty for a while.
Not telling her parents she was leaving for college
It’s no secret that the Dunphys don’t appreciate Alex as much as they should. They take advantage of her and then dismiss any concerns that could be going on in her life. It makes sense that she wouldn’t tell them she was leaving. However, wouldn’t it have been better for her to take the high road?
In “The Day Alex Left For College,” the student intentionally gave her parents the wrong admission date because she didn’t want them to make a big deal. She also only allocated them with 5-second hugs as part of their goodbyes, which Claire took great advantage of. It was a bit heartbreaking to see Claire and Phil’s faces drop when they realized they couldn’t see her off.
Ridicules her family’s intelligence
We all know that Alex is the most intelligent member of the Dunphy-Pritchett-Tucker clan because she never lets anyone forget it. Especially her own family, who are mocked by the science fanatic for being less intelligent than her. Remember when she convinced Haley that rubbing the battery on her head could charge her phone?
Or the time she went over-the-top with celebrations when she won a scrabble game against Luke and Claire? While anyone would be proud of all her achievements and accomplishments, it’s understandable why they become frustrated with her when she becomes condescending and snotty.
Told Luke he was adopted
Alex played a lot of tricks on Luke when he was younger, but the cruelest one had to be when she told him he was adopted. This came about in “Truth Be Told” when Alex decides to get revenge on Luke after he embarrassed her in front of their family.
When Phil reveals his ex-girlfriend is coming to visit, Alex uses this knowledge to her advantage and tells Luke that Denise is her real mother. She also tells him that Denise is planning on taking him back with her, leaving Luke terrified in her presence. Even Haley says she’s taking it too far and that’s saying something coming from her.
