The Dunphy household was dynamic and perhaps the only one of its kind. For 11 seasons, Phil, the patriarch, didn’t really uphold that title as much as his wife, Claire did. Luke (Nolan Gould), their youngest, was a last born in every way, whose view of the world was limited to ‘Why not?’ Alex, the second child, was the smartest of the Dunphys. If she had her way, she would have parented herself. Hailey (Sarah Hyland), on the other hand, was a handful. She fit into the ‘pretty but blonde’ stereotype and some moments were a little more blonde than others:
1. The Time She Mistook A Desk For A MakeUp Table
For someone who was not so book smart, one would assume that Hailey was smart in the streets. That wasn’t the case either. In the middle of the night, Claire ( Julie Bowen) and Phil (Ty Burrell ) got the call that Hailey had gotten herself arrested. Her brush with the law was one hell of a whirlwind since she had one too many mistakes. First, there was underage drinking, which was a typical Hailey thing, then there was assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. Hailey would have gotten away easily since the footage that covered the moment was not so clear, but it didn’t take long before she pulled a ‘Hailey’. Not only did she position herself in a place where the camera could capture her, but she also stated her full name. As a result, even her lawyer, Mitchell ( Jesse Tyler Ferguson) found it hard to defend her. Eventually, Hailey got expelled from school. As she and her parents cleared her belonging, she pointed to a set of keys ‘right there on the makeup table’, a piece of furniture every student would automatically recognize as a desk. School wasn’t really Hailey’s strongest suit.
2. The Time Claire’s Sarcasm Went Over Her Head
One too many times, Hailey proved that alcohol, boys, and makeup rented more space in her head than any other aspect of life. It, therefore, wasn’t a surprise that she once wound up on the kitchen table with a heavy hangover, next to Claire and her more morally upright child, Alex ( Ariel Winter). Hailey did not take into account the fact that Claire could already be mad when she asked whether Dylan ( Reid Ewing) could come and live with them. “ Wondering if it would be okay if he stayed with us for a couple of weeks…” Hailey asked while Claire prepared a hangover cure. “ Sure, you know what? Why don’t you guys take our room?” Claire replied in the most sarcastic tone that flew right past Hailey. She was extremely excited. Knowing Claire and how stern she was, Hailey should have known convincing her mom of such a move wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. “ Awww…” She replied. It took the wit and brains of Alex to finally let her know that Claire’s offer wasn’t really valid.
3. The Time She Thought Her Baby Had Two Hearts
Even though Hailey freaked out about getting pregnant at first, Dylan’s lightheartedness with the situation made her warm up to the idea of being a parent. The pair announced they were expecting at a Christmas gathering, in a way that only Hailey and Dylan could pull off, much to the disappointment of Claire, who was trying to put on a brave face. Once Claire had caught up to speed, she accompanied the couple to the doctor’s. All was good in the beginning. Dylan and the doctor had a little bonding over handling gel, and when the physician began to examine Hailey, she detected a single heartbeat. Within a couple of seconds, a second heartbeat emerged. “ A baby with two hearts? I didn’t know I was pregnant when I ate that brownie.” Hailey said. She wasn’t entirely wrong. Although no single human being can ever be born with two hearts, it’s possible for those who have defective hearts to get ‘two hearts’ through grafting. In the case of Hailey, it was certain that she was expecting twins.
4. The Time She Charged A Phone Battery With Her Hair
Alex and Hailey were opposites who did not attract most of the time. Many a time, Alex, the smarter of the two, pulled a fast one on her sister. Sometimes she was bringing out the insecure side of Hailey at a party, and other times she was outing her to their parents, as she did when she revealed Hailey was not a virgin. The worst prank Alex pulled, however, was when she duped Hailey into thinking she could charge a battery using her hair. The whole family had come to support Manny during a game. Hailey and Alex sat side by side. When Hailey’s phone died, Alex told her that the battery could work with static electricity. “ Just rub it on your hair.” She said. Hailey went on to proceed. After an hour of doing so, she told her mom she’d been ‘charging’ her battery but something was clearly wrong with her phone. When Claire realized it was the doing of Alex, she warned both of her children, only for them to end up fighting.
5. The Time The Future Hailey ‘Wasn’t Pretty’
Nine times out of ten, Claire was the glue that kept the Dunphy family together. She ensured Luke was wearing his pants the right way, Hailey wasn’t sneaking to get to a party and Alex was…with Alex, she had not too much work other than to get her to socialize more. One time, however, it so happened that Claire had to be away at the hospital for a scheduled angiogram. Phil accompanied Claire to the hospital, only to share a room with a patient, Norman (Richard Riehle), who gave them a premonition of what their children would look like when they got older. Norman’s children embodied Hailey, Alex, and Luke as grownups. He agreed with Phil’s philosophy of parenting, which involved letting children be who they are, as opposed to Claire’s strict parenting which didn’t allow Hailey to quit a job just because she was bored. If the grown children were anything to go by, then Phil was the winner at parenting. Claire was wheeled out of the room, only for Phil to learn that the children hadn’t done much with their lives, thanks to Norman’s parenting. Phil frantically called Hailey, telling her not to quit her job. When he mentioned that the call was coming from Hailey’s future, which wasn’t pretty, Hailey asked, “ I don’t understand. In the future, I’m not pretty?” She further inquired whether it was ‘reverse psychiatry.’Sarah Hyland
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