'Modern Family': Your Handy GIF Guide to the Show's Best New Couple
Boy meets girl. They fall in love and live happily ever after.
That is so not how it happened for Modern Family’s Haley (Sarah Hyland) and Andy (Adam DeVine). No, Handy’s path from initial mutual disgust to last week’s doing it on the down low (and subsequent mutual shame) has been far more circuitous than that. For several years, fans have wondered, “Will they or won’t they?” The writers have clearly had fun toying with viewers’ emotions as they’ve gotten hopes up on several occasions, like when Haley set out to stop Andy from proposing to Beth, and dashed them just about as often — including that time when they went on a movie double date and Andy was unaffected by the hits-very-close-to-home dialogue.
Even last week’s about-time hookup was a mixed bag of feelings. On one hand, we’re pretty sure they’re each other’s person, but on the other, Andy is still engaged, and it is hard to root for the other woman and a cheater even if Beth is a psychopath who tried to burn Haley’s hair off. Only time will tell if Andy will break it off with his fiancée, if Haley will stop hesitating and dive headfirst into a more mature coupling, or if Handy ever gets to have that aforementioned happy ending.
While we wait to discover how this will all play out — maybe this week’s installment will be the one where all the problems are solved and questions answered — take a look at our step-by-step GIF guide, which chronicles the love affair more than two and a half seasons in the making.
Meet and Grate
In “The Help” (Season Episode 6), Andy is hired on as Joe’s new nanny. He and Haley, who first pretends to be Alex, immediately butt heads when he catches her rummaging through his employer’s (aka her grandpa’s) fridge, borrowing a beer, and planning to use the pool without permission. It is quickly established that he follows rules and takes his job very seriously, as he threatens to call Jay. She tries to bribe him with her bikini-highlighted cleavage, which won’t work because he is “engaged to be engaged” to his girlfriend of eight years back in Utah. It is Haley, however, who gets the last laugh in round one. When Joe’s cries drift in from the other room, she pounces: “Your boss is calling.” They continue their verbal combat poolside, and as weeks go on, mutual mocking turns into an actual desire to hang out and then more-than-friends feelings start to bubble up in both.
Like Father, Like Son-in-Law?
When Andy decides to do something sweet and over-the-top to prove he’s still into his Coast Guard girlfriend, he enlists the help of gadget geek Phil and his home greenscreen setup in “Other People’s Children” (Season 5, Episode 17). Haley acts like the gesture is lame, but can’t help but feel a tiny twinge of tenderness when Andy uses her as a stand-in and sweeps her off her feet. She later admits to Alex, “It was actually sweet. It’s weird. There’s something about him.” Alex states what everyone in the audience is thinking, “Yeah. He’s just like Dad.” Moment over.
Car Talk
Haley agrees to drive Andy to LAX in “The Wedding, Part 1” (Season 5, Episode 23) so he can go visit Beth. This ends any remaining debate about how she really feels, because driving someone to the airport in L.A. is a bigger commitment than marriage. Andy explains that he is lucky to get to love Beth, and Haley responds that no one will ever talk about her like that. Andy makes her swoon when he declares, “You are pretty, funny, and smart in an original way, so why shouldn’t a guy feel lucky to love you?” Deflecting, she teases, “Shut up. Be normal. No one talks like that.”
Boy in a Café
In a bus on the way to their uncles’ wedding, Alex and Haley have a heart-to-heart and Haley finally admits to herself that she has feelings for Andy and decides to make a move while he is marooned in a coffee shop after his flight is delayed in “The Wedding, Part 2” (Season 5, Episode 24). She explains that she has been the “Beth” and Andy deserves better, so he should skip the trip.
Missed Connection
Hours later, after Haley returns to the wedding and ever-wise Alex points out the damage she could do if she toys with Andy’s feelings (“You get over nerds much faster than we get over you”), he calls her cell to see if she had anyone in particular in mind that would be better for him. With Alex’s warning looming large, Haley tells him she was speaking generally, and the scene cuts to Andy in a taxi outside the reception. Without a confirmation, he returns to the airport.
Sealed With a Kiss
Haley is shocked when Andy, who is on a break from Beth, informs her that kissing him would “destroy” and “emotionally ruin” her in “The Cold” (Season 6, Episode 3) because there’s “a lot of heat coming off this.” As a girl with three stalkers, including one who has her face spray-painted on his van, she warns that guys don’t get over her. He admits that kissing someone so “out of [his] league” would rock his world, but it still would hit her harder. Haley can’t stand to be one-upped, so she plants one on him to prove her point, only to find out that he might not have been lying.
The Medium is the Marriage
In “Connection Lost” (Season 6, Episode 16), clues start to pile up that point to a secret wedding. Haley, who has been avoiding Claire after a fight and not returning texts, changes her Facebook status to married and posts a picture of her and Andy looking insanely happy. A find-my-phone app puts her in Vegas at a chapel after Andy borrowed a tux from Mitchell and a book on pregnancy arrives. But it turned out they are still in the friend zone, she married a Cronut after her first taste of the fad food, the book was for her boss, and she left her cell in his car when he drove to a friend’s wedding.
Operation Truth
Andy is rushed to the hospital for an appendectomy in “Closet? You’ll Love It!” (Season 6, Episode 17), and the close call scares Haley into a hospital bed confession when she thinks he’s drugged and asleep and Beth has not shown up for him yet. She said, “Ever think you’re settling? We’ve all talked ourselves into the penguin because we didn’t think we had a shot at the elephant. If I’m your elephant, you have a shot.” Unfortunately, the moment ends when Beth arrives bedside.
Phil in the Blanks
In the Season 6 finale, Andy seeks love advice from his mentor Phil, who turned himself into an iPad-bot to attend Alex’s graduation party after getting stuck on a business trip. He’s getting signals that Beth wants him to pop the question. He loves her and has a ring but is hesitating because he “has a serious connection” with another girl whose feelings for him are unknown. Phil admits it is “natural to wonder about a different path” — he dreamed of a chance meeting with Robin Givens when dating Claire — but urges him to propose if he truly loves Beth. After witnessing Andy and Haley’s intense goodbye hug, a horrified Phil-bot realizes his daughter is the other woman and that the two belong together. But his speaker is out and he can’t intervene.
Luke’s Got Jokes
Season 7 picks up where the Season 6 cliffhanger left off. Phil-bot finds Haley at the party to tell her that Andy is about to propose by the seashore even though he is certain Andy really wants to be with her, not Beth. Haley is determined to stop the engagement and decides to hightail it to the beach he likes. Without missing a beat, Luke cracks, “I thought you were the beach he likes.”
Stop! in the Name of Love
In “Summer Lovin’” (Season 7, Episode 1), Haley is about to storm the proposal, but Claire says she should be absolutely sure he is the one if she is going to ruin Beth’s big moment and their relationship. Haley hesitates just long enough for Andy to take a knee and present the ring, leaving Haley brokenhearted and Claire wondering if she gave her the right advice. Mother and daughter duck behind a tree to escape notice.
Fat Chance
“Summer Lovin’” flashes forward a few months and Andy appears to have eaten his feelings about Haley, as he shows up to work with Phil and is a round mound of rebound. To combat her depression, she had picked up where she left off with Dylan the dimwitted. Andy overhears her parents say she was on the beach that day to stop him, and eventually Haley confronts him about how his extra pounds might be related to his unspoken feelings for her. The dialogue quickly digresses into name-calling of each other’s significant others. Haley declares that not getting together with Andy was the “best decision [she] ever made.” He agrees, “Samesies!”
Double Date Disaster
Haley and her rebound Dylan accidentally wind up sitting next to Andy and Beth at the movies in “The More You Ignore Me” (Season 7, Episode 6). Since Andy got engaged, Haley feels things have been weird “like a woman with olive skin trying to pull off red hair weird.” With the exception of the zombies, the film couple is in the same situation as Handy and the too-close-for-comfort dialogue makes things even more awkward. For Haley at least; Andy seems unfazed.
Burger Time
Postmovie, Dylan accepts Beth’s invite to join them for dinner, and Haley pulls Andy aside to inquire about why the film didn’t seem to affect him at all. He first deflects with a joke, prompting Haley to mock his inability to hold a mature discussion. Eventually he admits, “If we’d watched that movie a couple months ago, it would’ve been weird, but we’re all good now. Don’t get me wrong. I was pretty hung up on you, but once I got it down to only one woman in my head, I saw Beth in a whole new way.”
Car Chat
After her conversation with Andy at the restaurant, Haley is inspired to dump man-child Dylan once again. “I’m sorry, but I feel like Andy and Beth and everyone in the world are moving forward and we’re moving backward.” Dylan jumps out of the car exasperated and shouts as he walks away, “I’m tired of being jerked around. Now I’m moving forward too.”
Fall in Love
Andy walks in on Haley trying to unclog the tub built for two in her dad’s listing. She had snuck into “Phil’s Sexy, Sexy House” (Season 7, Episode 7) the night before, hoping Calgon could take her away from her problems, which include living with her parents and her recent breakup. Andy tries to help her dislodge the stopper, but they instead end up face first and submerged in the bath water with a giant mess to clean up.
Feel Estate
They are forced to slip into something more comfortable, and while waiting for their clothes and cleanup towels to dry, they quickly discover just why this episode is called “Phil’s Sexy, Sexy House.” Andy admits life with Beth isn’t all roses, as she is a bit of a bridezilla who doesn’t want him to have a bachelor party. Haley feels it is unfair to cheat him of one last hurrah and it’s like the property agrees, as every push of a button sets the mood for romance. There’s a light show, music, a couch that converts to a bed, and champagne on ice. Lip-lock looks certain until everyone else in the family has the same idea to trespass to spice up their lives, and they flee to the laundry room to hide.
Can’t Fight This Feeling Any Longer
After the coast is clear, the two resurface from their hiding place. Andy apologizes for something almost happening, but Haley blames the house. “Anyone could have gotten swept up.” He also thanks her for giving him “one crazy adventure” before marriage, and she admits she also had fun but should go. Then the moment Handy supporters have been waiting for… for literally years. Haley bolts back through the doors, jumps into his arms, and plants a big ol’ fat one on his willing mug.
Sister Pact
Apparently, the sexy house and the Officer and a Gentleman kiss worked their magic and led to Handy doing the deed. But Haley feels guilty about being the other woman, so she seeks advice in “Clean Out Your Junk Drawer” (Season 7, Episode 8). Turns out her smart sibling hasn’t been thinking with her head lately either, as she is sleeping with high schooler Reuben. “You deserve somebody that isn’t engaged to somebody else,” Alex suggests. Even though she thinks they’d have a real chance if not for Beth, Haley agrees that both girls should end it. That is after Alex clarifies that by ending it she didn’t mean killing themselves.
Park and Backslide
Andy thinks Haley has texted him to hook up again. He talks a good game. “I have to hang up on this booty call. I am racked with guilt. I keep giving money to charities — I even funded a Zach Braff movie on Kickstarter. I am even wearing embarrassing underwear.” Haley clarifies her reason for coming — that she is trying to be a better person, adding that, ironically, Andy is one of the reasons for her self-improvement. They agree to keep their clothes on and be civil. He sweetly adds, “You know if things were different…” and you can hear the collective sound of fans’ hearts melting.
Oops, They Did It Again
Alex phones to report that she rid herself of Reuben, and as Haley claims to have held up her end of the deal as well, the camera pans out to reveal the destined duo once again between the sheets. Clearly, she lies out of embarrassment about being the other woman once again, and Andy, also full of shame, tips over the framed photo of Beth.
Modern Family airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.