Everyone underestimates and label him as the "dumb" or "weird" kid and whatnot.
Haley and Alex treat like like crap, even worse than Haley and Alex used to treat each other. They put makeup on him and forced the girl he liked to leave.
Claire and Phil once acknowledged each of their kid's strengths (Alex the Genius and Haley the gorgeous/confident one). But for Luke, they had nothing...............pretty sad.
I do believe they actually said more than once that he's an inquisitive child - as a compliment. Something along the lines of him asking a lot of questions and trying to figure things out. Also, he has a gentle soul and is very intuitive. That's character development they've given him over the years.
As for how the kids treat each other, anyone who has one or more sibling knows that it's just what happens. I remember painting my brothers and father's toenails, putting make up on them, and tying their hair up in (stunted) pigtails. We teased each other relentlessly, but the moment that someone else tried to tease them, we'd crack it and defend them to the end. Siblings do that. And we definitely used to (still do?) love embarrassing each other in front of boyfriends/girlfriends. That's why I no longer introduce boyfriends to my family - defence mechanism.
I mostly blow off Luke being a misfit of sorts because it's a pretty typical formula for family-oriented sitcoms. One kid is the brain, one is the jock and/or popular, one is the oddball (or given no real identity), and it's usually the youngest. Seriously, think of other sitcoms with three kids--it's almost always that way.
Should "Modern Family" be better? Yeah, and I feel like they do give him more than predecessors. As others have said, his father adores him (actually favors), and his sister seem to mostly treat him the status quo for a younger sibling... not just in TV Land but in real life.
I had really high hope for Luke too, especially after Phil said
I have been waiting for this day ...ever since the doctor pointed to the ultrasound of your mom's womb and said, either that's a fifth limb-
They've show Luke to have a high aptitude a couple of times, that I recall, once with a really nice singing voice, and a real talent for mastering magic tricks, but in both of those cases Luke just doesn't care enough about those talents to pursue anything. He is sort of a multi-talented type who prefers to not do much, haha.
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