As the Year of Sue continues, so does The Middle‘s streak of outstanding episodes. It doesn’t take much more than a game of fruitball (with fruit from a hotel breakfast buffet) gone wrong in the Hecks’ kitchen to make it yet another memorable week.
Ironically Frankie’s attempt to stop Mike and Axl from tossing an apple across the room is what causes their sink to cave in. One of the things I love most about the Hecks is their optimism in spite of their many financial problems. Frankie’s looking at this latest development in their long list of household appliance problems by saying she’d “rather have a sinkhole in the house than have the house in a sinkhole.” She has a point there that things could always be much worse.
Phyllis Smith from The Office guest starred as Sue’s guidance counselor who had to deliver the bad news that she might not graduate on time if she doesn’t complete a physical education requirement. As usual, Sue steps up to the challenge and eventually tackles a ridiculous dance routine necessary to pass one assignment in the gym class.
Hopefully you’ve been watching all along since the beginning of the series and not just in syndication because otherwise it’s possible a few of the callbacks to previous seasons went right over your head. Brick, seeking Axl’s advice on how to distract their dad from his involvement in breaking the lawnmower, apparently has a new quirk. Rather than whisper “I’m lying” under his breath as a dead giveaway, now he farts. I guess that’s the natural evolution as he is going through puberty. I just wonder how much longer it’ll be before anyone else in the family catches on to this new tell.
The death napkin is brought up again when the family is picking apart Mike’s wallet. Besides carrying a picture of his first girlfriend behind one of Frankie (and noticeably no pictures of Sue), he also has the infamous death napkin in his wallet. The kids never actually read their parents’ unofficial will so this sparks a huge debate. It accidentally gets dropped into the giant bowl of water meant to clean their dishes. RIP death napkin. Frankie almost started a new will on a paper towel, but the kids actually couldn’t think of any specific things they wanted to inherit when the time comes.
That’s what’s so special about the Hecks. They don’t have money to spare even though Frankie and Mike both work at least two jobs each, yet they can still laugh about their misfortunes because they know they’ll always have each other. Frankie’s closing remark about their ability to “pull together in tough times” contrasted hilariously to their latest method of washing their dishes together. Axl showers while rinsing the dishes in the water and hands them out to Brick to blow dry.
What was your favorite part of the episode?
Photo via ABC
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