Last night’s episode of The Middle surprised me, in a great way. When I read that the plot centered on a spelling bee that Brick was competing in, a part of me was worried that we’d see a whole lot of Little Miss Sunshine during the road trip scenes, with a bit of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee mixed in for laughs during the competition itself. Don’t get me wrong; great movie and hilarious play, respectively. But The Middle is an original.
Which it successfully proved to be yet again last night. Although I do wish Brick would invest himself in something for a change. But last night Mike did it for him sufficiently, and dragging the entire family along on what turned into an impromptu celebration of Sue’s birthday was trophy enough to line all of our shelves.
I think Frankie missed a major plus in her promotion. Sure she got stuck writing 5,000 birthday cards to a bunch of cars (for now), but if she moves off of the sales floor, her paycheck is no longer mainly contingent on her ability to earn a commission from the sale of a car. And let’s face it … she sucks at selling cars. I think as far as the stability of her family is concerned, and as far as her ability to put food on the table is concerned, this was a gift from the gods.
Which also set up an awesome scene with Mike volunteering in Brick’s classroom. It had never occurred to me just how advanced Brick must be in comparison to his age group. I’m a bit appalled that the other kids couldn’t read the word “the,” but go Brick!
Did anyone else notice that the location that held what was supposedly the Midwest Regionals in the National Spelling Bee competition looked less impressive than the auditorium at Brick’s school when it was set for pre-election speeches? I mean, I know we’re in a tough economy, but really?
I think I’m enjoying the dynamic between Sue and Brick. I’m still in one of my dips in terms of liking or disliking Sue, but I think that her sunny disposition, mixed with Brick’s natural ease, actually makes them quite an amusing and enjoyable pair. I definitely would take Axl and Brick over Sue and Brick any day of the week, but I liked how into Sue’s travel plans Brick was.
Of course, I also liked how much Axl hated it all. I’d been wondering where he was for the first 10 minutes or so of the episode, but in the end I think he made his first appearance in a timely fashion, and his screen time as a member of the family (like last night) versus as just a testy teenager (Valentine’s Day) is much more enjoyable.
All in all, another winner.
“Saturday’s my day to decompress.” – Brick, on why he didn’t want to compete in the Orson County Bee
“I had the lowest of expectations, and I’m still disappointed.” – Axl, upon arriving at the world’s largest tree stump
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Mar 04, 2010 @ 12:00 EST5EDT
The Middle is an original?
Really? It’s Malcolm in the Middle without Malcolm. That’s fine, but still not original.
I still love “This place makes our house look nice!” whine from Axl. However he wasn’t in his boxers enough in this episode. lol
*POST AUTHOR*
I’ve never seen any similarities between the two shows, so I stand by my “original.” You can call it “original” as far as the movie and the play I thought might sneak in there but didn’t. :)
Oreo, this is an old conversation, and you’ll never get Aryeh to cop to how similar the two shows are.
Aryeh, The Middle has eked out its own identity, but to make an absolute statement that you’ve “never seen any similarities” between it and its predecessor just makes you seem willfully blind.
*POST AUTHOR*
:)
You could say I’m clearly wrong (if you must), but I don’t think I’m being blind to anything. The only thing I see that you can even call similar is that both families are on the lower end of middle class, at best. And “the middle” in their titles. The kids have nothing in common beyond Dewey and Brick both being weird … unless it’s technical stuff about the audience or the cameras, I literally see nothing that would have even made me think of it if not for a comment Keith made following the premiere. I just don’t see it, even when I’m actively looking for it.
I think the family is a nicer family than the Malcolm family. I saw similarities at first but those boys were mean and these kids are less 2D.
When Brick whispered that 2nd T? The greatest moment ever, and I don’t know why I didn’t expect it, but I loved it!
*POST AUTHOR*
Not that I would have expected it, but looking back I think they kept us off-guard by not having Brick do his whispering thing at all up until that point. It’s never consciously on my mind, and I’m always pleasantly surprised when he does it, but I think that helped leave us totally unawares when it came. It was awesome!
Best sight gag was Axl in the folding cot, and then the cot finally opening when he woke up. That made me laugh out loud!
And I did gasp when Brick whispered the second T. Great moment.