The Middle – What kind of sadist locks the library up at recess?

It was really good to have The Middle back last night. Maybe I’m mistaken, but I don’t remember the Winter/Spring season ever being so fragmented, with new episodes only coming at us once in a blue moon. It’s getting to the point with a lot of shows where it’s hard to maintain any level of enthusiasm for them when they’re off our radars for so long.

Whether that’s the case with The Middle or not, when a new episode does air, all of the good feelings surely come rushing back. From the opening moments with Sue “having what it takes to be a model,” I was right there in Orson, Indiana, spending time with my favorite upper-lower class (or is that a stretch?) family.

With Mike still not working (did he drop the late-night snack cakes gig?), it was inevitable that the Hecks would run out of money at some point. And while the lights going off is cliched, I thought the blind grab in the frig — not to mention Brick’s “bonus grab” after pulling out the whipped cream — was really funny. As was confirming that the family had still never purchased a regular chair for Brick to sit in … that lawn chair is still pulled up to the dining room table for him.

Any episode with a focus on Brick is great, and I loved seeing him with his Social Skills Group, facing recess outdoors with the rest of the school. I could have done without the Marine vibe at the end, but I loved seeing them run for cover under the slide, plus the kids getting hit with dodge balls was visually great. How dare Axl vote to let Brick go as a money-saving measure!

In funny coincidence land, I was recently talking about Michael Kostroff (drug lawyer Maury Levy on The Wire) in an episode review of The Good Wife … great to see him last night as Steve the financial advisor. The shame of it is that Frankie and Mike will never be back there again — Frankie’s egg timer on the free advice affirmed that — because Kostroff is a tremendous character actor. We should at least be glad we got him for one scene.

In the end, the theory about TV keeping you in-the-loop was proved out when breaking news on channel 7 (ABC in New York, but probably not throughout most of the rest of the country, like in Indiana where it’s channel 6) revealed that Mike’s quarry was being reopened. Not to bash them too much, but how good a financial position were the Hecks in when Mike was employed? Does this make them just regular poor now?

Interestingly, while the fact that Frankie sucks at selling cars is regularly discussed, her being in a commission-based business is not. If she’s never sold a car, she’s never brought home a paycheck. True, her recent position change made her a regular employee, but I don’t know if that’s permanent, and it certainly wasn’t the case before a few weeks ago. So how was the family living on zero money from either parent?

If history can be used as any sort of indicator, they could probably sell their doors to raise cash and still be safe. At least from everything but wild animals.

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Apr 15, 2010 @ 11:00 EST5EDT