I find it extremely interesting that a show like The Middle can succeed so often even as its star, in this case the hilarious Patricia Heaton, frequently gets stuck with the poorer of the episode’s stories. Not that anything having to do with cross country can ever really be “less than” … so let’s say she sometimes gets stuck with lesser material. Worrying that her prayers in church led the school board to cut cross country’s funding? Really?
While she was locked in the bathroom at work dialoging with God, Axl was busy getting suspended from school, leading Mike to force Axl to work at the quarry for a week. It wasn’t surprising that Axl would excel downward after working in the hole as a punishment. There’s nothing wrong with the living … the mistake is in never trying for something more in the first place.
Sue gave a rousing speech at the school board meeting in an attempt to save the only club never to reject her (although she overlooked the fact that she made show choir as a member of the stage crew). I expected the board to somehow not even be able to hear her (maybe a microphone malfunction?), but essentially ignoring her pleas worked too.
I loved the fact that Mr. Ehlert (Brian Doyle-Murray) agreed to sponsor the team, as well as how he used the opportunity to promote himself and his businesses. High school girls all across Indiana will be staring at his face as they run through the woods on their way to cross country glory … that is, if Sue’s team ever gets good enough to be running ahead of someone else.
Brick, meanwhile, found a magic set in the closet and proceeded to turn himself into a magician. A summary of the episode didn’t lead me to expect the missing remote thing, but the misrepresentation failed to detract from my enjoyment of the simplicity of Brick’s story. Atticus Shaffer is just a really funny kid, and he does best on the show when the writers keep things simple for him. He doesn’t require any gimmicks or gags … he’s funny just being himself.
So while everyone else was making me laugh, Frankie just sounded, well, kind of whiny and annoying. The montage of what she did to help out the cross country team was funny, but all of her worrying about whether she’d affected the fate of the sport with her prayers was little more than a way to ensure that Heaton had something to do in the episode. What was the point?
And how has she become almost extraneous on the show? I’d never suggest that her absence wouldn’t affect the show negatively, because that’s simply not true, but most of what’s transpired this season of any significance had nothing to do with her. Last week I suggested that the pendulum swings from the adults to the kids quite nicely, but being reminded of how well Mike can fit into one the kid’s plots only recalled how organic Frankie’s participation once felt as well. I’m just not seeing that this year.
Hopefully it’s nothing more than season two jitters, but the writers need to remember that Heaton can bring it too.
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Oct 17, 2010 @ 13:30 EST5EDT
