The Middle gave us a season to remember

It’s been quite a season on The Middle. Not that it was in need of finding its groove after a stellar first, but in the second season the kids really found their voices — save for Brick, who leveled off once Axl and Sue stepped forward — while Mike became a superstar. In fact it was really only Frankie who faltered sometime between the twenty-fifth and forty-eighth episodes … methinks an award nomination of some sort is in order for the series.

The season finale wrapped up the school year neatly, but not before three fires were put out: Sue’s hunt for a graduation award, Brick’s brush with repeating the third grade, and Axl cramming a year’s worth of community service into three days.

I loved how persistent Sue was in chasing down the Perfect Attendance Award. And the story about the misunderstanding — her tardiness accidentally marked as an absence — was great … save for the ongoing joke about no one remembering Sue. Once or twice is good for a chuckle, but the continuous nature of the joke over the life of the series so far changes it from comical to unbelievably belittling and demeaning. And I think part of that is due to the fact that adults are involved; kids will be kids, but adults, particularly educators, are supposed to be giving people like Sue a lift, not knocking them down farther. It’s too much.

That said, the story was a fun adventure to prove that Sue had been in school on October 13. First a note from Sue’s orthodontist failed to move Ms. Jacobs (Patrika Darbo) in the office, while I would have thought that Nurse Fahler (Jan Hoag) would have had to make note of her dispensing Ibuprofen to a student. But then we wouldn’t have gotten to see the video of band practice provided to Sue by Mr. Stevenson (Tom Beyer) the band teacher … I loved Sue making a ruckus, and even better was the total indifference to the resulting award that Ms. Jacobs and Mr. Sholin (Andy Milder) displayed. Sue had proved it and was getting her award … who cares? Oh, and the Allison Scott thing was great.

Brick was “not sure that’s going to happen” with regard to his advancing to the fourth grade. And all over a journal he was meant to keep for Ms. Rinsky (Doris Roberts). I loved when Brick checked with Ms. Rinsky as to the requirements of the monthly daily journal; that was awesome! But Frankie was just annoying. Even her face-offs with Doris Roberts lacked their original punch.

I loved Axl’s approach to his community service for civics class: “Nothing sad, nothing hard, nothing gross.” And his “racking up double hours” by combining Meals that Heal and Time with Tots was brilliant. I never would have guessed that Axl had the capacity to think of forcing the kids he was mentoring to pack meals for the needy! And Axl had the greatest line after Mike shut it down and Axl got mad: “You kids are lucky you don’t have dads.” Just perfect!

I really enjoyed Mike and Axl’s moment together in the car. I’ve gotten the impression that lately Mike’s been seeing how he’s becoming like his dad with regards to his openness and emotiveness, and I think it really upset him to think that he never tells Axl that he’s doing a good job. And there was just the right dollop of humor there to keep the moment from getting too real for a sitcom. It was nice.

The Barb Hecke thing? Okay … I mean, Ms. Jacobs clearly had Sue in her computer system, so I don’t get how that would happen, but I suppose it’s not the same as people seeing her face and not recognizing her. I think her cackle signaled a psychotic break, but that’s something we’ll have to wait until next season to discover. You never know … being crazy might help her cross country speed.

“I hope you know, you’ve sent me to the dumbest school in the world.” – Axl
“Seemed like a good fit.” – Mike

“… I could just stay in my room, jam, and come up with an awesome song that’ll make the whole world happy.” – Axl on his community service
“The world’s been through enough.” – Mike

“You kids are the best thing that ever happened to me.” – Mike
“Really?” – Axl
[Mike nods his head yes]
“You must have a really sucky life.” – Axl
“Yes I do.” – Mike

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on May 26, 2011 @ 15:42 EST5EDT