The Middle: The Graduation, Season Four Finale

First off, Congratulations for being nominated for Best Comedy by the Critics, over Modern Family I might add, which is just fantastic. Eden Sher was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress, so congrats for her as well. Snubbed? Charlie McDermott gets my vote, considering his character has truly been interesting this season and has grown up slightly, and it's about time.
Well, as for tonight's episode, they ended the season with a bang, and probably the funniest episode of the season.
Sue prepares to wish her bus buddies good-bye as she prepares to pass her driver's test on her sixth try. They are annoyed with her and instead of signing her yearbook, they paste a peanut butter sandwich in the middle instead. Sue is fully prepared to ace her test, despite having to drive the huge church bus. The instructors rock, paper, scissors to see who gets to test her, but this time, she knows the test by heart and nothing is going to stop her, not smoke, a mattress or a smoothie sprayed across her windshield. The instructor begs her to pull over, as he has children. But she refuses, and passes the test, as it was one of the finest pieces of driving her instructor had ever seen. She is thrilled and launches into her crazy dance. She got her happy ending, I suppose. Sher shows why she was nominated for that award.
As for Brick, he forgot that he was elected class historian (and to collect all his stuff from the lost and found, so of course, he has no pictures from any of the fun trips his class has taken over the past four years (never mind the pictures he took in Chicago). His vice principal (Marion Ross, from Happy Days) wants it to be perfect and Frankie won't help him. He urges his audience to close their eyes and imagine everything. Though the class mostly likes it, the vice principal is furious so Brick won't have a smooth transition to Middle School.
Now to the main plot: Axl's graduation. Yes, he does graduate, despite missing thirty-two days of school. He is giving Frankie hell though for the majority of the episode. He doesn't answer any of her questions about his graduation party. He doesn't come home from Darrin's party when he says he is, so Frankie, in her pajamas, goes to fetch him, embarrassing him, though Sean still waves to her and Darrin joins in with her awkward dancing. The fighting continues, and as the family prepares for his graduation, Axl is wearing white socks, and Frankie literally tackles him down (some great physical acting by both Heaton and McDermott) and pulls off his shoes and socks to replace the white socks with black socks. Axl runs away, getting a ride with the Donahues. Frankie is spitting mad, but still attends, and turns into a sobbing mess, not ready for her baby bird to fly the nest. She cries so much, Mike covers her face with the program. For once, you can understand why she went bat-crap crazy, considering Axl did lie to her and nearly admitted that he wanted to get to the party so he wouldn't miss the jello salad. Frankie warned him she better not find any jello on his breath. At the party, she even sniffed a kid's red solo cup, but immediately returned it to him.
Now back to the graduation, Cassidy delivers a great speech, finishing with a quote by Shel Silverstein, there are no happy endings, only happy middles and great beginnings. She and Axl share a smile, so maybe things are better there? The hopeless romantic in me wanted them to mend things better, so maybe next season? Here's to hoping.
Brick is taking pictures and Axl insists on taking the first picture with just him and Frankie, causing even me to say awww, considering he was a huge jerk for the vast majority of the episode.
Instead of giving him a party, they opt to buy him a "new" car instead. I use that term loosely, considering that car is old and a piece of junk, but as Mike said, it better have a motor for two hundred dollars. Axl drives off to visit his friends instead, while Sue drives over to Carly's house to show off her brand spanking new license.
The best line of the episode, while Frankie is forcing Axl to put on different socks in the front lawn, Mike just looks at them from the car and says that he should have built a fence around here years ago. So true Mike, but now it's too late.
Though there was no cliffhanger, I still can't wait for the next season, though I'm both excited and worried over how they will handle Axl's absence, but I can't worry about that now, considering that won't be for four more months. In the meantime, I'll savor this episode as it was a good one, though I still wish Axl would have grown up a little bit more. This was a great way to end a strong season. Season: A-, Finale: A