Well, the inevitable happened, once again Frankie (Patricia Heaton) forgot about one of her children's birthdays. Brick (Atticus Shaffer) turned thirteen in November (remember, he was conceived on Valentine's Day) but Frankie and Mike (Neil Flynn) completely forgot. Frankie feels quite guilty, as she should, and decides to let Brick do whatever he wants for his belated birthday. First, he decides that he wants a bowling party because he heard they were really fun, but then he decides against that and instead wants a day of his family's undivided attention. Sue (Eden Sher) is beyond dreading that and the day is utterly dreadful as Brick lectures the family on stuff he finds interesting like railroad gauges, words with all five vowels, and film credits. When he notices that his family isn't paying attention, he springs a pop quiz on them. Surprisingly, Axl (Charlie McDermott) knows Brick the best because he shared a room with him for roughly twelve years. He knows that Brick's favorite part of the movies is the warning at the beginning, not the credits as Sue firmly believed. Fortunately, Sue bows out when she promises to give him her signed copy of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, original jacket included. Brick lets Mike go too, when he tries to fall asleep so Frankie is alone and snaps when Brick lists the men who died in this one World War I battle. A devastated Brick picks up his cake and retreats to his room. Frankie arrives to apology and Brick says that Mom is the one he wanted to spend the most time with. Luckily, Frankie manages to save the day by deciding to let Brick talk more about a topic she found more interesting than that battle.
In the meantime, Axl has his own problems. Weird Ashley (Katlin Mastrandrea) has transferred into his college because they have a good hotel management program. Devin (Gina Mantegna) can't believe he used to date Weird Ashley in high school and resents the fact that Axl has divided the girls in his phone into odd categories, like Hot Ashley, Smart Ashley and Weird Ashley, plus he hasn't renamed Devin. They have a small argument and she abruptly ends the relationship. Fortunately, she comes to her senses, and quickly details her last failed relationship and how she bails at the first sign of trouble because she doesn't want to be the dumpee. Luckily, Axl forgives her easily and says that if things aren't working out, he'll tell her so she can dump him.
Sue is trying her best to get a senior superlative to guarantee that her picture will finally be in the yearbook. She tries being the biggest flirt which ends with her hurting her head as she bangs it against a locker. She tries to have the best hair though who knows how that ended, probably badly. And despite her horrible and awkward laugh, she wins best laugh, making her look like a fool as she urges her fellow classmates to not accept the honor as everyone has tons of school spirit.
This episode was still pretty good, though Mike wasn't given much to do but it was especially interesting to see and learn about all of Brick's weird hobbies and interests. He is certainly one weird kid and this episode highlights that.
And Sue just wants to be remembered. For something. And for once, she gets her wish. Too bad she looks like an idiot first.
Frankie might be a frazzled person, overworked and lazy mother, but she really means well, though it isn't always the thought that counts. Time, attention and love also matter and she needs to give more of each of those to her younger son.
Still, this episode was very funny, which is always welcome. Grade: B+
Side Notes:
-Best line in the episode: "We'll come out in college."-Brad (J. Brock Ciarlelli) says to Sue when she whines about not being the most superlative anything. Of course, there is the great double meaning, which once again, goes right over Sue's head.
-Sue recovers from Darrin rather quickly as she already flirts with some random guy who points out that she is bleeding which she tries to turn into something cute but she ruins it when she gets blood on his shirt.
-Ashley is quite odd and always shows up at the worst moments in Axl's life. After things are briefly over with Devin, Ashley shows up outside Devin's door and is surprised at how fast things have moved as she just did something gross and weird with Devin's fingernails the day before.
-Axl's idea of a hot date with Devin is cereal night at the food court.
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