Axl (Charlie McDermott) actually has a birthday and apparently, it's tonight. He turns the big 2-1! and boy, is he celebrating. Frankie (Patricia Heaton) tries to take things in stride but that's not going too well. Axl ignores her phone calls and her texts and doesn't tell her how much he liked the gold toe socks she sent him. Whatever, Frankie drowns her sorrows in a cake which he doesn't come home to eat.
In the meantime, Mike (Neil Flynn) wants Axl home for the weekend to help him move the old, unnecessary freezer out of the garage but instead, he wants to stay at college because his friends promised him a weekend he wouldn't remember and sends the sweet Sean (Beau Wirick) instead. This does not go over well, though Doris is at least happy to see him. Mike is forced to pull out his dad voice and so Axl comes home. Only the whole thing is a trick. Mike is following a tradition his father started when Mike turned 21. Big Mike asked Mike to move some manure but took him out for a beer. Axl, however, isn't thrilled with the tradition, wishing he could have stayed at school instead. Mike changes his mind and decides not to go with him because he is being so annoying so Axl tries to force the moment taking a beer out of the fridge and Mike goes out without him, Sue (Eden Sher) freaks out about the alcohol in the house.
When Axl finally does show up at the bar, the bouncer doesn't believe that Axl is 21 and thinks that his license is actually a fake. Just as the guy is about to cut it up, Mike finally vouches for him so Axl is allowed to join him and manages to drink Mike under the table.
That plot line actually has a sweet ending while the others are just weird.
Sue is being courted by another food vender at the mall, Chop Suey. They offer her four figures, ten whole dollars an hour, and even slip her free food. Sue decides that it is best to leave though she wishes she could be loyal to Supsdy's. Her manager won't let her leave and offers her a measly raise of a nickel an hour and the position of assistant manager of condiments. She decides to stay, leaving a great opportunity behind.
Brick (Atticus Shaffer) gets an attitude out of nowhere. He is super rude to Frankie and won't place his bowl in the sink. He yells at her when she tells him to wear a jacket outside and her punishment doesn't go over well. She tells him to write a three page, double-spaced paper about how he should respect his mother. But he doesn't. He stares at the screen the whole day reading through books that he has memorized in his head. Frankie ends up caving and lets him go to bed without even writing one single word. Well, there was actually one word, but Frankie moved Brick's hand to type it herself.
But, luckily, he's a teenager and his mood quickly changes, thank goodness. He ends the episode taking Frankie's unfinished bowl to the sink, but she doesn't push him. She's just grateful.
Sue's plot line did provide enough laughs and it is nice that someone else finally recognized her talents for food sales. But she doesn't understand that change is good and boy, she is not smart, that raise is probably nowhere near as good as the amount she would be making at Chop Suey. But whatever, as long as she's happy.
I just didn't like Brick at all and Frankie should never let him talk to her that way. She is his mother and deserves some respect. I don't know how he finally got the message but he did, for now at least.
Still, there were some lovely moments between Axl and Mike which are just wonderful to see, though Axl doesn't get the point, of how quickly times moves. Mike felt like he was just in Axl's seat, which means that he recently felt that young, not that he was just sitting in Axl's seat. At least that plot was wonderful. I love sweet moments between the parents and the children. Grade: A-
Side Notes:
-One of Frankie's punishments is eating ice cream in front of Brick because she sent him to bed without dessert, unfortunately, the moment doesn't last as the Chop Suey is on the move and she needs to use the bathroom.
-Brad (J. Brock Ciarlelli) is peanut butter and jealous that Sue is being recruited instead of him though she believes that the hot dog shop doesn't have enough moments for him to shine.
-Frankie calls Kenny's (Tommy Bechtold's) phone because Axl won't answer his own. She tells him the story of his birth, including how she was pushing him out of her body.
-Axl tells the bartender that he already sold his fake ID to one of his friends.
-Also, if both Axl and Mike were drinking, who drove them home? I hope neither one of them.
-Sue gets upset when she sees them drinking because she has seen a skit about how alcohol ruins families and such.
-Brick wants to attend library appreciation day where if he donates a gently used book, he gets a bookmark with tassels and there will also be a behind the scenes tour of the library.
-Sean considers Mike to be a second father and hopes Mike isn't mad at him because he mowed the lawn that one time when the Hecks were away. Mike isn't. He just wants his son.
-The Hecks still have Doris, but she is happier to see Sean than anyone else. I wonder where she spends most of her time.
No comments:
Post a Comment