Well, it's Thanksgiving time and this could be the worst one yet for the Hecks.
Frankie's (Patricia Heaton's) dentist office is getting remodel so she's out of a job for two months. Fortunately, she finds one quickly, at Heritage Village, great callback to season two, only this time, she plays the barren sister-in-law with a clubfoot though she didn't read her packet to prepare her to the role. She also has to work on Thanksgiving and the family could care less. They don't even seem to want to float it. But she gets into a fight without the main reactor (Faith Ford) because Frankie tries to cut corners, preparing mashed potatoes with an electric mixer over a smasher. However, when she hears the speech that Rachel (Ford) gives on how hard the founders of Orson had it, journeying though snow to get to their sick family. Frankie, demoted to ash scraper, is moved by that speech. She believes that the family should be grateful for what they have, only to have her car break down in the middle of the snow, forcing her to walk home.
Sue (Eden Sher) goes back to work at Spudsys, not truly for the money but to see if she can catch a glimpse of Logan (David Hull) though she is completely swamped on Black Friday Eve and works for like, twelve straight hours without a break and then finally takes one, only to have the crowd move away from Abercrombie. Turns out that Logan isn't even there, he's in Chicago celebrating the holiday with his family. She devices a plan which involves driving all the way to Chicago and figuring out where his grandmother lives. Brad (J. Brock Ciarlelli) forces her to stop living like she needs a man in her life and buck up. After working three shifts without much break, Sue finally returns home.
Axl (Charlie McDermott) goes out drinking with Sean (Beau Wirick) who is at odds with his parents, calling them by their first names and refusing to eat meat. He doesn't think he wants to be a doctor anymore. But Axl can't stand where his life is headed. Everyone is thinking about jobs or grad school whereas he isn't sure if he'll even graduate. He barely gets any playing time in football and is unsure of his relationship status. Though Sean is more or less in the boat as Axl, he doesn't defend Axl when he starts to cry. Axl is more emotional than I thought. I wish his friends were understanding of his difficult plight. He is almost grateful to return home.
Meanwhile, back at home, Mike (Neil Flynn) is perfectly content to watch football to the whole day, but the power has other plans. It goes out. Mike is upset and is forced to spend time with his youngest son, Brick (Atticus Shaffer). Brick doesn't mind having no power as he is reading and has his book light but he gives in to his father's boredom. Mike finally teaches Brick how to play poker and once they get rid of his tell, whispering when he is bluffing, Brick isn't half bad.
The show ends with the whole family playing poker and Axl believing that everything is fine. Then, in an odd epilogue of sorts, June 12th comes along, the day when the Hecks decided to celebrate Thanksgiving, Frankie refuses to stop flipping through her magazine because she's not doing that. Sue certainly looks hurt.
After two lackluster episodes, this one was without a doubt better. The Hecks always do the holidays right, realistically but often horribly. with nothing working out like you had planned. But they realize what is truly important in the end. Once again, this episode was filled with good performances, including Sher being Sue's typical over the top self and McDermott showing that Axl does have real emotions and is capable of having others show sympathy for him. And we saw some familiar faces, some more welcome than others. Grade: A-
Side Notes:
-Because of all the crying Axl does at the bar, he casually informs Mike that there could be a rumor going around that he and Frankie are dead and they should go with it. Mike merely shrugs it off.
-For Sue's meal during break, she dips her finger into a small container of ketchup.
-Frankie is not playing her character with a clubfoot but is perfectly fine with the barren part.
-It is weird and oddly fascinating to see what they are doing with Sean's character. He is truly a sight to behold.
-I wish we could have some closure of the status of Axl and Devin's (Gina Mantenga's) relationship.
-Rachel is working her way up in the status of the characters at Heritage Village.
-I wonder if Spudsys would get in trouble for not giving Sue a break, no wonder she almost loses it at the end.
-Axl had seventy-two seconds of playing time in his latest game.
-My favorite gag is at the stroke of midnight when Brad changes his hat to a Christmas hat.
-As much as I want Sue and Logan to get together, she does need to move on though Brad says she is just like Meg Ryan from a 90s movie.
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