Poor Brick (Atticus Shaffer). He has such dreams. He wants to be the valedictorian and but might not be in the bag. There is another student who is just as smart as he is. Brick tries and fails to bribe the officer secretary but fortunately, he has an in. His girlfriend, Cindy (Casey Burke) works in the officer and doesn't even take Brick's small bribe to tell him who his competition is. She is just as surprised as anyone when the person competing with Brick is herself. It will come down to whoever does better on the geometry test. Brick would like to fail it on purpose but Sue (Eden Sher) says that cannot be the case as women have had it hard enough and they don't want anything handed to them. So Brick confronts Cindy and tells her that they each must give it there all. Then she drops the 'l' bomb. That's right, she tells him that she loves him. He is shocked. Axl (Charlie McDermott) says that Brick is dating a minx. She is devious and told him solely so that he wouldn't be thinking about the test. He fires back at her. Right before the test, he politely informs her that they need to talk. Cindy is prepared. She pulls the ear flaps off her hat. Her ears have never seen the sun before. However, despite Brick being shocked, he still manages a 99 on the test. Upon texting Cindy immediately, he is thrilled to report that he will be valedictorian as Cindy only received a 98.
Unfortunately for Brick, he doesn't get to bask for too long. He missed the extra credit on the back. That's right, he missed the question where he had to write three sentences about any book he's ever read. He won't be valedictorian.
In the meantime, Axl is for whatever reason being super sweet to Sue. They are going to parties together. I don't understand what has happened. But neither are obeying their curfew, not even after Mike (Neil Flynn) tries to lay down the law. Axl fires back with the gauntlet of "Whatever." Sue almost gets hives when Axl refuses to follow Mike's new rule. Needless to say, Mike is furious that the kids won't listen to him but Frankie (Patricia Heaton) seems oddly unworried. Turns out that she has the app find my phone so she can secretly monitor the movements of all her children. Mike latches on to that new device like it is a lifeline. But he's not as good as Frankie at keeping it a secret. He also monitors the locations of the kids far too much and he doesn't hide it well such as confronting Sue after she sees a movie when she had never told him that was what she was doing in the first place.
Perhaps his meddling is a good thing as he discovers that Sue is in a ditch. I thought that her phone would be in the ditch along the side of the road next to a dumpster but the app was malfunctioning. The shoe is on the other foot when Axl and Sue arrive home and find the parents gone without a note, worried to death over the fate of their children. Axl is livid that they didn't tell him where they were going and uses the app to find them. The cat is out of the bag. Frankie blames Mike; Mike says that it was all Frankie's idea and Axl snaps back with the fact that his parents don't trust anyone. Mike declares that it is hard to trust someone when they are actually at Cracker Barrel instead of Curves and Frankie is still peeved that Mike will park a block away from the house and just sit in his car for half an hour.
In the end, Mike declares that the app causes people to worry more and orders Axl to remove it from their phones. Frankie sadly narrates that this is the price you must pay when you love someone.
Also, as it turns out, Cindy does truly love Brick. She's incapable of saying stuff she doesn't mean. Brick also loves her. They are happy and thrilled that they found each other, given that they have odd quirks. He is also glad that she got valedictorian instead of him and she doesn't even care.
This was a good episode, with two solid plot lines and great lines from each character. Cindy also delivered a great guest turn. She is truly creating a solid secondary character. This was perhaps one of the strongest episodes of this season. Grade: A
Side Notes:
-Sue will leave for DollyWorld in just a week and doesn't feel the need to pack away her stuff in the meantime.
-Axl doesn't get Mike a taco despite being close to Taco Jasons. He also will be late to his internship and stops at Cinnabon first. That's right. He stops at the enemy first.
-When Mike discovers that Sue is in a ditch, they leave so fast Frankie doesn't have the opportunity to put a bra on so she insists on taking her car because she already has a bra in it.
-Frankie already has the text on her phone as big as it can get.
-Axl uses the app so he can know when to throw wild parties, soak in the tub and eat a huge amount of lunch meat. So that's where all the lunch meat goes.
-Sue can't believe that she has been to three wild parties in the same week. She proclaims that this must be how Jennifer Lawrence feels during Oscar season.
-Axl gives Brick good advice and Brick even tips him like a bartender.
-Brick likes ears. I don't know what to say about that.
-Good callback to Brick's pizza bag book bag. And he still must be occupying Sue's room.
-After Cindy tells him that she loves him, Brick is not thinking about death and the futility of the universe. Also his test.
-Brick goes to Mayfield Park at the end and Frankie is worried because that is where he goes when he feels down but not in this case. He is happy because he is with Cindy.
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