Well, the time has come. The season finale. My least favorite day of the year.
Brick (Atticus Shaffer) is finally graduating and he is thrilled that he gets to sing at the graduation. Yikes. But then, his performance is cut. The teachers felt that too many kids had signed up for the talent portion and that it would drag down the ceremony and make it far too long. Frankie (Patricia Heaton) is shockingly furious. She feels bad that she never fought enough for Brick, that he long got the shortest end of the stick. She is just about to march down to the school when Mike (Neil Flynn) decides that he will go instead. Frankie is delighted that he is going instead of her. However, he accomplishes nothing and Frankie is pissed. She rattles off an email and things turn ugly. Now, because of her complaint, none of the kids get to perform and Nancy Donohue (Jen Ray) is livid. She has to do the opposite, her daughter won't get to recite her poem which she spent weeks perfecting. Brick is even taken into the principal's office where he decides that the only reason he wanted to perform was to make his mom happy. Frankie's turn to be furious. So Brick is allowed to perform but he doesn't want to, then he does, but only a duet with Troy (Jovan Armand). Which isn't allowed, until once again, Frankie raises a stink. So that is now also allowed.
Sue (Eden Sher) has her own problems. She is shocked to learn that she and Brad (J. Brock Ciarlelli) need to be at Dollywood the same day as Brick's graduation and thus she tries to get out of his graduation. But he won't let her, point blank. Thanks to Brad's improvising, Sue is able to miss orientation but does have to leave by four.
Axl (Charlie McDermott) does have a job this summer. It is a cushy summer counselor position at the Country Club. He is in charge of small children and though he claims to be the cool counselor who doesn't give a crap, he really does, especially when he meets a younger version of himself in the form of ten-year-old Colton (Caleb Brown). Axl finally encourages him to join in with the cardboard boat race and it works. His wise words make all the difference. He is finally growing up.
Just as Brick is. The performances are mostly truly dreadful, with Brick's and Troy's duet being a rare bright light. Brick can actually sing, something Frankie never knew before. Yes, she's that bad of a mother.
Unfortunately, Sue and Mike need to leave right after his performance but then the rest of the family ends up making the trek down to Dollywood with them. Brick knows of some good bookstores in the area while Frankie doesn't want to be left alone with the all the boys so she is dragging out all the time she has left with Sue. Axl can't miss the opportunity to see Sue in a dorky costume.
And then the show does something it hasn't done before, leaves us with a cliffhanger. While working at the club, Axl apparently meets the love of his life. But, as Frankie's narration tells us, that is a story for another time.
All-in-all, this was a good way to wrap up the season though Axl's plot line didn't have the significance it deserved. But Brick's plot line was excellent and finally showed off all of his true talents. That was the highlight of the episode, just as it deserved to be. Grade: A-, Season: B+
Side Notes:
-I would love to play the love of Axl's life. Keep me in mind, casting agents.
-Brad loves improvising and even says that Sue is very close to her brother and that she is the only one who he lets change the breathing tube. Yes, Brad went there.
-Also, in reality, he hates drama. Moving up the start day so that it interfered with Brick's graduation is drama in real life and that he doesn't like.
-Bill (Pat Finn) is not happy at whoever caused him to sit through all of the performances.
-Sue struggles to manage her southern accent.
-Frankie has merely put a star on the day of Brick's graduation while Mike thought that it was something free that will get cut off.
-Sue doesn't get a going away party.
-Young Colton says that Axl peaked in high school, which so far appears to be the sad truth and that he has lines on his forehead.
-Great callback, Brick won't let Sue miss his graduation as he sat through three performances of the awful Loneliest Locker.
-Brad can't put his Lady Gaga calendar in the trash so that is why he got the dates mixed up, even though this is a minor problem as this year happens to be a leap year.
-Frankie believes that Brick's performance is pulled because she doesn't volunteer.
-The Hecks also forgot to mark Brick's height on the wall so maybe that is the true reason why he is so short.
-Also, they have often left him behind at restaurants.
-Frankie wishes that she had Mike's height so she could accomplish more.
-This episode also has some great flashbacks of young Brick and how much he really meant to the family. This year did manage to be the year of Brick.
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