The Middle: Road Kill

Once again, the Hecks  are proving that they should be parents of the year. It is Brick's (Atticus Shaffer's) birthday, his fifteenth, and his caring, loving parents (Neil Flynn and Patricia Heaton) completely forgot. Fortunately, Brick doesn't care much about the festivities, he just wants someone to take him out to drive as he now has a shiny new learner's permit. However, driving with both Mike and Frankie goes so bad, they hide from him so Axl (Charlie McDermott) is left to take him. And Axl thinks its a good idea to take him in his house, aka the Winnebago. This goes badly as Brick takes Axl's direction of going straight far too seriously, doesn't brake in time and hits the Orson cow, knocking it to the ground. Brick wants to tell the truth, just come clean while Axl doesn't want to get in any trouble. They have to bury one of the horns in the front yard.
Naturally, everyone in town is so upset over this and believes that it is an attack on the town, people are scared. Bill Norwood (Pat Finn) buys a padlock for his front door. Nancy Donohue (Jen Ray) organizes a search party. Yeah, it's that serious. Brick still wants to tell the truth, while Axl still doesn't. He offers up a fake reward which backfires big time in his face as someone else confesses to the crime and it is believable considering it is the Glossners. Frankie and Mike, I'm pretty sure, figure out that their sons are guilty when they offer a five hundred dollar reward. No way they have that sort of money. But the Glossners want the money which forces Axl to whisper the truth to Mrs. Donohue. Of course they are punished, but it is light, plenty of hours of community service and Brick can't drive again for another year, so that will give us something to look forward to. Yikes.
Sue (Eden Sher) also has a big fish to fry. She has just two days to pick her major and is waffling between German, theatre, and large animal science. Her parents know how unrealistic these majors are and that she isn't good at theatre so Frankie has a talk with her, basically telling her that she needs a job that will pay good money and then spills the beans on the sacrifice Mike made for her.
Mike never wanted Sue to know, but he also should have known that Frankie can't keep a secret. Sue is very grateful and tells Mike to pick something for her, after all, that is what they did with Axl. Mike wants Sue to not be on the first name basis with the person at the gas company, share a battery between cars and waiting for a natural disaster to provide them with their next new appliance. He wants his children to have a better life than they have, and he's right, it is hard living the way they do, without two pennies to rub together.
Fortunately, Sue finally puts a lot of serious thought into her major and selects something perfect for her. She picks hospitality and hotel management, which is what the college is known for. After their initial surprise that, yes, is an actual thing, her parents are completely on board and I also feel that it will be a good fit for her.
This was another strong episode, though it was a little fuzzy on how Mike and Frankie figured out how their sons had tipped the cow, but it is so touching between Mike and Sue, they are really the best part of the season so far. The acting is great, the characters are realistic and the actions they do fit in line perfectly with everything they have done in the past, which is something you can't take for granted in TV shows anymore. This show is always the underappreciated gem on TV. Grade: A-
Side Notes:
-After Mike is done driving with Brick, Frankie asks if there is anything she should know and Mike tells her the Lord's prayer, and that she's the best thing that ever happened to him.
-Frankie, Mike and Sue all hide when Brick wants to go driving again, in Mike and Frankie's closet. When Brick comes in, he steals one of Frankie's nightstand cookies.
-When Doris got her head stuck in a hole, Sue ran to the police officer in her underwear.
-According to Mike, there are only four fun majors: baseball player, football player, basketball player and bounty hunter.
-The Orson Patch put their full-time reporter on this cow story, which is fifteen hours a week.
-Axl thinks his head would look good on anything while Brick's head doesn't even look good on his body.
-Axl also needed to be told to close his mouth in the shower.
-The person at the gas company lets them split the bill over three credit cards.
-The best gag is when Mrs. Donohue tries to recruit Brick and Axl to inform the young people about what is happening and a dog tries to dig a hole where the cow horn is buried and Axl has to chase him away.
-On her sign, Brick says that Mrs. Donohue used the most serious of fonts.
-Axl does finally remember the plot of Captain America.
-Sue loves binders.