Wednesday, November 2, 2016

The Middle: True Grit

This was another great episode. Despite being in its eighth season, this show always has new, strong plot lines, and excellent gags both new and old.
Brick (Atticus Shaffer) decides to embrace the school spirit bug but is disheartened when his bestie, Troy (Jovan Armand) is recruited for the football team. Brick tries to be happy, he really does, despite knowing that this means Troy will be missing font club, but he finds it to be too big of an effort to fit in with the crowd. He prefers the silence.
Frankie (Patricia Heaton) embarrassingly buys herself some saucy undergarments and is at first ashamed of having 'I'd Hit That' on her butt, but the sales woman treats her like someone who is older and Frankie isn't having it, so she buys far more underwear just to prove that she still has it. Needless to say, she turns beet red when she falls off the treadmill at the gym and the EMTS come to see if she is okay.
But the episode belonged to Sue (Eden Sher), who is fed up with her crappy relationship with Jeremy (Will Green) so done with it, that she asks Axl (Charlie McDermott) for advice and it isn't actually bad. First, she tries, rather successfully despite it being out of character, to be a crappy person, saying that corporations and oil are good things, openly and blatantly disagreeing with him. But he won't give up on them and Sue reluctantly agrees. Axl even tries to break up but is taken in when Jeremy admits that he loves her and Axl can't give up on love, considering that is what he is in himself.
Finally, Sue does it herself when Jeremy proclaims that he is a natural born leader and Sue is a natural born follower and Sue isn't going to take that. She will no longer hold his pee bottle nor will she be that sponge that soaks up all his knowledge. He only cares about his ideas which will change the earth. They are never, ever getting back together.
I am so glad that Sue finally found her strength to end that toxic, disappointing relationship. She is a strong character but was allowing others to walk all over her. Frankie also found her strength, in a different way and for something petty compared to Sue. The characters are all happy in the end, as they should be.
Once again, the acting is top-notch, even from the supporting characters with the smaller roles, but there performances are no less important than the main actors. Grade: A-
Side Notes:
-Brick doesn't like the other team because of their geographic location. Which is just as good of a reason as any.
-Axl comes into Sue's room for some girl chocolate.
-For whatever reason, despite being in a solid, satisfying relationship, Axl still believes that Lexie (Daniela Bobadilla) is interested in pursing him romantically and keeps telling her to restrain herself.
-There are some great font puns in this episode, including my favorite of you shouldn't want a font to slap you in the face.
-Frankie has to stop drinking the Dr. Pepper as she has stomach issues.
-Sue's room is still horrible and it now sucks up stuff as the heat is now on. They pack up their stuff and leave the room though I have no idea where they are headed.
-Sue sends her no-cut acapella group to break up with Jeremy but they sing the wrong song, so the message isn't delivered properly.
-Axl charges Sue to have him break up with Jeremy for her, including a great callback to Boss Co. break-up service.
-Mike (Neil Flynn) tells Brick that he should tell a joke at the party. It is your mother needs to buy a ticket to leave the zoo and has to explain it all to Brick as he doesn't understand.
-Brick also wishes that he was fifty so he could just at home. Mike merely says that there are trade-offs.
-Will Frankie ever truly quit the gym?

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